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Abstract
This study examined web-based U.S. media coverage of Brittany Maynard’s 2014 decision to exercise Oregon’s right-to-die law. Using framing and information-processing theories such as dual coding, and visual and multimodal processing, the authors identified textual and visual elements of multimedia stories that conveyed cultural frames that shaped Maynard’s story. Findings were consistent with recent studies of print media coverage of the same topic; however, the additional analysis of interactive and static visuals extends those studies.
Acknowledgment
An earlier version of this article was presented in 2017 to the Visual Communication Division at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Chicago.
Notes
1 Oregon, Washington, and Vermont had legalized aid in dying in 2014. A court decision in Montana that would potentially legalize assisted death made it the fourth state with a recognized right to die. A similar case in New Mexico was not upheld.
2 The surveys for this report were conducted in late 2005 and early 2009; the results have a margin of error of approximately ±3%.
3 Many organizations have since relaxed prohibitions and policies against medical aid in dying, but at the time of this event were opposed to the practice.
4 The question was “When a person has a disease that cannot be cured, do you think doctors should be allowed by law to end the patient’s life by some painless means if the patient and his or her family request it?”
5 The margin of error for these surveys was ±5%.
6 From 1996 to 1999, the wording of the question was “When a person has a disease that cannot be cured and is living in severe pain, do you think doctors should be allowed by law to assist the patient to commit suicide if the patient requests it, or not?” The margin of error for these surveys was ±3% (Saad, Citation2013).
7 The Associated Press Stylebook & Libel Manual identifies physician-assisted suicide as a term synonymous with aid in dying, which is the terminology preferred by end-of-life advocacy organizations.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Kimberly A. Lauffer
Kimberly A. Lauffer, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Journalism at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana
Kelsie W. Arnold
Kelsie W. Arnold, MA, is a UX designer at GS&F in Nashville, Tennessee