Second-level agenda-setting in German and Spanish news media. Germanwings's flight 9525 press conference with Lufthansa

Master's Thesis from the year 2022 in the subject Communications - Mass Media University of Amsterdam language: English abstract: This paper examines the following question: How successful did the press conference frames influence second-level agenda-setting in German and Spanish news media? In the flight industry cultural differences are present every day. When a crash occurs the airline's crisis communication requires meeting the journalistic expectations of different cultural spheres. Thus the study compares frames in Spanish and German news media. Humans gather information about the airline's crisis communication through traditional media formats. So high-quality newspapers (n = 255) and newscasts (n = 40) were sampled. Additionally the study compares the media formats. To understand Germanwings's and Lufthansa's sense-making frames were selected from a press conference. Afterward the impact on second-level agenda-setting which is about manoeuvring around issues and the debate's tone was examined. Essentially frames between both countries and both media formats varied. In detail the difference was stronger pronounced for the latter. Since in German news media the frames were more salient the company has to consider cultural particularities when being in a European conversation. Frames were also more successful in newscasts than in newspapers. Considering the wide reach of television the format is noteworthy for companies. Also the study determined salient actors in three dimensions: Occurrence prominence and centrality. Here experts airlines and political actors were salient. At this point a broad inclusion of civil society actors indicates a high quality of the debate. Finally future research could include the two explored dimensions in longitudinal comparisons. Also investigating the crisis communication of parent companies and subsidiaries should be considered.