CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE

1.1 Background of the Study

What the public knows about the state of social and political affairs at any

given time is largely a product of media gatekeeping wherein mass media outlets

make the deliberate decision on what issues and events to report, how to report it,

and to what extent should it be covered and dissected. That is why the media is

known as the gatekeepers of information because it is primarily their call on which

type of information they let the public access. This practice of filtering of events,

stories and aspects to publish is quite unavoidable given the limited print space and

air time constraints these outlets face.

The media have an indirect, yet powerful and pervasive, effect on public

opinion by limiting and prioritizing public perceptions of important issues (Reese

1990). This process is known as agenda-setting which was conceptualized and

tested by McCombs and Shaw (1972) in order to figure out what factors or

circumstances affect media agenda and how does the media influence the public

and the policy-makers. Having satisfied themselves with the knowledge that media

content indeed have effects, communication researchers in the succeeding years

focused inward with the origins, components, and nature of media agenda.
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Media outlets now have the ability to present news in more creative ways

because of the advent of the internet and therefore social media and online

journalism. This has greatly affected how people consume information sparking an

unprecedented conversion from offline to online editions of news. What makes the

trend unique is that information-sharing becomes participatory. Web communities

are seen as an open market where everyone is enjoined to discuss ideas and

opinions. Moreover, the web offers people an accessible and inexpensive means of

communication (Powazek 2002, as cited in Alonzo, et. al. 2016).

The pervasiveness of media is obvious it is present in almost every corner

of modern society via the television, radio, print and online media. The emergence

of mass communication allowed for the instantaneous transmission of messages

and information. News is transmitted globally almost as soon as it happens, if not

simultaneously. People depend and rely more and more on information gathered by

individuals whom they have never met (Carter 2013). This increased reliance on

mass media has been criticized and extensively studied by researchers in

communication theory. However, much of this literature is focused on traditional

media forms (broadcast and print).

Media coverage of politics is regarded significantly by the public in getting

general information in order to scrutinize the people running the country. Their

qualifications, achievements, political ideology, programs, or even amusing

personal stories can be used as different lenses in news coverage. Framing a public
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official allows news stories to focus on a specific angle that can be used by the

public as a reference point to which all subsequent information is judged upon. This

media practice operates by making certain aspects of stories more salient than

others (Carter 2013). According to Scheufele and Tweksbury (2007), framing is

used to discuss complex issues by narrowing down using journalistic lens.

A study on framing the 2008 US presidential elections, for example,

revealed that the media focused on candidates image and viability than on their

stance on political issues. The same study also found out that gender still mattered

as a point of discussion affecting a female candidate more than her male counterpart

(OGara 2009). In this sense, the media breaks one big issue into chunks of

manageable pieces of information, and selects a few pieces to feed the public. As a

consequence, media outlets unconsciously construct reality based on one aspect of

an event. Because news stories are essentially narratives and interpretations to

which the public accepts as truth, it is increasingly important to account for how

events and individuals are presented in the news.

This paper focuses on examining the agendas of Inquirer.net and Rappler,

both Philippine-based online news portals, and how they utilized framing in

presenting Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in their news articles. It attempts

to objectively label the issues covered by the select media outlets that defined the

first 15 days in office of the top public official. It also maps any patterns, trends or

associations which were significant in the overall portrayal of the president.

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Ultimately, this study serves as another contribution in understanding the role of

media in shaping the societys perception on important issues such as politics.

1.2 Theoretical Framework

The research uses Agenda Setting Theory (AST) as the foundation for the

overall research design of the study. It explains how the media functions in

disseminating information in a given society through different genres such as print

and online news, editorial cartoons, broadcast reports, advertisements, etc.

AST was formalized by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw (1972) in an

effort to provide theoretical insight on the relationship between the media and the

public. More specifically, it attempts to explain the correlation between the amount

of media coverage towards a particular story and the level of importance (salience)

that is attached by the public to such a story. AST provides a clear route towards

understanding the nature of media contents that appeal to the public by calling their

attention towards issues and events through its recurring coverage in different

media platforms.

