ANALYSIS & FIGURES
Concept Maps
When analysing the concept map generated by Leximancer (with approximately 75% of concepts showing), several conclusions can be made.
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News coverage across the three different time periods focused on several different topics.
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The American people were always a key focus.
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The major themes coincide somewhat with the major events that took place during these three time periods.
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Sergeant Bergdahl was never the key focus - he was used as a stepping-stone to bigger issues.
It is easiest to analyse the data in conjunction with the three time periods.
2009
When news broke of Bergdahl's capture in 2009, it can be seen in the map that the media coverage focused around the Taliban. Concepts shown include 'military', 'captured', 'Afghanistan', and terms like 'killed' and 'death'. It is clear that news outlets were discussing the US Army and, in some part, the American people.
2014
When President Obama announced Bergdahl's release and the trading of the Guantanamo Bay prisoners, the media shifted focus.
Themes present in 2014 focus on the President himself, as well as the 'people'. Coverage from this time period seems to be less varied - focusing on the political fallout of the year.
2016
Although Serial podcast released it's Bergdahl-centric season just before this year, it appears that the majority of the news leant towards the military tribunal that Bergdahl was facing, as well as the possibility of any prison time that he may face.
Major themes in the data can be seen more clearly in the concept map to the right. Several of these themes (Taliban, people, and investigation) seem to be quite closely linked and the focus of the media.
Ranked Category Concepts
A further breakdown of the concepts from each time period (file) corroborates these findings.
2009
News media from the capture of Bergdahl focused heavily on the event itself and did not speculate much about its circumstances.
2014
Concepts surrounding these articles suggest a similar focus - reports on the President's announcement, the fallout of this decision, and the impact on the country.
2016
Data collected from recent articles highlight a more interesting phenomenon. Rather than focusing on the publicity that Serial podcast gave Bergdahl, many reports centre around Donald Trump and his use of Bergdahl in his presidential campaign.
Supporting Evidence
Conclusion
Since 2009, reporting on Bergdahl has seen three major focuses. What was initially a story about a US POW developed into a concern about the White House, and finally, saw publicity through both politicization and popular media.
When analysing the data, it was apparent that the inclusion of the sentiment lens had little baring on the overall conclusions. Although Leximancer recorded several occurrences of favourable and unfavourable language, neither was frequent enough to show true bias in the reporting.
One of the major concepts from the 2009 data was the term 'video'. Whilst in captivity, the Taliban released several videos of Bergdahl as 'proof of life' documentation. The related terms to 'video' highlight the media focus on these releases, as well as the Taliban themselves.