An Analysis of News Framing: Facebook Data Scandal Coverage in 2018

This report analyzes the news framing of the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal, examining five different newspaper articles published around the same time. The analysis focuses on the headline text, structure of the articles, and the illustrations used. The report provides an overview of the key themes, details, and features of the news event as presented by each newspaper, highlighting any differences in their approach. The study includes a brief overview of the research process, the gains received, and the obstacles faced during the project. The report compares and contrasts the coverage, including the use of video, quotes, and different writing styles, concluding with an assessment of how the event was portrayed across different media outlets. The analysis includes specific examples from The New York Times, The Guardian, Macomb Daily, CNBC, and NBC News, providing a detailed insight into how each paper framed the story.

AN ANALYSIS ON NEWS FRAMING

Running Head – News Framing Analysis
AN ANALYSIS ON NEWS FRAMING
Introduction
News is an important aspect of everyday life, which enables one know the current
happenings of the world where we live in (Shoemaker & Cohen 2012). Usually, news is
provided to the people by various media such as radio broadcasting, television, newspapers,
online bulletins, etc. The news covers general topics such as politics, economics, judicial
proceedings, business, entertainment, sports, in addition to natural calamities, criminal
activities, and other events from all over the world. Generic news covers the current affairs
locally, which pertains to their state and country, and globally, which includes the entire
world. The newspaper, which originally was used in China, is a very important mode of
communicating news all over the world. Even as online versions of newspapers have taken
over, the newspaper is still the most preferred mode of news by almost all people.
One of the most shocking incidents which shook the world early this year was the
Facebook-Cambridge Analytica Data Scandal, which involved the illegal collection of the
personal information of more than 80 million Facebook users (Schneble, Elger & Shaw
2018). The CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg testified before the Congress in April 2018,
and publically apologized for the abetment of data breach. This news made headlines in
various forms and was discussed threadbare by all the news agencies all over the world. In
this essay, five newspapers carrying this article are chosen, and the headline texts, the
structure of the articles, and the illustrations carried are analyzed. An overview the key
features of news contained in the articles is also discussed. A brief report is made on the
research process, the gains received, and the obstacles faced in the course of this project.
2

Running Head – News Framing Analysis
Article 1
The New York Times 2018, 'Mark Zuckerberg Testimony: Senators Question
Facebook’s Commitment to Privacy', News, The New York Times, Washington, USA.
The headline of this article by The New York Times had a brief about the happenings
at the testimony of Mark Zuckerberg, and gave us a gist about the US Congress senators’
reactions and apprehensions on the activities of Facebook. So, going by the headline, it had a
heads up of what the Facebook CEO would have faced during the testimony.
The online article was structured in a blog format, with a short video of the news item
just below the headline. A short brief of the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal and
why it was brought to testimony is given. A description of the live setting inside the Congress
was depicted, both by words and in a picture form. Quotes from within the testimony, of the
statements by both Zuckerberg and the senators were provided as standalone items, to serve
as eye catchers for the detailed description below. Certain preemptive assumptions were
made by the editors themselves, such as “Did Facebook deceive its users?”, and were
provided as topic headers, with the paragraph below either defending or negating the
assumptions. Certain additional information, that was not a part of the testimony but news of
related significance, such as “As Zuckerberg was being grilled, Facebook’s stock price
jumped”, were highlighted, in order to inform the readers about the dynamics of the events.
Other related information such as Facebook’s prior apologies for errors, the general public
reaction to the news of the scandal, etc was depicted in a pictorial format.
This news item was a comprehensive analysis of the events that occurred before,
during, and after the testimony, including the testimony itself.
3

