Framing Development: Mobile

Phone Use In The South African Newspaper

ImonSyracuse University

So what’s the situation??

Development Communications

• Daniel Lerner - The passing of traditional society: modernizing the Middle East (1958)

• WWII and De-Colonization

• Improve Underdeveloped Countries

• Use Tools for Modernization

• Media is Modern

• Imperialism

Theory

Modernization Theory

• Synonymous with Progress ( Inglehart & Baker, 2000)

• Better Society

• West vs. “Third World “

Framing

• Created Narrative Structure

• Helps the Audience to Relate to the Story

• Provides Point Of View

• “Framing essentially involves selection of salience” (Entman, 1993)

Experiment

RQ1: What are the ways in which South

African newspapers highlight mobile phone use in the countries development?

RQ2: Are there western influences of

cultural imperialism on the framing of news stories that discuss mobile phone use and development?

Method

• Triangulate Methods

• Content Analysis Software – Word-ij 3.0 (Danowski, 2009)

• Wordle.com – Impressionistic Content Analysis

• Qualitative Textual Analysis

• 6 Articles from South African Newspapers -Mail & Guardian, The Times, The Star and the Sowetan

Findings

Results

RQ1:1) Mobile Banking – Word-ij, Wordle, Textual Analysis

2) Industry – Wordle, Textual Analysis

3) Health (HIV) – Textual Analysis

Results

RQ2:1) Yes - Textual Analysis

Figure 1. Word-ij 3.0

Figure 2. Wordle

Thoughts

Discussion

• Industry

• Money

• Health Aid

• “It was not what I thought I was going to find.”

Future Research

• Quantitative Content Analysis (No Frills)

• Look at NGO and International Organizations Reports on Mobile Phone Use

• VB Pro Would Get Updated (Stakeholder Frames)

• Make Dependency a Variable

• Look at Another Country or Region of Africa

Thank You