Home⇛PCS Review⇛vol. 15 no. 1 (2023)

Themes, Frames, and Practices: Editorials of Philippine Broadsheets During the 2022 Campaign Period

Adelle Liezl Chua

Discipline: Journalism

 

Abstract:

This paper examined the themes and frames of editorials of Philippine newspapers during the 2022 campaign period and into the process of editorial production. Through an interpretivist paradigm and through a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, the study sought to answer the questions: What issues did the newspaper deem most important during the 2022 campaign period? How were the editorials under each of the themes framed and were the frames independent of the newspaper of publication? How did key newsroom personalities see the role of editorials and what processes did they observe in producing this specialist journalistic work? Thematic content and framing analysis were done on 336 editorials published by four broadsheets between February 8, 2022 and May 7, 2022, and a chi-square analysis was performed to determine the independence of the frames used from the newspaper of publication. Interviews were done with five journalists directly involved in the editorial production process. The study found that the top five themes were the elections, the economy, foreign affairs/ policy, health, and peace and order. Further, the Attribution of Responsibility frame was most used in editorials on the elections, the economy, and health. Conflict was the most dominant theme for foreign affairs/ policy, while Human Interest was dominant for peace and order editorials. The frames adopted and the publications were found to be not independent of each other in four most prevalent themes, except in peace and order editorials where the frames were independent of the newspapers. Finally, interviews with publishers and editorial writers showed that the publications observed different processes in writing editorials, and key newsroom personalities were mindful of the continuing relevance of editorials amid the changing media landscape.



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