Running Head – News Framing Analysis
Article 2
Watson, C 2018, 'The Key Moments from Mark Zuckerberg's Testimony', News, Tech,
he Guardian, NA, The Guardian, Washington.
The headline of this article by The Guardian was direct and to the point, as it focused
only on one aspect, that was the happenings of Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony. Going by the
headline, one can expect it to be a clear and concise recap of the event.
The online article was structured in an essay format, with a short video of the news
item just below the headline. After the video, there was a single line report about the
testimony, and the news item directly covered the testimony. The reason and the duration of
the testimony were covered in a concise statement. There were headers that were made up of
the key points, such as “Right to Privacy”, “Regulations”, Russian Interference”, etc, which
had a single paragraph with the statements of the respective people paraphrased. Random
statements that were made by Mark Zuckerberg in the testimony, such as “Yes, we store
data... some of that content with people’s permission”, “It was my mistake, I am sorry”, etc
were grouped under relevant headers. The article ended rather abruptly, and there was no
logical flow between the sequences of events that ensured. There were no illustrations or
pictures of the events, apart from the video, or no related information that could be shared
alongside this news in the article. The editors have structured this article in such a way that it
seemed like a high-school essay format, with not much information to engage the reader. The
fact that this article was published a day after the testimony, they might have saved the
analysis for a later date.
This news item was more like a short recap of the event, with only select quotes from
the proceedings on a few select topics of the testimony.
4

Running Head – News Framing Analysis
Article 3
Rizzo, S & Kelly, M 2018, 'Fact-checking Mark Zuckerberg's testimony on Facebook
and data collection', News, News, Macomb Daily, Macomb Daily, Michigan.
The headline of this article by Macomb Daily was indicative of an analysis done on
the testimony by Mark Zuckerberg, and that it had to pint out a few lacunae in the testimony.
Going by the headline, it would seem that the news has something more to offer than the
testimony itself (Swofford et al. 2018).
The online article was structured in a blog format, with a picture of Mark Zuckerberg
arriving at Capitol Hall for the testimony. The article began by pointing out Zuckerberg for
misleading the world with his responses, as they editors felt that some of them might be
untrue. General information of Facebook and its workings is put up, with the nature of “data”
that is in question being analyzed, whether it is the data that the users willingly post, or the
data that is tracked down. The questions by the congressmen to Zuckerberg about the data,
and his responses were paraphrased. An interpretative translation of what the Facebook CEO
said, and actually what he meant to say is discussed. Certain contradictory information
regarding data privacy, and the data tracking of people who haven’t signed up for Facebook
were discussed, and the CEO’s response was termed as unsatisfactory. However, the article
lacked a strong structure and seemingly focused on only one aspect of the testimony. Apart
from the initial image, there was no image or screenshot of the alleged data leak, which if
added would have strengthened the claims of this article.
This news item was more of an informal blog, with random information and counter-
allegations, and randomly picked statements from the testimony grouped together in an
article.
5

Running Head – News Framing Analysis
Article 4
Kharpal, A 2018, 'Mark Zuckerberg's testimony: Here are the key points you need to
know', News, Tech/Cybersecurity, CNBC, CNBC News.
The headline of this article by CNBC offers a clear picture of the events that occurred
during the testimony of Mark Zuckerberg. Going by the headline, we can expect a concise
and clear brief about the proceedings of the testimony.
The online article was structured in a blog format, with the highligts of the scandal
presented in bulleted points immediately after the headline. A short video of the tesimony
follows the introduction. Following the video, certain key points such as the confessions of
the CEO, the conflict of opinion between Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, future
elections, russian interference, etc were made, with brief reports of relevant statements of
both the senators and the CEO under the aforementioned headers. Certain stray statements
such as “I have more confidence that we are going to get this right”, and “Most people do not
read the whole thing, (terms and conditions), but they have the opportunity to”, were also
mentioned. There were numerous links within the article, with many phrases hyperlinked to
different articles. For example, the term “Zuckerberg clarified this (paid version)” was
hyperlinked into another article titled “Mark Zuckerberg hints that facebook has considered a
paid version”. The article did not have any images or illustrations, however it was replete
with numerous videos covering the testimony, the viewpoint of Cambridge Analytica,
Facebook regulations, etc. The article tended to end abruptly, without a concluding statement
or a perspective from the editors, which would have given a proper closure to the news item.
Overall, this news item was more of a comprehensive online blog, with numerous
links, videos, and written material, all combined into a single article.
6