Bernard Cohen (1963) recognized this relationship when he wrote in his

book The Press and Foreign Policy, the press may not be successful much of the

time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its

readers what to think about. What Cohen wrote was later referenced in the research

of McCombs and Shaw. That is, the information that the media distributes become
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the basis for public discussion, decisions, and attitudes. If they release abnormally

large amounts of material regarding one subject, that subject tends to dominate

public discussion (Agee, Ault, Emery 1997).

Rogers and Dearing (1988) proposed a linear approach towards media and

its effects. The media agenda affects the public agenda and in turn affects the policy

agenda. Assuming that public opinion directly affects public policy makes setting

the public agenda an important media effect (Reese 1990). The focus of this study,

however, is towards the nature and content of agenda creation within the media

itself. Effects on public opinion remain important but in different aspects. Reese

(1990) assumes that the shift away from the public is attuned to an elite-centred

view of political influence which basically means that the public is not a substantial

participant for it to have a direct role in the political process.

Consonance in agenda exists across media. The degree of similarities in

coverage is one factor that have lead scholars to examine the organizational and

institutional forces behind this standardization. Newspapers appear to agree less on

selection of specific stories and television networks are predictably the most

similar. Cross-media comparisons also converge on the relative categorical or

topical, proportions of news (McCombs & Shaw 1972). Similarities on stories may

be greater during campaign periods based on Pattersons research on the 1978

presidential campaign coverage of newspapers and television (cited in Reese 1990).

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The assumption in framing stories and determining their tone is largely

dependent in the source selection, whether quoted directly or not. The analysis of

news sources goes beyond the strictly topical description of content and begs the

question of whose agenda is being promoted. Molotch and Lester (1974) argued

that events in and of themselves are occurrences which sources promote into the

news. The notion that the media adheres to objective reality is rather obsolete given

how reality is already subjectively filtered even before it reaches the media and

therefore the audience.

The research adopted generic news frames proposed by Semetko and

Valkenburg (2000) in their analysis of national print and television news covering

the European Union summit of the heads of the member states. They identified five

frames namely: conflict, human interest, attribution of responsibility, morality, and

economic consequences.

The conict frame emphasizes conict between individuals, groups,

institutions or countries. The human interest frame brings a human
face, an individuals story, or an emotional angle to the presentation of
an event, issue or problem. The responsibility frame presents an issue
or problem in such a way as to attribute responsibility for causing or
solving to either the government or to an individual or group. The
morality frame interprets an event or issue in the context of religious
tenets or moral prescriptions. The economic consequences frame,
nally, presents an event, problem or issue in terms of the economic
consequences it will have on an individual, group, institution, region or
country.
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1.3 Conceptual Framework

The corpus is to two levels of agenda-setting as visualized by the schematic

diagram on the succeeding page.

The first level focuses on the issues, events, or political figures of the news

content and the amount of news coverage they receive. These are generally termed

as objects and are the unit of analysis in the first level. It is used in the same sense

as the psychological term attribute object or the thing toward which our attention

is directed or toward which we have an attitude (Kim and McCombs 2007).

Objects can either be in the form of public issues such as drugs, human rights,

immigration or in the form of public figures.

Salience measures to what degree an object is considered important.

According to the conceptual model introduced by Kiousis (2004), salience in the

media has an external characteristic (visibility) and an internal characteristic

(valence). Visibility can be further broken down into attention frequency of news

stories of an object and prominence location and length of stories in print media,

or time and length of stories in television or radio.

The second level focuses on the frames and framing devices found in the

news content. Ghanem (1997) argues that framing has several dimensions: the

topic, presentation, cognitive attributes, and affective attributes. Cognitive

attributes pertain to what is included in the frame while affective attributes concern

the tone of the frame, may it be positive, negative, or neutral. The cognitive
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attributes are used to identify the dominant frame of the story. This research adopted

categories identified by Semetko and Valkenburg (2000) on the framing of political

issues to uncover the dominant frame used in the news articles: conflict, human

interest, attribution of responsibility, morality, and economic consequences.

