Obesity frames in British and German online newspapers, 2009-2011

Obesity affects people worldwide and in Western Europe, Britain and Germany have among the highest rates. It is thus unsurprising that research has tried to identify its causes. The media have been found to play a role - media use correlates with weight gain. The media can also affect obesity in another way - by featuring news articles which discuss certain aspects of obesity rather than others the media can, like a window, frame these aspects as especially applicable to how obesity should be understood and addressed. Informed by framing theory, this research integrated the study of: 1) news media content with the study of its antecedents - by analysing factors affecting news production; 2) news media content with the study of accompanying readers’ comments to identify correlations that may be used as a starting point for researching the consequences of news media exposure; 3) texts and photographs which together make up news media content. This study asked: 1) what frames did news articles employ and with what frequency; 2) were news articles in what emerged as the most frequently used frame also driven by the highest number of distinct news values and did significant differences in the use of frames exist between media outlets of different political leanings and reporting styles; 3) was frame use in news articles significantly correlated with frame use in readers’ comments. It emerged that: 1) among the frames of ‘medical progress’, ‘self-control’, ‘education’, ‘environments’, ‘acceptance’ and ‘coming out’, ‘self-control’ was most frequently used; 2) its use was not explained by the concentration of distinct news values, yet significant differences in frame use between media outlets lent themselves to explanation via political leaning and reporting style; 3) frame use in news articles was significantly correlated with frame use in readers’ comments except ‘self-control’.