Framing the ‘War on Drugs’ in the Philippines

The Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has gained quite a reputation in both national and international sphere due to his controversial war against drugs. Accordingly, this article aims to determine the media frames used in reporting the issue. By employing mainly content analysis, three Philippine national newspapers (namely, Manila Bulletin, Philippine Daily Inquirer, and The Philippine Star) are analyzed to observe the repeating media frames and the depictions of actors involved in the drug war. It is revealed that the Law and Order, Crime and Justice Frame, Security and Defense frame, Conflict frame, and Responsibility frame are mainly used by the three newspapers. The study also reveals that media narration of the anti-drug campaign is rather neutral in tone and there is no observable extreme manipulation of stories favoring one group over another