Gone Fishin': A Framing Analysis of the Fight Over a Small Town's City Seal

Abstract

This study is a framing analysis of regional and national newspaper, Internet, and Associated Press news coverage of a legal dispute over the inclusion of a fish symbol on the city seal in the small town of Republic, Missouri. Analysis of news articles revealed 4 frames. First, news reports framed the dispute as trivial. Second, news accounts framed the plaintiff in the lawsuit against the city as a religious outsider because of her Wiccan beliefs. Third, news accounts framed the dispute in terms of grassroots support for the fish symbol and outside meddlers who opposed the fish symbol. The fourth frame cast the dispute in terms of a battle or holy war.