Framing of National Disasters in the Print Media

Abstract

The study examined how National Disasters are framed in the print media, specifically the Daily Graphic newspaper in Ghana. The period of study was January and June 2015 respectively. The January 2015 National Disasters was termed as Fire Outbreaks while the June 2015 National Disasters was framed as Twin Disasters. A total of 43 disaster news stories were analysed for this study. Out of the total number, 9 headline stories were analysed in the month of January 2015 and 34 headline stories were looked at in the month of June 2015.Five (5) themes emerged through Content Analysis. The study revealed that the theme of Action featured more than the other themes which are Fear, Violence, Sympathy and Confusion. Finally, the study showed the number of days disaster news headlines lasted in the Daily Graphic during the period stated above. It was revealed that the Fire Outbreaks in January 2015 appeared in the Daily Graphic for 8 days while the Twin Disasters appeared in 16 days in June 2015.