Comparative framing of the Duggar family's women in entertainment news

Abstract

This research seeks to compare the framing used to portray the women in the Duggar Family in entertainment news media with the realities of the evangelical community. A summative content analysis was used to conduct this comparative study looking at the frames used across three different sources, and the framing differences between more traditional entertainment news sources versus more modern entertainment news sources. This is especially important as the U.S. Millennial generation, which according to the Pew Research Center is increasingly transitioning away from religious institutions, experiences the divisive impact of cultural widening between the religious and non-religious (Drake, 2014). By doing this research, one could potentially draw conclusions that the frames entertainment news media use for evangelical women influence societal stereotypes. Having analyzed 60 articles from People, Us Weekly, and E! News, all the frames identified by Mark Silk in Unsecular Media: Making News of Religion in America were found in addition to other frames outside of this scope. Additionally, the digital-first platforms heavily relied on their headlines to attract attention to their articles on the Duggars, even when they did not reflect the body of the article at large.