Framing Air Pollution

The ever-growing air pollution is no longer a simple environmental problem.Climate change itself has long become a political agenda,causing political polarization in many developed countries,and thus,has been subject to framing by policy makers and news makers.The increasingly aggravated fine dust pollution in South Korea is following the similar pattern.While air pollution has become a highly political—rather than social—matter,it has been given unprecedented amount of news coverage.Yet,little research has been implemented to systematically measure how major news outlets in South Korea frame current air pollution.Previous literature in political science reveal that frames are critical to public opinion formation and public engagement.Based on the framing theory,this study seeks to provide answers to the question of how South Korean media define concurrent air pollution,identify its causes,evaluate the problem,and recommend solutions by taking a mixed method approach to content analysis.The computational content analysis of the articles from 11 major news media(n = 7,538)examining frequency and co-occurrence indicates that South Korean media(1)grant issue-salience on air pollution with increased volume,(2)define current air pollution with the focus of its severity,(3)bind neighboring countries with the major cause,(4)use vague terms in assessing the risk,and(5)suggest solutions that are low in efficacy.This study lends itself to both practitioners and scholars as it provides implications for better political communication of environmental risk as well as for deeper understanding in political framing of air pollution.