Semester

Summer

Date of Graduation

2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

College of Creative Arts

Department

Reed College of Media

Committee Chair

Rita Colistra

Committee Member

Bob Britten

Committee Member

Elizabeth Cohen

Abstract

This research examined digital news coverage of the East Palestine train derailment to determine the frames and dominant frames used in both local and national coverage of the disaster, and whether these frames differed over time. Specifically, this research used a content analysis of digital newspaper articles from five media outlets—three national level and two local level—and applied the frames identified from Colistra’s (2010) study of print news coverage of the 1972 Buffalo Creek mine disaster. Results revealed significant differences between the most frequently used frames between local and national coverage, shifts in frame usage over time within each media level (i.e., local versus national), and differences in the dominant frames that shaped the overall narrative of articles across media levels. The findings from this research help improve understanding of frames used in disaster news coverage and different coverage and roles of local versus national media covering such disasters, with additional insight into how the East Palestine train derailment was framed in media coverage of the disaster in the current digital era.

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