Flu frames

Abstract

This article investigates how the frame concept was used in media studies of the 2009 flu pandemic representation. It examines how frame (or framing) analysis has illuminated sociological features of these depictions and how the frame concept facilitated an analytic understanding of media representations. The article first outlines the principal uses of the concept in the social sciences. It then examines the approach and findings of empirical studies of the 2009 outbreak. The findings are reported under three headings: production, text and the consumption of flu frames. This schema provides a better understanding of key sociological dimensions of news responses to the 2009 pandemic. Most articles reviewed were conducted under the auspices of communication studies. It is shown that questions of frame production and the interpretation and challenging of frames, while not at the forefront of many analyses, nevertheless were not neglected.