This paper proposes the concept of `a media story-line' as a useful analytical tool for the study of media discourse. The Italian press coverage of the explosion at the nuclear reactor in Chernobyl in April 1986 is chosen as a suitable case study. A sample of 75 newspaper articles published during 1987-1991 in the Italian daily press is analysed in terms of issues and framing packages. A `media story' told in the newspapers about the accident and its consequences is reconstructed within each year-sample separately. A `media story-line' is thus traced and the transformation of the event of the accident to a social metaphor is examined.
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