Exploring news framing in military-oriented newspapers

This research paper explores news framing within two military-oriented newspapers, the Stars and Stripes and Military Times, on the topics of sexual assault and the effects of deployment on military families, as well as the organizational and extramedia factors that influence how military news reporters frame news on these topics. Major frames for sexual assault include failures in the military justice system; a "troubling command culture" (Tritten, 2016); the difficulty that sexual assault victims in the military face in speaking out; and a worsening of sexual assault problems in the military system. Major frames for deployment effects include: not enough institutional/cultural support for military families with deployment-related issues; the need for military families to reconcile these issues; military spouses' tendency to shelve their own emotional needs during/after deployments; and the cultural stigma military mothers face when they deploy. The Military Times frames articles to include a broader audience and focuses on advocating for service members' health and career needs, while the Stars and Stripes focuses on a narrower military audience with emphasis on military family relationships. Both newspapers focused on pinpointing problems and causes in sexual assault articles, and solutions or moral implications in deployment effects articles (Entman, 1993). Perceptions of mission and audience appear to influence news reporting at military-oriented newspapers more than ownership.