1. Media Framing of the Ukrainian Political Crisis 2000-01 Olga Baysha (Editor-in-Chief, Omega TV, Kyiv) and Kirk Hallahan Colorado State University Abstract This study examined how five media framed the Ukrainian political crisis of 2000-2001, which was sparked by the disappearance of independent journalist Georgy Gongadze. Critics charged that Gongadze was abducted and murdered by order of Ukraine President Leonid Kuchima. Dominant media frames and framing devices (Gamson & Lasch, 1983) were identified in a content analysis of 829 news stories in February-April 2001. Frames were compared across outlets and seven milestone time periods to analyze the role of framing in the public debate. Media studied included evening broadcasts on three national TV stations (1+1, Inter, and UT-1), one newspaper (Pravda), and one independent news web site (Den=The Day). Findings  Ideology strongly influenced how different media framed the news and distorted the public deliberation.  Among 19 different frames identified, four frames each represented 10-11% of all stories. Together these accounted for nearly half (44%) of the frames used in coverage by these five media. These predominant frames were comparatively neutral in tone: political game, political reforming, East-West, and investigation.  Two main patterns of frames were used:  Overt propaganda (two or more negative frames toward political opponents)  Hidden attempts at manipulation (one or more ostensibly neutral frames combined with negative frames toward opponent). ICA Political Communication Division -2003 kirk.hallahan@colostate.edu | olya_baysha@yahoo.com frames toward opponents. Comparison of Positive v. Negative Frames Used By Pro-Oppositional vs. Pro-Presidential Media (Percentages of stories predominantly featuring frames)  Different frames dominated during seven different periods. Neutral frames predominated in five time frames. These included: East-West (Period 1, after opposition leader Julia Timoshenko was arrested, and Period 7 after the opposition abandoned street actions), political game and investigation (Period 5, after a court released Timoshenko), and reforming (Period 6, after Timoshenko was arrested again). Pro-Presidential frames predominated in two periods: people’s condemnation (Period 2, after a camp for protesters was destroyed) and renegades (Period 4, after the Ukraine minister of internal affairs resigned). The dominance of these themes was largely an artifact of the intensive, rabid coverage of opponents on UT-1. These findings challenge the argument that single peaks of framing prominence indicate public deliberation (Simon & Xeno, 2000).  Metaphors and depictions were the dominant framing devices. Most popular metaphors compared the crisis to a show,war, game or illness.  Media heavily exploited cultural values shared by Ukrainians: feelings associated with fascism, Civil War, Stalin’s repression, etc.  Coverage of the crisis by the foreign press was an important component in coverage by the newspaper Pravda (included in 20% of all stories). Foreign opinion was mentioned less frequently in TV, particularly in the pro-presidential UT-1.