6 Interpretation of the tax affair on the basis of media reporting and 
using the model of social framing of issues 
In order to examine the present case according to the analytical matrix of Wolfgang Eichhorn, 
it first appears useful to gain a general overview of the course of media reporting by analyzing 
the media reports in detail on a daily basis. Building on this, we can identify the actors and 
describe the general functions as processes (see Eichhorn 2005, 152). 
For this purpose, the author will use the time segments introduced in Chapter 5, which exhibit 
different focuses of issue selection and presentation of the actors. The first major time 
segment from November 1999 to December 2007 will not be included in this analysis, since it 
is used only as a framework for understanding the chronological context and overall picture of 
the tax affair. 
The following figure shows the quantitative media reporting from 1 January to 1 May 2008. 
  
  
  
  
600 + X 
5004 
5 400 — 1 
£ Phase 1 | Phase 4 à Subsequent 
= | 11 I phase 
zo» | ; | 
E ! | 
t | 1 | 
> 2004 ! 1 ! 
t T I T UCL-166.5 
! I 
z 1004 | | | | | I \ _ 
UF 3 FW A^ X-75.6 
| 1 
0d An | MY Vin 
LCL—153 
  
  
  
  
S S & SS S S S & 
FF FFF SF SES 
aN NS MÀ 0," y 05^ 05^ eu e Nat 
S S S S" Q S S n 
UD N^ Od S9 e FT KT e 
Date 
© 
  
  
  
Fig. 6: Number of total media reports from 1.1. - 1.5.2008 (Source: own compilation) 
The graph also clearly shows that reporting returned to a similar level as in phase 1 after the 
maximum phase from the middle to the end of February 2008, but that it remained at a higher 
level than before. Fig. 7 below shows a direct comparison of the two phases and also lends 
statistical support to the above statement: the arithmetic mean in Phase 1 is 18.9 media reports 
per day; in the subsequent phase, it is 38.0 media reports per day. 
38