ETHICAL AI IN U.S. NEWSPAPER COVERAGE: MEDIA FRAMING AND CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY

As U.S. corporations increasingly adopt artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, ethical development and deployment concerns have become central to public discourse. This thesis investigates how news media in the United States cover and frame ethical issues related to corporate AI practices and whether media outlets hold corporations accountable for AI-related harms. This study, grounded in agenda-setting and media framing theory, explores the relationship between media narratives and public awareness of ethical AI issues, emphasizing the media's role as informer and watchdog.

The study uses a mixed-methods design. A quantitative content analysis of over 14,000 U.S. newspaper articles published in 2024 identifies the frequency and prominence of ethical themes, including beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, justice, and explicability. A qualitative analysis of 366 sampled articles examines whether ethical concerns are critically assessed.

Findings reveal that while ethical concerns—particularly those related to risk, privacy, and job displacement—are present in media coverage, other principles, such as transparency and corporate accountability, are underrepresented. Media framing often emphasizes the benefits of AI and economic progress while minimizing structural harms or explicit attribution of responsibility. The study also identifies systemic challenges journalists face in covering AI ethics, including corporate influence, limited source access, and media–tech partnerships that may compromise independence.