This study analyzed over 400 newspaper articles from El Salvador's El Diario de Hoy to understand how its framing affected public rejection of the 2012 gang truce. It examined how the coverage impacted diffusion by influencing perceptions of the truce's attributes. The study also investigated how the paper depicted political actors and whether its frames were more often of peace or war. Understanding the media's role is important as political waves and elite consensus can shift frames and impact peace processes.

1. • In 2011 the UN declared El Salvador the world's most violent nation
• Homicide rate of 66 per 100,000 inhabitants (Organizations of America, 2013 para. 4).
• 2011 recorded more than 4,300 murders
• Highest rate since the peace accords in 1992 (Deibert, 2012 para.1).
• Most of these killings attributed to the country’s gangs or “Maras”
• Over 64,000 members
Introduction.

2. • Formed of Salvadoran immigrants to the USA during the civil war.
• The two largest maras are: Mara Salvatrucha and Calle 18
• these gangs have been deadly rivals since their beginnings
• In March 2012 they announced a truce
• It was backed by imprisoned gang leaders and the Catholic Church
• By July, that truce had cut the country's murder rate in half (Deibert, 2012 para. 2).
Introduction.

3. • Formed of Salvadoran immigrants to the USA during the civil war.
• The two largest maras are: Mara Salvatrucha and Calle 18
• these gangs have been deadly rivals since their beginnings
• In March 2012 they announced a truce
• It was backed by imprisoned gang leaders and the Catholic Church
• By July, that truce had cut the country's murder rate in half (Deibert, 2012 para. 2).
Introduction.

4. • “But many Salvadorans are still suspicious. Some believe the gangs have
been paid to participate in the truce -- an allegation denied by the
government and the gangs” (Pressly, 2012, para. 23).
• Polls show a generalized mistrust of the process (Encuesta UCA, 2012 para.3)
• Public opinion polls show that most Salvadorans view the pacification
process between gangs as a failure that only benefits the gangs and not
the general population (Cawley, M. 2013 para. 1-7).
Introduction.

6. “Much has been written about the role of the news media in conflict and war,
but very little about their role in peace. Searching through the hundreds of
studies on peace building and conflict resolution, it is difficult to find even a
passing reference to the press” (Wolfsfeld, 2004, p. 10).
Introduction.

7. • In El Salvador, the media have played an important role in the
unprecedented pacification process between the country’s most
dangerous street gangs.
• The extent of their influence on the process remains to be studied.
Introduction.

8. This study will explore the role that the news media have played in the
population’s rejection of the peace process, posing the question of how the
framing used by a leading newspaper affected the failed diffusion of the
truce and the pacification process.
Introduction.

9. • Most Diffusion of Innovation studies focus
on successful adoptions of innovations but
very few focus on the failure to adopt
innovations.
• Rogers noted that this bias is a weakness
of diffusion studies
• Leads researchers to ignore studies
regarding:
– Rejection
– Discontinuance
– Re-invention of innovations
What’s new about this study?

10. • This study follows Johnson and Kim’s
(2009) use of Framing and Diffusion of
Innovation theories to study a failed
diffusion
• Their study demonstrated that by using
both theories it is possible to understand:
– Diffusion of an innovation into a community
– The function of news coverage
– The role of political and social actors in that
diffusion.
• This study will use the concepts of both
theories to explain the failed diffusion of
the gang truce in El Salvador.
– Re-invention of innovations
What’s new about this study?

12. “Peace negotiations are pretty boring to cover
and even if something interesting is taking
place in the negotiations leaders from both
sides have an interest in keeping it secret.”
(Wolfsfeld, 2011, p. 40-41)
Conflict and violence are more newsworthy
than peace.
The Impact of Mass Media in Peace Processes

13. 4 types of impact on a peace process:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Play a major role in defining the political
atmosphere in which the process takes place.
Have an important influence on the nature of
the debate about a peace process.
Have an impact on antagonists’ strategy and
behavior.
Raise and lower public standing and
legitimacy of antagonists involved in the
process and their positions. (Wolfsfeld, 2011, p.11)
The Impact of Mass Media in Peace Processes

