Ending Decades of Animosity: Framing 2014 Thaw in US-Cuba Diplomatic Relations in the Washington Post and Miami Herald

Abstract

On December 17, 2014, US President Barak Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro simultaneously announced from Washington and Havana that their countries would resume diplomatic relations ended half a century ago. But how did the US press frame the detente? Exploratory and comparative in nature, the study mainly and inclusively examinesvia qualitative and quantitative analysis-the US press’s coverage of the restoration of US-Cuba diplomatic relations. It seeks out the themes in newspaper opinion items in the Miami Herald and The Washington Post to explain the American public’s position and interpretation of Obama’s new Cuba policy.