News framing of population and family planning issues via semantic network analysis

Abstract

Contentious political debates regarding the issues on population and family planning have been perennial over the past four decades. While its prominence in the public agenda varies depending on other national issues vying for public attention, its presence in policy and political agendas is constant. Here, computer based framing analysis is developed that examines the pattern of media coverage on the population issue in the country. The content of 146 articles sampled from 1988 to 2007 in Manila Bulletin is analyzed by creating a network of concept co-occurences. The network shows small-world characteristics with a scale-free distribution, implying that the discussion of an article revolves around few central ideas. Moreover, cluster analysis of the network suggests three well-defined frame themes, namely: (1) Development Frame; (2) Maternal Health Frame; and (3) Framing by the Catholic Church. Our results support the thesis that the lack of progress in discussions about suitable population policies is due to the mismatched frames within which it is discussed.