Abstract
The case of the Asian elephant is illustrative because of its ambivalent perception, holding strong cultural and symbolic dimensions, but also feared due to increasing damages and casualties. Through this case, we investigate how media portray an endangered species, both feared and revered. We used text mining, social network and lexical analysis to analyze 11,000 news articles dealing with Asian elephants over 13 years. We found a multifaceted image of the species with various framings. Most prevalent topics were local events recounting damages on crops, villagers' and elephants' deaths. Media also covered various topics from international traffic to conflict mitigation and conservation programs. Thematic articles depicted an institutional representation of human-elephant interactions focusing on global trends and management schemes, using a technical and sanitized lexicon. Conversely, event-driven reports were anchored in spatial and temporal lexicon, recounting elephant encounters and their specific behaviors, while quoting inhabitants with a highly emotional narrative. Our study suggests that event-driven articles highlighted the emotional response to damages caused by individual elephants rather than the demonization of the species. We suggest that, in the context of human-wildlife conflicts, fear and trauma should be better acknowledged to help reducing discrepancies found in media narratives before it fosters other sentiments such as anger and frustration that may impede conservation efforts.