Frame Analysis of Selected Kenyan Newspaper Headlines on Kenyan Cases at the International Criminal Court (2011-2016)
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Date
2021
Authors
Chepkwony, Philip Kipkoech
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
This study undertook a frame analysis of selected Kenyan newspaper headlines on
Kenyan cases at the International Criminal Court. Specifically, the study
investigated lexical strategies syntactic strategies that were employed to construct
these cases in the headlines of The Daily Nation and The Standard newspapers. In
addition, this study also looked at the linguistic frames used to give portrayal of the
event and the subject groups. To study these objectives, the study adopted a
descriptive design. Therefore, qualitative methods were used in sampling and data
analysis. Purposeful sampling was used to select the headlines that were included in
the sample. The research used a purposively sampled corpus of 24 newspaper
headlines produced in two periods: the pre-confirmation of charges period of June to
September 2011and post-confirmation of charges period covering the pre-election
period of December 2012 to February 2013. The data was collected by retrieving the
newspapers sampled from the archives and culling the headlines that qualified for
inclusion in the sample. The newspaper headlines selected were close-read and
coded. The coded headlines were analyzed for the various lexical and strategies, and
the possible frames used. The results formed the basis of the discussion in the
analysis chapters. The study adopted an eclectic theoretical framework in which
Frame Analysis (FA) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) informed the analysis
of data. FA holds that we make sense of our experience by actively classifying,
organizing and interpreting. This theory holds that news texts constitute organized
symbolic devices that vital in meaning construction. CDA views discourse as a
social practice that constitutes the social world and is constituted by other social
practices. According to this theory, studying lexical choices and syntactic forms in
any context leads to an understanding of the discourse social structures like
ideology. The analysis shows that the two dailies favored the use of active verbs.
This, in turn, had the effect of sensationalizing the cases. The study reveals three
dominant frames; political propaganda, justice and credibility of evidence. It
recommends that the media operators should be more conscious in their linguistic
choices in framing sensitive issues to avoid polarization through sensationalizing
issues.
Description
A Thesis Submitted to the School of Humanities and Social Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Arts in English and Linguistics of Kenyatta University, September 2021
Keywords
Frame Analysis, Selected Kenyan Newspaper Headlines, Kenyan Cases, International Criminal Court (2011-2016)