News media framing of an organizational crisis A content analysis of midland savings and loans crisis

Abstract

This study investigated the News Media coverage of Midland Savings and Loans crisis which occurred in 2018. Through a qualitative thematic content analysis, a total of 20 news articles from the Daily Graphic and the Daily Guide were analyzed to examine the dominant news frames, the different news frames and tone of voice present in the selected newspapers. The findings revealed that blame attribution, identification of a cause, solution, solidarity and moral evaluation frame were the dominant news frames employed by the selected newspapers. The study also found that the two dailies employ approximately identification of a cause frame in their reportage. The other four dominant frames were used differently by the selected newspapers. Moral evaluation was the least used frame in the reportage of the selected newspapers. Additionally, the prevalent tone of voice was negative in the two media outlets.