Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Critical and Cultural Studies Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Critical and Cultural Studies

This Little Piggy Went To Press: The American News Media's Construction Of Animals In Agriculture, Carrie Packwood Freeman Jan 2012

This Little Piggy Went To Press: The American News Media's Construction Of Animals In Agriculture, Carrie Packwood Freeman

Carrie P. Freeman

This textual analysis examines the representations of farmed animals in national print and broadcast news discourse in over 100 stories published from 2000-2003. Findings show these American news media largely support the speciesist status quo by favoring elite viewpoints and failing to provide balance. Although exceptions are provided, news media often objectify nonhuman animals discursively through: 1) commodification, 2) failure to acknowledge their emotional perspectives, and 3) failure to describe them as inherently-valuable individuals.


Pardon Your Turkey And Eat Him Too: Antagonism Over Meat-Eating In The Discourse Of The Presidential Thanksgiving Turkey Pardoning, Carrie Packwood Freeman, Oana Leventi Perez Dec 2011

Pardon Your Turkey And Eat Him Too: Antagonism Over Meat-Eating In The Discourse Of The Presidential Thanksgiving Turkey Pardoning, Carrie Packwood Freeman, Oana Leventi Perez

Carrie P. Freeman

To celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday for at least the last twenty years, the President of the United States has hosted a press conference where he uses his executive powers to pardon the life of a turkey gifted to him from the National Turkey Federation, an agribusiness industry group. Considering the reality that the President (and millions of Americans) will indeed eat a turkey as the traditional centerpiece of their Thanksgiving meal, this utopian spectacle of a life-saving public pardon for one bird reveals an antagonism – a discursive rupture disclosing an opening between the hegemonic advertising rhetoric of the meat …


Stepping Up To The Veggie Plate: Framing Veganism As Living Your Values, Carrie Packwood Freeman Dec 2011

Stepping Up To The Veggie Plate: Framing Veganism As Living Your Values, Carrie Packwood Freeman

Carrie P. Freeman

America’s animal rights organizations have increasingly focused on vegetarian campaigns to protect the growing number of animals who are farmed and fished. But on what basis do these animal rights organizations promote plant-based diets in ways that will resonate with a meat-eating American public? To determine how animal rights organizations align their values with those of the public, this textual analysis examines how values are framed in the print and electronic food advocacy campaign messages of five national animal organizations in 2008. Findings reveal that campaigns associate veganism with altruism, health, environmental responsibility, and humanitarianism. Campaigns appeal to Americans based …