Comparative Study On Disaster News Between Cross-Strait Media Based On The Frame Theory

On August 12th,2015, dangerous goods warehouse exploded, which was owned by Tianjin Ruihai International Logistics Limited, killing 160 people and making tens of thousands of innocent people lose their homes. On June 27th,2015, dust explosion accidents occurred in Baxian Water Parkin of Taiwan, which caused 516 people injured, and among them over 194 people were seriously injured. Because of their sudden happening and man-made causes, these two major disasters have aroused widespread concern. The news agencies on both sides across the Taiwan Strait have played an important role in delivering information and stabilizing public opinion during the accident. However,how to construct their respective news media framework to report a catastrophic event is the theme of this study.Disaster news is an important framework practice. Therefore, this study adopts content analysis method to analyze news on Sina and Yahoo Kimo, and also compares the contexts produced by these two news agencies that was in the framework of various types of information and different circumstances. First of all, we find that media on both sides have common in selection of thematic framework. They prefer the fact frame and neutral frame and pay more attention on factual information when reporting the disasters. Secondly, cross-strait media also show differences due to different social situations and media traditions. They have own characteristics in terms of reporting methods. In addition, it has been found that there are prevalent problems in cross-strait media, such as lacking of long-term concern on the accident, deep reflection, and the voice of experts and the accident party in the news.