Narratives of Native American Women and Tribal Courts: the Framing of the \u3ci\u3eViolence Against Women Act of 2013\u3c/i\u3e in Mainstream, Native American, and Tribal Press Coverage

The Violence Against Women Act is a legislation created to expand more legal rights and services to survivors of domestic violence or intimate partner violence. Frame analysis was used to examine the coverage of the Violence Against Women Act of 2013 in three genres of press media: mainstream press, Native American press, and tribal press. Based on the media frames produced in the three media genres, the legislation was presented as more of a conflicting or controversial issue in mainstream press through the use of the conflict frame and the Indian as other frame. But all news coverage also presented two emergent frames--the tribal sovereignty frame and the women\u27s rights frame--that explained the importance of expanding tribal sovereignty in order to protect Native American women on reservations. The news coverage of VAWA 2013 in all press genres also included perspectives from federal and state governmental sources as well as perspectives from tribal governments, Native American organizations, and social service agencies. This report concludes by discussing the implications of the media frames and occupational source use in terms of the three media genres