Nostalgia waves: a media framing of post-Communist nostalgia in Romania
Nostalgia waves: a media framing of post-Communist nostalgia in Romania

Summary/Abstract: This article explores the post-communist nostalgia waves within a media framing perspective, focusing first on the context of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Romanian communist regime, when public opinion polls, along with their media coverage fueled a debate over an unexpected social trend: Romanians’ nostalgia for communism. The first part of the paper is dedicated to the theoretical framework of the study, the framing process, the typology of news frames and the framing devices. A twofold approach is used in the content analysis of the news: first, a framing analysis of 175 articles published between 2008 and 2019 that covered public opinion polls, and next, the framing devices employed in the construction of news headlines. The second part presents the results, with the finding of two editorial waves (in 2010 and 2014), a proposed meaning of the nostalgia “issue specific frames”, and a variety of nostalgia framing devices used in the headlines. The latter pinpoint the specific rhetorical short-cut used in 14% of the headlines that were framed from a “nostalgia for communism” angle. The results are put in perspective with the framing theory, and future research is outlined with a framing effects analytical framework.

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