Online news framing: A content analysis of the coverage of three Manila online newspapers during the 1998 Philippine presidential election

This study examined how three Manila online newspapers framed the coverage of the 1998 Philippine presidential election. It analyzed election news content (N = 367 stories) in terms of tone of coverage, manner of candidate’s publicity, and the frames used in presenting election news. The results showed positive election news (55%) and favorable (76%) publicity towards the candidates. The dailies used more strategy frames (56%) than issue frames (44%). It was also found that a newspaper can use more in-depth analysis (issue frames) in its coverage and still remain on top of the readership and circulation game. Furthermore, the attribution of the causes and solutions to an issue was not assignedto a candidate but rather to an institution, lending support to Iyengar’s (1991) episodic-thematic framing anal-ysis.