Level 1 coding: Descriptive variables
The first set of variables is descriptive, enabling the coders to identify the article. Data about the type of article and the section in the newspaper it appears will give additional indications of the importance of the article.
V.i. Coder ID V.ii. Coder name
V.iii. Article ID. This is the same article identity code assigned to the article when constructing the database. The code follows the format: year/ month/day/newspaper abbreviation/page number of article/order on page (if two or more articles) (e.g.
20150601NY1a).
V1. Newspaper
1. New York Times (NYT) 2. People’s Daily (PD)
V2. Year (Year of publication: 2015) V3. Month (Month of publication: 6-12) V4. Day (Day of publication: 1-31) V5. Headline
1. Staff (journalists, foreign correspondents) 2. Other Wire/ News Service (AP, Reuters, etc.) 3. Reader
4. Experts (ex., researchers, professors, specialists, statistics) 5. Government Source
6. Not stated
122 V8. Major news source (the source that appears most frequently in the news article; may be quoted directly. If no quoted sources, which source of information is referred to the most in the story?)
1. Politicians or Government officials
2. Ordinary people (ex., citizens, family members)
3. Experts (ex., researchers, professors, specialists, statistics) 4. Non-governmental agencies or staff
5. Other media outlets or news agencies 6. Other
7. No specific source
V9. Primary Topic (pick only one)
1. People (including refugee’s reactions, behaviors, emotions, etc.) 2. Policy (government/ other plans, meetings; politics; IR; diplomacy)
3. Action (e.g. policy enacted; aid / relief efforts; military strikes; protests; etc.) 4. Impacts (economic, security, cultural, etc.)
5. Responsibility 6. Other
V10. Secondary Topic (pick only one)
1. People (including refugee’s reactions, behaviors, emotions, etc.) 2. Policy (plans by government, international groups, or other org) 3. Action (e.g. operation of aid / relief efforts, military strikes, etc.) 4. Impacts (economic, security, cultural, etc.)
5. Responsibility 6. Other
V11. Focus on Refugees, ‘Migrants,’ or ‘Immigrants’ (pick only one)
1. Individual focus (The story focuses on individual refugees, their personal stories and/or stories of their families, perhaps addressing them by name in the article)
2. Mass/ group focus (The story focuses on the mass of refugees as a whole, reporting on the entire group as a whole. Does the article use language such as: “tides, flow, flood,”
etc. to describe the refugees? Does the article mention large numbers or statistics?) 3. No focus (The story does not explicitly mention refugees, but is strongly related to the
crisis, e.g. Syrian Civil War; Intervention in Syria; Immigration policy; etc.)
Level 2 coding: Frames
This section includes frames that are likely to appear in news related to the Syrian Refugee Crisis.
Frames can be determined according to what the headline refers to, the main focus of the text, and the sources used and quoted.
123 V12. What topical frame does that article fall into? You may only select one code from the following list:
1. Conflict (the story focuses on conflict between different groups such as political parties, different countries, different races, etc., but is not necessarily about war and violence.
The conflict frame also includes ideological conflict and disagreements OR efforts proposed/ taken to resolve conflict, such as government referendums, diplomacy, policy, etc.)
2. Economic Consequences (the story focuses on economic aspects of the crisis, such as unemployment, costs/ prices, budget etc.)
3. Human interest (the story focuses on people’s reactions or emotions, highlighting particularly emotional or dramatic aspects of the issue. Does the coverage use emotional words to describe issues such as: hospitality, sympathy, tragedy, hostility, anger,
xenophobia, etc.?)
4. Morality (this frame puts the event, problem, or issue in the context of morals, social prescriptions, and religious tenets. The morality frame may be used indirectly through quotations or inference, rather than directly because of the journalistic norm of
objectivity.)
5. Attribution of responsibility (Who is to blame for the Syrian Refugee Crisis? Who does the article hold responsible for the crisis? If you selected this frame, please answer question B.)
6. Other. It approaches the issue differently from the above choices. This should be used only if none of the above applies. Most frames should fit options 1-5.
V13. If the article fits into Frame 5 (Attribution of Responsibility) OR belongs to another frame but mentions “responsibility” or points out “blame” for the crisis: Who or What does the article hold responsible for the Syrian Refugee Crisis? Select only one of these options.
1. Syria (e.g., Assad regime, war crimes, failed policy, religious or cultural values, conflict in the region)
2. U.S. (e.g., Government under Bush, Obama; American culture and values; U.S.
imperialism; U.S. history of turmoil in Middle East, military actions in Syria)
3. Europe (e.g., EU history of imperialism; EU government’s poor refugee management:
building fences, poorly set-up refugee camps, using riot police, etc., European culture and history, especially elements such as racism or xenophobia.)
4. ‘The West’ or Western countries in general (perhaps naming specific countries or organizations, but also including typically Western values, history, economic influence, cultural influence, etc.)
5. Middle East (In general or specific mention: Middle Eastern regimes or governments, Middle Eastern tension, conflict, policy, regional disagreements, partisanship, ethnic or
124 religious clashes, Middle Eastern organizations, etc. Terrorist and extremist groups are separated into a different category, see #11)
6. Russia (e.g., Putin administration, military intervention in Syria, dubious intentions, stirring up conflict in the region, etc.)
7. China (ex., Chinese government arms sales to Middle East, China’s desire/ greed for energy in region, turning a blind-eye to human rights, ignorance or unwillingness to help with the crisis, etc.)
8. Refugees themselves (e.g., Refugees are not victims but opportunists; economic
‘migrants’ or ‘immigrants’ seeking better life)
9. Policy (e.g., Insufficient government policy or legislation is responsible for the Syrian war and/or refugee crisis; for example, UN policy for refugees and asylum-seekers made at 1951 UN Refugee Convention is outdated; weak EU immigration or asylum policy; or other policy, laws, regulations are to blame.)
10. Economics (e.g., Corporate greed/ Government greed for oil in the Middle East has caused violent turmoil in the region, exacerbating the Syrian war and refugee crisis; OR economic disparity has caused refugees to select more developed European/ Western countries as their destinations, etc.)
11. Extremism (e.g., Religious extremists or terrorists; groups such as ISIS, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah are responsible for the conflict/ driving refugees out of the region; other extremist or xenophobic groups such as Nazi’s/ neo-Nazi’s, etc.)
12. Universal Responsibility – (due to forces of globalization, past history, universal cultural values, or civilization as a whole, it is the responsibility of the world or ‘global community’ as a whole to find a solution to the crisis.
13. Human smugglers/ traffickers 14. Other
15. Not mentioned
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