Framing Disneyland with the death penalty : mainstream US print media coverage of Singapore.

• Main Author: Lim, Yuin Chien.
• Other Authors: Kluver, Alan Randolph
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Journalism::Overseas journalism; DRNTU::Social sciences::Journalism::Political aspects; DRNTU::Social sciences::Journalism::Reporting on public affairs and politics
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/1577
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The US news media occupies an influential position in the American political system, with a capacity to influence the conduct and course of US foreign policy directly, or through the shaping of public opinion. Available literature has also suggested US media outlets often portray Singapore as a modern, prosperous and much visited country, but also as a place which with an authoritarian tradition, lacking in political and press freedom. In the absence of existing scholarly research specifically on American media coverage of the city-state, this study mounted a pioneering examination of the topic. Drawing upon the methodology of framing analysis, it surveyed US media reporting on Singapore in 2003 in three leading American dailies – the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. The aim was to uncover the chief narratives or devices used regularly to depict Singapore across different issue areas. Besides the twin frames of modern Singapore and authoritarian Singapore already identified, the study concluded that Singapore was also seen often as a country embroiled in the global war on terror, and as an ally of the United States. Based on these findings, the study discussed what the consequent impact and implications might be for future US-Singapore relations. Through the research, it shed more light as well on how framing analysis can be conducted, and more broadly, on how the news media of one country can come to represent the reality of developments in another.