Media Framing of News Coverage of Same-sex Marriage Surrounding the U.S. Supreme Court Legalization Decision

The purpose of this research is to explore which frames, dominant frames, and tones are used in news coverage of same-sex marriage before and after the U.S. Supreme Court decision to legalize these marriages. In addition, public opinion surrounding the decision and agenda-setting effects were also examined. This study used a content analysis and secondary survey data from the Pew Research Center to explore these factors. A content analysis of print newspaper articles and broadcast transcripts from four print sources and six broadcast outlets was used to gather the 286-article sample. Findings suggest that the tone of the article is impacted by the type of frame that is used, (1) political/legal, (2) religion/morality, (3) civil rights/equality. Findings also suggest that religion/morality framing is the most negative in tone, followed by political/legal framing, and civil rights/equality framing is the most positive in tone. These types of frames used were also examined in the time period before and after and results indicated that political/legal framing was used more in the time before the decision, while civil rights/equality framing was used more often after the decision. The information gathered in this research will help improve understanding of the impacts of framing surrounding a landmark event and how these frames and tone of coverage may influence public opinion of same-sex marriage and its legalization.