Ideological framing in the public’s response to social media news on the Air India Flight 171 disaster

Abstract

This study examines the ideological frames that characterized public comments in response to online news on the Air India Flight 171 crash. Drawing on frame theory in discourse studies and a critical discourse analysis approach, the study examines comments from major online news portals in India, the UK, and the US as the public’s response to the plane crash. The findings reveal three main ideologies used by members of the public to make sense of the tragedy and to come to terms with it. They include blame attribution, national belonging, and public compassion and they illustrate how the public’s use of language to discuss an international disaster can (un)consciously realize ideological functions. The findings also show that the ideological framing of the plane crash enabled members of the public to select and emphasize specific aspects of the tragedy in their attempt to provide a particular problem definition, encourage or discourage certain interpretations, and make recommendations on issues surrounding the plane crash. The implications of the study for research on crisis communication, discursive framing, and digital meaning-making in social media discourse studies have been discussed.