14. These definitions contribute to formulating the following
research questions:
RQ1. How did El Diario de Hoy’s framing of the gang peace
process contribute to its failed diffusion?
RQ2: What types of impact did the coverage of El Diario de Hoy
have on the truce?
The Impact of Mass Media in Peace Processes

15. • Wolfsfeld suggests that news media’s influence
on a peace process is best described as a cycle.
• Changes in politics lead to changes in media
performance which lead to more changes in
politics. (p. 31)
• Political waves, which arise when major events
such as an election happen.
The Impact of Mass Media in Peace Processes

16. He describes political waves as:
“sudden and significant changes in the political
environment that are characterized by a substantial
increase in the amount of public attention centered
on a political issue or event” (Wolfsfeld, 2004, p. 32).
The Impact of Mass Media in Peace Processes

17. • The following research question comes from the idea of
political waves:
• RQ3: How did the 2014 presidential campaign impact the
amount and the type of attention given to the pacification
process by El Diario de Hoy?
The Impact of Mass Media in Peace Processes

18. • This study will analyze the media coverage of the peace
process between gangs by drawing from Diffusion of
Innovation and Framing theory.
• “Whereas diffusion focuses on attributes that slow or speed
adoption, framing looks at entire sets of traits that move
beyond description to comprise a perspective” (Johnson &
Kim, 2009, p.186).
Diffusion of Innovation & Framing Theory

19. • In order to understand what has slowed the adoption of the
truce by Salvadoran population, it is important to take a look
at the way in which the peace process and its actors were
framed by the media.
Diffusion of Innovation & Framing Theory

20. Rogers describes an innovation as:
• “an idea, practice, or object that is
perceived as new by an individual or other
unit of adoption” (p.990).
• It is important to understand why some
innovations are adopted fasters than
others.
Diffusion of Innovation

21. • Rogers suggests that the rate of adoption
of an innovation is determined by the
following characteristics:
–
–
–
–
–
(1) relative advantage
(2) compatibility
(3) complexity
(4) trialability
(5) observability
Diffusion of Innovation

22. • The adoption of an innovation depends on
the perception of the potential adopters;
• therefore it is vital for its diffusion to
convince that audience that the innovation
is advantageous.
Diffusion of Innovation

23. • “Diffusion studies suggest that the way
individuals think about innovations affects
the rate that innovations are adopted in a
social system. This is often frustrating…
because the creator’s “truth” about the
innovation may not match the attributes
that adopters perceive” (Johnson, M., &
Kim, D., 2009, p. 186).
Diffusion of Innovation

24. The next research question stems from the concepts of diffusion
of innovation:
• RQ4. How did the coverage of EDH contribute to the
perception of the truce with regards to relative advantage,
compatibility, trialability, observability, and less complexity?
Diffusion of Innovation

25. “The central idea behind framing is contextualization:
Framing puts information in a situational or cultural
context that delineates how people evaluate information,
comprehend meanings and take action” (Hallahan, 2005, p.343).
• Framing allows key publics and organizations to form common
frames of reference; it defines the meaning of a message and
whether it will be portrayed in a positive or negative light.
Framing

26. • They reflect the biases, either positive or negative, through the use of
semantic phrases, and by telling stories that use particular syntactical,
thematic and rhetorical devices.
• A framed message triggers associations in the minds of the audience. Its
contextual cues can bring to mind memories that are either positive or
negative regarding the message (Hallahan, 2005, p. 340).
• Framing also primes audiences to think about a topic in a particular way.
Framing

27. • According to Hallahan, framing is contributes to the understanding
of how dominant social themes are used by the media to present
the news.
• News frames use symbolic devices such as metaphors, catchphrases
and visuals that resonate with the public.
• These devices help journalists to group together the information in
themes.
• They also help the public to make sense of daily news (Hallahan, 2005, p.342).
Framing

28. • Available frames change over time, culture and political circumstance (p.
27).
• When political elites agree on an issue, the single frame that dominates
the media is not questioned.
• On the other hand, when opposition grows alternative frames emerge,
changing the media coverage. (Wolfsfeld, 2004, p. 28)
• Wolfsfeld points out that editors do not invent news frames, but rather,
society creates them and editors use them when constructing their
stories.
• Their stories have to be constructed in a way that is acceptable to the
readers of that particular society.
Framing

