Leiden University Student Repository

Di Luca, Melina Soledad (2020)

POLITICAL POLARIZATION IN 280 CHARACTERS OR LESS: An analysis of CNN and Fox News’ coverage of immigration on Twitter

Bachelor thesis | International Studies (BA)

This thesis studies how did top digital news media channels, CNN, and Fox News, frame news content pertaining to the U.S.-Mexico border crisis of 2019 via social media platform Twitter, making a comparison between the two media channels. Furthermore, this thesis analyzes to what extent, if at all, do the CNN and Fox News portrayals of the topic reflect the rising political polarization in American society. The primary objective of this study is to examine the difference in news framing between news outlets on the aforementioned topic, and understand their role and implications for political polarization in the U.S. This objective will first be addressed through a systematic review of the available literature, aiming to provide a comprehensive insight into the matter from a purely theoretical standpoint, and secondly by means of a comparative case study examining digital news content based on news framing analysis theory. This thesis aims to contribute to the fields of politics,...Show moreThis thesis studies how did top digital news media channels, CNN, and Fox News, frame news content pertaining to the U.S.-Mexico border crisis of 2019 via social media platform Twitter, making a comparison between the two media channels. Furthermore, this thesis analyzes to what extent, if at all, do the CNN and Fox News portrayals of the topic reflect the rising political polarization in American society. The primary objective of this study is to examine the difference in news framing between news outlets on the aforementioned topic, and understand their role and implications for political polarization in the U.S. This objective will first be addressed through a systematic review of the available literature, aiming to provide a comprehensive insight into the matter from a purely theoretical standpoint, and secondly by means of a comparative case study examining digital news content based on news framing analysis theory. This thesis aims to contribute to the fields of politics, political communications, and mass communications, with a particular focus on the study of news framing.Show less

News framing analysis

Political polarization

Twitter

U.S. media

CNN

Fox News

Mexico-U.S. border

border crisis

Author

Di Luca, Melina Soledad

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

BA International Studies- North America

Supervisors

Lukač, Morana

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en