Document Type
Peer-Reviewed Article
Publication Date
3-2020
Abstract
Perceived as one of the current environmental controversies in the United States, the Flint water crisis represents a case of environmental injustice and has attracted public attention and scrutiny. Among mainstream news media outlets, The New York Times is the newspaper that has intensively published news stories addressing the issue. Using qualitative frame analysis as the method, the researchers examined the way in which The New York Times framed the Flint water crisis from when a federal state of emergency was declared in 2016 to the one-year anniversary of this declaration. Examining how the Flint water crisis is framed in a mainstream United States national newspaper is valuable, especially during major national environmental disasters, with holding public officials and government(s) accountable. The researchers found that the newspaper employed four major frames in its coverage: causes and effects, responsibility, remedial efforts, and health crisis. The significance of this research expands and contributes to timely and germane scholarship on coverage and framing of environmental injustice in the print news media. However, a small sample size (N = 29) is one of the limitations of this study.
Recommended Citation
Congdon, M., Ngo, Q., & Young, E. (2020). Environmental injustice: Examining how the New York Times frames the Flint water crisis. Ohio Communication Journal, 58(1), 12-25.
Included in
Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Journalism Studies Commons