After being subjected to two levels of analysis, a clear description of the

media agenda of Philippine Daily Inquirer and Rappler, in its presentation of

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, can be drawn.

Figure 1. Schematic Diagram of the Conceptual Framework

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1.4 Statement of the Problem

The study framework served as a guide to answer the following questions:

1. What are the issues that can be drawn out from the news content?

2. What is the level of salience of these issues?

3. What generic frames are used in the presentation of issues?

4. How are frames exhibited in language use and its implications to the

portrayal of Duterte?

1.5 Scope and Limitations of the Study

This paper focused on determining the media agenda of Philippine Daily

Inquirer and Rappler. The corpus of this study is particularly limited to news articles

published online by the two media outlets. Specifically, the corpus dealt with the

inauguration into office and first 15 days of Rodrigo Duterte as Philippine

President. The news articles used in this study were the ones which appeared within

a three-week time frame, which started from June 25, 2016 to July 15, 2016.

In addition, only articles that mention Duterte in the body of the text are

included in the analysis. All the articles were accessed through the public online

archives of the two news websites. A total of two hundred eighty-two (282) articles

were analysed in this study. The analysis was limited only to the textual contents

of the news articles. Images were not included in the analysis of this study.
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1.6 Significance of the Study

Several theoretical accounts have delved with the examination of language

in mass media, although different in approach and framework, generally point to

the conclusion that media does affect public attitudes and behaviors, minimally in

some situations and strongly in others. This study will, therefore, be a significant

endeavour in guaranteeing that the media is made responsible with what and how

they report especially because of their reach and influence.

In politics, the media has an important role of levelling the playing field and

keeping it balance across platforms with equal amounts of coverage for all parties

and issues. Studying the production of media agenda provides insight on how

frames can be manifested through language in reporting.

Furthermore, the findings of this study is most beneficial to the average

consumer because they are the ones who are affected by media outlets strategic

ways of packaging stories, issues, or information in general. It is vital for the

audience to have a fuller grasp of how the media industry works because they form

their opinions based on what they absorb. If they are informed of the dynamics of

reporting, they can be more critical with their perceptions and choices.

1.7 Definition of Terms

The following terms are defined as they are used in the material to facilitate

better understanding of the studys key concepts.

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Agenda. List of issues and events that are viewed in a point in time ranked

in a hierarchy of importance (Rogers and Dearing, 1988).

Bias. This happens when the media favors one side rather than providing

equivalent treatment to both sides in a political conflict (Entman, 2007).

Domestic Policies. Theories, principles, and policies in governing the

country. Includes executive orders passed, bills endorsed, government

services streamlined, and remarks made by the current Philippine

president.

Drugs/Criminality. War and crackdown against drugs and criminality.

Includes police operations, inquiries on the neglect of due process,

investigations on human rights abuses and extrajudicial killings. News

content on high ranking individuals implicated in the drug trade is also

included.

Economy/Business/Trade. Plans and efforts of the government in

reviewing the countrys current economic and agrarian policies.

Includes contractualization in big businesses, food security and farmer

welfare, and land beneficiaries.

Foreign Relations. Foreign relations between the Philippines and other

countries. This includes territorial disputes, and international treaties

and agreements signed by the Philippines.

Frame. This is the characterization of an issue.

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Internal Politics. Political conflicts between and among parties and the

branches of Philippine government. Includes commentaries and

expression of support or dissent made by political figures towards their

peers in public office. News content about the relationship of Vice

President Leni Robredo with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is

also included.

Issues. Also known as Objects. These include but are not limited to ideas,

events, or political figures discussed in news content.

Other Social Issues. Issues other than the ones previously listed. Includes

news content involving gender and reproductive health.

Peace Process/Terrorism. Talks and efforts made by the Philippine

government in solving the peace situation in Mindanao. Includes news

about the acquisition of new military equipment, the Abu Sayyaf and

other militant groups.

Salience. This is the degree to which an issue on the agenda is perceived as

relatively important (Rogers and Dearing, 1996).