News Frames, Inter-Media Frame Transfer and The Financial Crisis

This paper examines the economic coverage of German newspapers at the onset of the financial crisis with the help of framing-theory. It has three basic objectives. The first, to identify the frames in the news coverage. The second: the documentation of these frames and their occurrence as well as their distribution in different media outlets. The third: the examination of inter-media influences, exerted by different media outlets upon each other. The authors introduce the concept of Inter-Media Frame Transfer and apply a multi-method-design composed of a qualitative and quantitative content analysis as well as an ARIMA-time-series analysis. Eight frames are identified. The representation of the crisis as a systemic threat can be seen as the dominant interpretation. Inter-media influences can explain some of the dynamics of media framing. Yet, media framing of the financial crisis appears to be mainly contingent on extra media influences.