US media coverage of housing and the Great Recession: Do inequality and race matter?

Abstract

Housing is an issue that affects all individuals in society. People have first-hand experiences with housing, or the lack thereof, daily. Housing is also a macro-issue that is affected by and has implications for the nation’s economy and public policy. Despite the centrality of housing for individuals and society, few scholars have examined media coverage of the issue. We examine media framing of housing in the New York Times between 2005 and 2010, a period that encompasses the 2008 Great Recession. We investigate whether the New York Times framed housing episodically by focusing on individuals or thematically by focusing on societal factors. We compare framing of housing topics related to inequality – such as homelessness, affordable housing, foreclosure and public housing – to more general housing topics – such as mortgages, homeownership and economic policy. We also examine if frames differ depending on whether the coverage mentions racial minorities. We find that the New York Times framed housing primarily as a thematic issue during this period; however, for stories focused specifically on inequality and racial minorities, there was substantially more episodic coverage. This research provides the much-needed insight into news coverage of inequality and race in the context of housing and housing policy.