News media framing of correctional officers: “Corrections is so Negative, we don’t get any Good Recognition”

Abstract

The work of correctional officers (COs) is essential yet remains largely hidden from society. As such, media framing plays an important role in shaping public perceptions of COs and their work. COs encounter adverse events over the course of their occupational work and are legally—and sometimes publicly—held accountable. In the current study, we first present a text-based frame analysis of local news media published between January 2019 and December 2019 to see how COs are represented in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL). We then draw from 25 interviews with COs employed at Her [His] Majesty’s Penitentiary in St. John’s, NL, to learn how the officers interpret the media’s framing of their occupation. Grounded emergent theme analyses of interview data reveal officers share concerns about what they perceived as unfair negative media framing. COs more often feel like objects of media framing with little agency to shape media narratives about their work. COs’ lay theories about their representation in mainstream news media illuminate a misalignment between media framing and their own work experience. This misalignment is a source of anxiety and additional job strain.