MEDIA FRAMING OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN ARTICLES FROM ABS-CBN NEWS' WEBSITE

Framing allows us to identify how the media approaches the reportage of a certain issue or crisis. This study determined how ABS-CBN news framed the COVID-19 pandemic in the articles published in their website. Ten (10) published online articles about the COVID-19 pandemic were examined through Scheufele's process model of framing. In the same way, this study adapted Semetko and Valkenburg (2001) and Zhang's (2021) potential frames and measuring questions to identify frames in the examined texts. As framing is strongly impacted by language, linguistic features utilized by the journalists were also examined through the lens of Van Dijk's microstructure of discourse. The study found that three politically-charged frames- attribution of responsibility, conflict and action, appear as a primary frame in the texts examined. Frames that are less prominent and frames that appeared only as secondary or marginal, has also been found to be embedded with political messages. It further emerged that the linguistic features were strategically used by the journalists especially to criticize the Philippine government. The findings reveal that political messages embedded in texts were given greater prominence, whereas issues relating to health and scientific dimensions were given less attention. This study contributes to the controversial topic of news media politicization, as well as to a growing body of research that has examined how the news media frames an issue in the midst of a health crisis.