Exploring a paradigm shift: The New York Times\u27 framing of sub-Saharan Africa in stories of conflict, war and development during the Cold War and post-Cold War eras, 1945-2009

This dissertation investigated The New York Times\u27 framing of sub-Saharan Africa during the Cold War and post-Cold War eras. The aim was to determine whether a paradigm shift has taken place in the way Western news media cover Africa following a change in the world view system from the Cold War to the post-Cold War. To look for frames, the research examined how The New York Times portrayed sub-Saharan Africa in stories of conflict, war and development. .Framing analysis methodology was used to examine the stories and to search for frames. Findings showed that The New York Times used violence as means, foreign intervention solution, incapable leadership, recurrent disasters, territorial protection and war against terrorism as frames for portraying Africa. The study found that foreign intervention solution is the overarching frame because it was found in all the three categories of stories - conflict, war and development - and depicts Africa as needing foreign intervention to be able to tackle some of its intractable problems. Findings also showed that in Africa disputes and political disagreements are not resolved through roundtable discussions, but through violence in the battlefield. Violence as means was found to be the second most pervasive frame, except it was not found in development stories