earticle

영어

This study analyzed newspaper coverage of great oil spill in Taean area by identifying dominant news frames and their implications. Chosun Ilbo, Joong Ang Ilbo and Hankyore Shinmun were selected since the editorial tone of these papers range from more liberal perspective to the more conservative one. The result show that all the papers rely predominantly on the “Share and Volunteering Frame” in which the heroic efforts of more than million volunteers are highlighted. This frame conveys the meaning that the environmental disaster can be recovered by individual devotion. Simultaneously, this frame makes the fundamental cause and governmental and corporate responsibility invisible from the public eye. In a similar vein, the coverage also highlight the “Procedure Frame” where all the details about how to obtain appropriate compensation from international insurance fund is repeatedly explained. This framing also divert public attention from the more profound issue of anti-environmental business practice of global petrocorporate industry as well as the limited policy efforts on the part of the government. As as a whole, the newspaper framing of the environmental catastrophe implicitly contributed to the environmental status quo by leaving the corporations and government largely unquestioned and invisible. Further research should examine the actual newsroom process to reveal why and how environmental news tend to be the way they are.