Fear as a Hybrid Frame: Media Framing on WhatsApp During the 2024 United States Presidential Campaign

Teresa Sádaba; Jairo Darío Velásquez Espinosa

doi:10.51698/tripodos.2026.60.03

Authors

Teresa Sádaba Universidad de Navarra https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2441-5724
Jairo Darío Velásquez Espinosa https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2906-4780

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51698/tripodos.2026.60.03

Keywords:

Media framing, Fear, Electoral Campaigns, WhatsApp, Emotional Framing

Abstract

This article analyses the media framing strategies employed by Spanish-language Latin American news outlets in their coverage of the 2024 United States (US) presidential campaign. Drawing on a quantitative content analysis, 262 news articles from six countries —collected through the outlets’ official WhatsApp channels— were coded for the presence of strategic, thematic, and fear-related frames. Findings confirm the predominance of the strategic frame (97.7 %), the prevalence of the thematic frame (87 %), and the prominence of fear as a hybrid framing device (74.8 %), whose presence was significantly correlated with both strategic and thematic frames. While fear did not intensify during predefined key weeks, its temporal variation suggests more complex narrative modulation. Fear does not operate as an isolated category but rather as a cross-cutting emotional resource that amplifies other framing structures. This study provides empirical evidence of WhatsApp’s role as a curated channel for distributing editorial content and contributes to the broader debate on affective hybridization in electoral framing within closed digital environments.

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Este artículo analiza las estrategias de encuadre mediático empleadas por medios hispanoamericanos en la cobertura de la campaña presidencial de Estados Unidos de 2024. A partir de un análisis de contenido cuantitativo, se codificaron 262 artículos periodísticos de seis países —identificados a través de los canales oficiales de WhatsApp de los medios— para detectar la presencia de encuadres estratégicos, temáticos y relacionados con el miedo. Los resultados confirman el predominio del encuadre estratégico (97,7 %), la persistencia del encuadre temático (87 %) y la relevancia del miedo como un dispositivo híbrido de encuadre (74,8 %), significativamente correlacionado con ambos tipos de encuadre. Si bien el miedo no se intensificó durante las semanas clave predefinidas, su variación temporal sugiere una modulación narrativa más compleja. El miedo no opera como una categoría aislada, sino como un recurso emocional transversal que amplifica otras estructuras de encuadre. Este estudio proporciona evidencia empírica del papel de WhatsApp como un canal de distribución curado para contenido editorial y contribuye al debate más amplio sobre la hibridación afectiva en el encuadre electoral en entornos digitales cerrados.

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Author Biographies

Teresa Sádaba, Universidad de Navarra

Teresa Sádaba Garraza is Full Professor at the University of Navarra, where she teaches strategic communication. She holds degrees in Journalism (University of Navarra) and Political Science (UNED). She was a research scholar at the London School of Economics and Political Science (1998) and at the University of Texas at Austin (1999). In 2001 she defended her PhD dissertation, La teoría del encuadre (framing) desde una perspectiva simbólica, which received the Extraordinary Doctorate Award from the School of Communication, University of Navarra. Her international experience includes serving on a research group for the European Parliament on “Globalisation of the media industry and possible threats to cultural diversity” (2001), being a Fellow at the Salzburg Seminar Session 417 on “Strengthening Democracy and Governance: Women and Political Power” (2004), participation in the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program on “State and Local Government” (2005), and a Fulbright grant (2006) to conduct research on lobbying in the U.S. and Europe at George Washington University.
Her research centers on framing theory and its application to strategic communication across politics, banking, and fashion. She currently works at the intersection of politics and fashion, leads a research group on Digital Fashion, and regularly delivers public lectures and media contributions. Selected publications include articles in Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, Revista Mediterránea de Comunicación, Universitas, and Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, as well as the books Cómo entender la política de Estados Unidos (2023) and Framing: el encuadre de las noticias (2008).

Jairo Darío Velásquez Espinosa

Jairo Darío Velásquez Espinosa is a Senior Researcher at IN-TEGRA Consulting, a firm specializing in anti-corruption, open government, business strategy, and access to information. He holds a PhD in Journalism (Political Communication) and master’s degrees in International Relations & Communication and in Advanced Studies in Political Communication. His academic work bridges media framing, political communication, and the construction of political realities.

Jairo has extensive teaching experience at undergraduate and graduate levels, where he has designed and taught courses in research methods, media framing, strategic communication, and public opinion. He has also supervised student projects and theses, coordinated academic seminars, and served as an invited lecturer on topics such as electoral communication, narrative analysis, and evidence-informed governance. Beyond the university, he regularly leads professional training workshops for public officials, journalists, and civil-society organizations on open data, transparency, and communication strategy.

His publications include a doctoral thesis on the framing of U.S. elections in Latin American media and peer-reviewed articles on media coverage of political processes. Combining academic rigor with pedagogy, his current agenda focuses on translating research on framing and emotional narratives into classroom practice, strengthening students’ analytical and methodological skills while fostering their capacity to apply communication insights to real-world governance challenges. His current agenda emphasizes teaching and curriculum development in research methods, media framing, and strategic communication, with a strong focus on student supervision, seminar coordination, and professional training for public institutions and civil society

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Fear as a Hybrid Frame

Media Framing on WhatsApp During the 2024 United States Presidential Campaign

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Teresa Sádaba, Universidad de Navarra

Jairo Darío Velásquez Espinosa

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