No abstract

When it comes to disability, powerful ideas are articulated in and circulated through the media. Through framing analysis, this study examines how the media portray disability and people with disabilities in a sample of Flemish print news and entertainment magazines. The study aims to understand the dominant and alternative frames related to disability by scrutinising which aspects of reality are selected, rejected, emphasised or modified in the production of a media text. Participatory analysis of articles from 16 Belgian magazines over one year (n1⁄4184) reveals a number of frames and counter-frames. Results indicate that the media tend to perpetuate and reinforce the stigma of those categorised as disabled as 'Other' and disability as one of the most frightful obstructions in one's life, while counter-frames underlining the notion of persons with disabilities being different but not 'abnormal' are relatively absent. Points of interest This study offers insights into dominant and alternative frames related to disability in the Flemish print media. Frames can be described as the angles or perspectives from which a media story is told.  Media texts from different media magazines were analysed by means of a framing analysis.  The research reported here was 'inclusive' research, thereby combining and equally valuing experiential knowledge as well as academic knowledge from different contexts and disciplines.  In this article, an inventory of dominant frames was developed, together with alternative counter-frames that may offer 'new' perspectives regarding disability. This type of research covers academic research in the intersecting fields of Media Studies and Disability Studies, and makes a contribution on both an empirical and a methodological level.

Although the relations between media coverage and the public are complex, the media has a powerful influence on the way ‘disability’ as a phenomenon is perceived and on the process of attitude formation. Hence, it is important to document the depiction of people with disabilities and the myths and stereotypes perpetuated by media portrayals of persons with disabilities. This paper reports on a quantitative examination of the extent and nature of the coverage of people with disabilities in the print media in Flanders, the Dutch speaking part of Belgium. Seven newspapers and 16 magazines between January 2003 and December 2012 were content-analysed. Key findings include a sorely limited coverage, or even total lack of representation, in certain media sources. The study also discovered interesting correlations between gender, age and type of magazine on the one hand, and the type of disability on the other. Analysis also revealed that print media focuses on certain disabilities. In addition, the results showed that, looking over the ten-year time span, some events have more influence than others on the evolution of the quantity of coverage. The paper concludes with a discussion of these findings and their implications, from the perspective of disability studies and with reference to Cooley’s concept of the looking glass self. It is argued that media representation of disability reflects certain broader ideologies and socio-political processes shaped by basic exclusionary social frames. Yet, the media do more than hold up a mirror to basic mindsets and frames. As the media functions as mechanisms for strengthening and entrenching the social order, they transmit hegemonic conceptions and play a significant role in the ongoing construction of disability discourses.

DiGeSt 8(1) General Issue - Editorial

Editorial of DiGeSt issue 7.1