Running Head – News Framing Analysis
Article 5
Allen, J & Abbruzzese, J 2018, 'Mark Zuckerberg testimony as it happened: Facebook
CEO grilled by senators', News, Tech, NBC News, NBC News, Washington.
The headline of this article by NBC News is indicative of a live status update of the
testimony of Mark Zuckerberg at Capitol Hall. Going by the headline, one can expect to have
a comprehensive overview of the testimony.
The online article is structured in the form of a live report, with inputs being provided
alternatively by both the editors of the article. Immediately below the headline, there is a
short video of the Facebook CEO apologizing before the senators at Capitol Hall. Following
this is a series of status updates, which cover every single aspect of the testimony, right from
the questions asked, to the body language of Mark Zuckerberg. Short paragraphs of the
statements provided by the senators, and the reply provided by the CEO also feature in this
report. The report is time-stamped, and has covered all important proceedings of the
testimony, right from the beginning, capturing even the breaks. Videos of live news reports
from the scene are also embedded within the article, with an introductory text preceding it.
Information from all over the world in relation to the event, such as tweets from various
people, Facebook updates, changes in the stock markets, etc are also captured and succinctly
covered. This news report is replete with photographs and videos of the event, thus making
the reading experience lively and satisfying. Certain statements were made by the editors
themselves, such as “Why Zuckerberg has had a bit of an edge at times?”, or “Facebook does
delete your data”, were made, as an inference from a section of the interrogation.
Overall, this news item was more of a comprehensive live-tracking of the testimony,
and would serve as an unbiased source of information of those who might have missed
following the news on the day of the event.
7

Running Head – News Framing Analysis
Conclusion
In this essay, five different newspapers reporting a single news item on the same day were
selected, and their variations analyzed. Some of them had provided a comprehensive review,
some a live blog, some had provided the key points, and some had provided a detailed
analysis of a select issue. All the news items were published after the event, thus minimizing
the bias of access to information. All the news items were from the online versions of the
print newspapers, thus having provisions for further research. All newspapers chose to
provide the same news differently, in different variations of style and structure (Harry 2014).
As this research was an online activity, one could easily obtain information by computing the
correct keywords in the search toolbar. However, one must be free from click baits, and
unwanted articles, and must be diligent in the search. Even though news is a major source of
information, it might not always be unbiased; the authors; opinions might dominate the news
report. To conclude, one must be able to see through the intent of the article from the
headline, and choose the news item that is relevant to the need of the hour, by searching the
web with caution.
8

Running Head – News Framing Analysis
Report
When I took up the project of news report analysis, I was confident of an eventful
research ahead. News is an integral part of life, and my life was no exception. Newspapers,
flyers, radio news, television news, public broadcasts, etc were the variety of news forms that
I have encountered right from my childhood, before the advent of online news (Mitchelstein
& Boczkowski 2009). The task assigned to me was an exercise in news framing, wherein I
had to collect a minimum of five newspaper articles that dealt with the same news that
happened in the first five months of this year. Being a sports fan, I immediately thought of
providing a report on the Australian Cricket Ball tampering controversy (Parry, Kavanagh &
Freeland 2018). However, no sports-related news was permitted in this research. The sources
had to be unbiased, and I was specifically instructed not to collect the news from local
newspapers, due to their ill-reputation of providing biased content (Larcinese, Puglisi &
Snyder Jr 2011).
When I logged on to my Facebook page in the evening, I realized that Facebook itself
was in the news early this year, and it would be the best thing to report, as the news was
covered in all countries, from a local news bulletin in Ireland, to a national newspaper in the
United States of America. Thus, I chose the topic of The “Facebook-Cambridge Analytica
Data Scandal”, and I decided to review five newspapers carrying the news of the testimony of
the Facebook CEO before the US Congressmen, on April 11th, 2018. The five newspapers I
chose were of international repute – The New York Times, The Guardian, Macomb Daily,
CNBC, and NBC News. All articles covered the testimony in various forms and contents, and
in varying contexts. Though I felt that it would be an easy task, I realized the difficulties of
news reading, reviewing, and framing while doing this project (D'Angelo & Kuypers 2010).
9

