EXAMINING VISUAL IMPAIRMENT MEDIA USAGE ACROSS MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN US NEWS

The purpose of this study is to research issue frames that are associated with news coverage of visually impaired individuals as well as the assistive technologies they use to consume media. A qualitative textual analysis was implemented to examine how articles from The New York Times frame visual impairment and assistive technologies. The main frames found in news articles are discussed in terms of the dominant or most discussed frame and other frequent frames about visually impaired individuals and assistive technology. One hundred and sixty-six articles were examined to complete the findings. The results show that most of the articles were associated with the thematic frame, which focused on the issue and overall visually impaired community, and the messages that the articles wanted to give the audience were mostly informative.