1. Framing Development: Mobile
Phone Use In The South African
Newspaper
Imon
Syracuse University

2. So what’s the situation??

3. Development Communications
• Daniel Lerner - The passing of traditional society:
modernizing the Middle East (1958)
• WWII and De-Colonization
• Improve Underdeveloped Countries
• Use Tools for Modernization
• Media is Modern
• Imperialism

4. Theory

5. Modernization Theory
• Synonymous with Progress ( Inglehart &
Baker, 2000)
• Better Society
• West vs. “Third World “

6. Framing
• Created Narrative Structure
• Helps the Audience to Relate to the Story
• Provides Point Of View
• “Framing essentially involves selection of
salience” (Entman, 1993)

7. Experiment

8. RQ1:What are the ways in which South
African newspapers highlight mobile phone use
in the countries development?
RQ2: Are there western influences of
cultural imperialism on the framing of news
stories that discuss mobile phone use and
development?

9. Method
• Triangulate Methods
• Content Analysis Software – Word-ij 3.0
(Danowski, 2009)
• Wordle.com – Impressionistic Content
Analysis
• Qualitative Textual Analysis
• 6 Articles from South African Newspapers -
Mail & Guardian, The Times, The Star and the
Sowetan

10. Findings

11. Results
RQ1:
1) Mobile Banking – Word-ij, Wordle, Textual
Analysis
2) Industry – Wordle, Textual Analysis
3) Health (HIV) – Textual Analysis

12. Results
RQ2:
1) Yes - Textual Analysis

13. Figure 1. Word-ij 3.0

14. Figure 2. Wordle

15. Thoughts

16. Discussion
• Industry
• Money
• Health Aid
• “It was not what I thought I was going to find.”

17. Future Research
• Quantitative Content Analysis (No Frills)
• Look at NGO and International Organizations
Reports on Mobile Phone Use
• VB Pro Would Get Updated (Stakeholder
Frames)
• Make Dependency a Variable
• Look at Another Country or Region of Africa

18. Thank You