A Comparative Analysis of a Shared (Inter)National Story: How Brazilian and US Presses Covered Sean Goldman’s Recovery

Abstract

Journalists do not tell audiences the truth but versions of stories they understand to be true based on what they have seen and know. This comparative analysis of 41 US and Brazilian news reports investigates the first return of an international child abductee from the United States to Brazil and back: Sean Goldman. Framing theory along with the ideological level of the hierarchical model of news influences help clarify four salient latent news frames that arise when two somewhat similar nations with different press systems tell this (inter)national story: A game of high stakes; The muted prize; US citizen superhero; and Remember the press, forget the subject. That the players involved in the story come from the right race and class evidences how and why this one incident became a shared news event that rose to the highest offices of each land. More comparative studies about (inter)national journalistic practices and institutions are called for.