Running Head – News Framing Analysis
In the sea of articles off the internet, to find a genuine article that would actually be
unbiased and correct to the point without having any political affiliations was a huge task.
The article had clear instructions not to repeat the content, and to report five different
perspectives of the same news item. In my analysis, I have provided one article covering live
report, two articles covering analyses, one article covering perspective, and one article
covering key points. One of the main obstacles I faced in my online search is the abundant of
click bait news articles (Rony, Hassan & Yousuf 2018). The title would be interesting, but the
content inside would not be worth a review. This, unfortunately, is done by many online
sources, in order to boost their page views and website traffic. Another hindrance was the
abundance of online advertisements (Bayles 2012), though understandably the source of
income for the websites, tended to cover the news item, thereby providing a distraction.
Overall, my experience in reading, researching, and reviewing news articles was an
eye-opener, as to learn how to choose which article must one quote for an unbiased report,
and on how to frame a news report by myself, by not rep[eating the mistakes of others. I
would recommend everybody to read multiple variations of the same news, in order to get a
more comprehensive outlook on the topic.
10

Running Head – News Framing Analysis
REFERENCES
Allen, J & Abbruzzese, J 2018, 'Mark Zuckerberg testimony as it happened: Facebook CEO
grilled by senators', News, Tech, NBC News, NBC News, Washington.
Bayles, M 2012, 'Designing online banner advertisements: Should we animate?', Proceedings
of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 363-366.
D'Angelo, P & Kuypers, J 2010, Doing news framing analysis: Empirical and theoretical
perspectives., Routledge.
Harry, J 2014, 'Journalistic quotation: Reported speech in newspapers from a semiotic-
linguistic perspective', Journalism, vol 15, no. 8, pp. 1041-1058.
Kharpal, A 2018, 'Mark Zuckerberg's testimony: Here are the key points you need to know',
News, Tech/Cybersecurity, CNBC, CNBC.
Larcinese, V, Puglisi, R & Snyder Jr, M 2011, 'Partisan bias in economic news: Evidence on
the agenda-setting behavior of US newspapers', Journal of public Economics, vol 95, no. 9-
10, pp. 1178-1189.
Mitchelstein, E & Boczkowski, P 2009, 'Between tradition and change: A review of recent
research on online news production', Journalism, vol 10, no. 5, pp. 562-586.
Parry, K, Kavanagh, E & Freeland, S 2018, 'Just not cricket: why ball tampering is cheating',
The Conversation.
Rizzo, S & Kelly, M 2018, 'Fact-checking Mark Zuckerberg's testimony on Facebook and
data collection', News, News, Macomb Daily, Macomb Daily, Michigan.
Rony, M, Hassan, N & Yousuf, M 2018, 'BaitBuster: A Clickbait Identification Framework',
AAAI.
Schneble, C, Elger, B & Shaw, D 2018, 'The Cambridge Analytica affair and Internet‐
mediated research', EMBO reports, vol 19, no. 8, p. e46579.
Shoemaker, P & Cohen, A 2012, News around the world: Content, practitioners, and the
public, Routledge.
Swofford, H, Lund, S, Fabricant, C, Iyer, H & Wilcox, A 2018, '30 Questions that Facebook
has yet to Answer - Gaps in the testimony of Mark Zuckerberg at a US Senate hearing?',
Facebook, Social Media Privacy, and the Use and Abuse of Data, IPTES: Just Talking
Testimony, Washington.
The New York Times 2018, 'Mark Zuckerberg Testimony: Senators Question Facebook’s
Commitment to Privacy', News, Politics, The New York Times, NA, The New York Times,
Washington, USA.
Watson, C 2018, 'The Key Moments from Mark Zuckerberg's Testimony', News, Tech, he
Guardian, NA, The Guardian, Washington.
11