Participation Type
Paper
Session Title
Session 1.18 Gender and Sexuality
Presentation #1 Title
The framing of women of Appalachia on ABC News programs from 1986 to 2012
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Previous studies of Appalachia in mass media have focused on fictional portrayals (Billings, 1999; Billings, Norman, & Ledford, 1999; Cooke-Jackson & Hansen, 2008; Hartigan, 1997) while very few address representations of Appalachia in news articles (Harry, 2004; Werner, 2007). This study will document the framing of women in Appalachia on ABC News television programs between 1986 and 2012 in an effort to explore part of that gap in scholarly research on television news programs. A keyword search using the terms “Appalachia” and “woman” or “women” yielded 48 transcripts in the LexisNexis Academic database for ABC News programs. A content analysis of all transcripts will be performed. Each transcript will be categorized based on how women in Appalachia were framed. Categories will capture the negative framing of women in Appalachia and will include: women in poverty, women in poor health, women in abusive relationships, women with too many children, women with too many pets, women without education, and women without intelligence. Categories of the positive framing of women in Appalachia will include: women in good health, women with self-efficacy, women with adequate education, and women with intelligence. To determine how often women in Appalachia were given voice in the transcripts, each person quoted will be coded based on race, gender, age, place, and social class. This study is important because it provides a starting point for discussion of how ABC News has framed women in Appalachia and it also documents the presence or absence of voice among women in Appalachia.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Dr. Melissa Boehm is an Assistant Professor of Mass Communication at Frostburg State University in western Maryland. Her current work explores the framing of women in Appalachia in mass media from 1980 to today.
The framing of women of Appalachia on ABC News programs from 1986 to 2012
Harris Hall 302
Previous studies of Appalachia in mass media have focused on fictional portrayals (Billings, 1999; Billings, Norman, & Ledford, 1999; Cooke-Jackson & Hansen, 2008; Hartigan, 1997) while very few address representations of Appalachia in news articles (Harry, 2004; Werner, 2007). This study will document the framing of women in Appalachia on ABC News television programs between 1986 and 2012 in an effort to explore part of that gap in scholarly research on television news programs. A keyword search using the terms “Appalachia” and “woman” or “women” yielded 48 transcripts in the LexisNexis Academic database for ABC News programs. A content analysis of all transcripts will be performed. Each transcript will be categorized based on how women in Appalachia were framed. Categories will capture the negative framing of women in Appalachia and will include: women in poverty, women in poor health, women in abusive relationships, women with too many children, women with too many pets, women without education, and women without intelligence. Categories of the positive framing of women in Appalachia will include: women in good health, women with self-efficacy, women with adequate education, and women with intelligence. To determine how often women in Appalachia were given voice in the transcripts, each person quoted will be coded based on race, gender, age, place, and social class. This study is important because it provides a starting point for discussion of how ABC News has framed women in Appalachia and it also documents the presence or absence of voice among women in Appalachia.