29. •
•
•
•
•
“The news media can be important agents in accelerating political changes within a
given society, but to suggest that they initiate such changes contradicts most of what
we know about how journalists operate” (Wolfsfeld, 2004, p. 29).
Wolfsfeld suggests that the press can raise or lower the legitimacy of the people
involved in the debate over peace.
If the public attitude towards the actors is negative, chances are the political support
will be low, and vice versa.
The frames that the press constructs are a vital part of the adoption or rejection of a
peace process. (Wolfsfeld, 2004, p. 14)
This helps explain why it is so important to evaluate the level of elite consensus
concerning a peace process.
Framing

30. •
•
•
The lower the level of controversy among elites concerning the process itself, the
more likely Pro-Peace frames will dominate media discourse.
Peace frames will be used to organize information about both successes and
setbacks: successes will lead to more optimistic coverage and setbacks will be seen
as “problems” that must be solved.
Here too those who oppose peace will be treated as troublemakers, especially if
they resort to violence. The news media in such cases become active agents in
promotion of the peace process, constantly amplifying the existing consensus.
(Wolfsfeld, 2004, p. 28)
Framing

31. •
•
Johan Galtung’s concept of peace journalism contributes to the understanding of
framing in the media’s coverage of conflict. Galtung proposed that a conflict can
either be covered through war/violence journalism frames or peace journalism
frames (See tables 1 and 2).
“His classification of war journalism and peace journalism is based on four broad
practice and linguistic orientations: peace/ conflict, truth, people, and solutions. In
contrast, war journalism is oriented in war/violence, propaganda, elites, and
victory” (Maslog & Lee, 2005 p. 314).
Frames of Peace & Frames of War

32. •
•
•
•
Peace journalism must accept the current conflict and explore it deeply to
understand the context; the origins of the conflict and it must include views from
all sides in order to create understanding by the other sides.
Peace journalism can take the role of advocating for prevention and “emphasizing
the invisible effects of violence.”
War journalism promotes division between to sides, and a delivers a “them vs. us”
approach.
It focuses on a zero-sum game that tallies up the visible effects of violence (Maslog
& Lee, 2005 p. 314).
Frames of Peace & Frames of War

33. From the concepts of framing theory the following research questions emerged:
•
RQ5: How did EDH depict opinion leaders and political actors that supported the
truce? Opposed the truce?
•
RQ6. What frames were used more predominantly by EDH when covering the
truce, frames of peace or frames of war/conflict?
Frames of Peace & Frames of War

34. This study used quantitative content analysis to examine the coverage of the
gang truce by El Diario de Hoy.
The purpose was to examine how El Diario de Hoy framed the gang
pacification process in its articles.
• The research was based on the content analysis of approximately 400
newspaper stories from El Diario de Hoy.
Methodology

35. • The unit of analysis was the individual article from the news and opinion
sections of the paper.
• The stories analyzed spanned from March 2012, when the truce was first
made public, to a year and a half after, ending in 2013, with the
presidential campaign for 2014 was at its fullest.
• Two undergraduate students of the Department of Communications of
California State University, Fullerton were trained to code the content (See
appendix A).
• Intercoder reliability was calculated using Krippendorff alpha.
Methodology

36. • This study will explore the role that the news media have played in the
population’s rejection of the peace process
•
Trying to understand how the framing used by a leading newspaper
affected the failed diffusion of the truce and the pacification process.
• Answering the following research questions:
Summary

37. •
RQ1. How did El Diario de Hoy’s framing of the gang peace process contribute to its failed diffusion?
•
RQ2: What types of impact did the coverage of El Diario de Hoy have on the truce?
•
RQ3: How did the 2014 presidential campaign impact the amount and the type of attention given to the
pacification process by El Diario de Hoy?
•
RQ4. How did the coverage of EDH contribute to the perception of the truce with regards to relative
advantage, compatibility, trialability, observability, and less complexity?
•
RQ5: How did EDH depict opinion leaders and political actors that supported the truce? Opposed the
truce?
•
RQ6. What frames were used more predominantly by EDH when covering the truce, frames of peace or
frames of war/conflict?
Summary