This study disentangles national and transnational influences on international journalism by
distinguishing convergent issue framing from nationally specific narrative in news texts. In
a comparative quantitative content analysis of the newspaper coverage in five democratic
countries (Brazil, Germany, India, South Africa, and United States) during four United
Nations climate change conferences from 2010 to 2013, both textual-visual framing and
narrative features were studied simultaneously for the first time. The narrative dimension
consisted of variables that gauge (1) the degree of narrativity in an article, (2) the type
of narrative (i.e. stories of catastrophe, conflict, success etc.), and (3) narrative roles of
victims, villains, and heroes. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to identify both the
prevailing issue frame in an article and its dominant narrative. Results show that issue
frames converge more strongly across countries while narratives are more closely related
to the cultural context and political particularities of each country. Investigating issue
frames and narratives concurrently helps to reveal country-specific patterns of narrative
coloring even for the same issue frame.
