enders2

Press Media Reaction to the Death of Elvis Aaron Presley in August 1977 - A Simple Content Analysis based on Selected Headline and Article Texts Published in Seventeen Countries

by Dr Gary Enders

Research objective:

To identify if there were any material differences in press (daily and weekly) media reaction to the death of Elvis Aaron Presley based on country and/or continent of publication in the initial few days following his death on August 16, 1977.

Table 1: Media Sample, Theme(s) and Indicator:

Country	Publication	Headline (English translation)	Main Theme(s) in Article	+ value	- value	º value
Argentina	Cordoba	Hombre Generoso (“Generous man”)	Two articles: one positive, one exploring the drug rumours	1	1	0
Australia	The Australian	“Lone Death for Presley”	Elvis a “24 carat, solid-state star”	1	0	0
Australia	The Sydney Morning Herald	“Memphis Bids Farewell to its ‘Good old boy’”	Elvis never forgot his roots	1	0	0
Australia	The Herald	One Hour Battle Fails…”King” Elvis Dies	Frantic attempts to revive Elvis in vain	1	0	0
Australia	The Sun	Fat, 42 and Fazed – The Tragedy of Elvis Presley which ended yesterday	He couldn’t sing anymore, his stage appearances were a joke….	0	1	0
Australia	The Herald	Fans Fight to Peer at Elvis	75,000 distraught fans battle to see the body of Elvis	1	0	0
Australia	The Age	Presley Fans Buy Big	Rush on Elvis records in Melbourne	1	0	0
Brazil	Jornal do Brasil	n/a	“Elvis is dead but his music will live on forever”	1	0	0
Canada	Globe and Mail	“Elvis died an artifact of supreme importance”	Elvis may have epitomised all that bad about American culture	0	1	0
England	The Times	“Elvis Presley dies in hospital aged 42”	Biographical story including health issue	1	0	0
England	The Guardian	“Much more than a hound dog”	Generally positive article	1	0	0
England	The Daily Telegraph	“Elvis Presley dies of ‘overdose’”	Generally positive article	1	0	0
England	Daily Express	“ELVIS IS DEAD”	Generally positive article	1	0	0
England	The Sun	“Homage to the King! Women weep for Elvis”	Generally positive article	1	0	0
England	Daily Mirror	“Siege of Grief”	Generally positive article	1	0	0
Finland	Ilta Sanomat	n/a	“He aroused youth all over the world into a united resistance to the old norms.”	1	0	0
France	Le Monde	“La Mort D’Elvis Presley: Le Demon du rock”	Cartoon emphasised negative aspects of American capitalism	0	1	0
France	La Parisien	“Les Medicaments Amaigrissants” (Diet Pills)	Did diet pills kill the King of Rock?	0	1	0
France	France-Soir	“Elvis Presley est mort – pour avoir voulu maigir” (Elvis Presley is dead – trying to lose weight)	Focus on Elvis’ weight and drugs	0	1	0
France	La Figaro	n/a	Mixed article both praising and decrieing Elvis	0	1	0
France	Le Matin	n/a	Homage to Elvis	1	0	0
France	L’Humanite	n/a	Biographical article commenting on Elvis’ influence on French youth	1	0	0
Kenya	The Daily Nation	n/a	Elvis Presley turned out to be no false idol…He was an innovator…	1	0	0
Mexico	La Prensa	n/a	Emphasis on Elvis the singer and also negative aspects on American culture	1	1	0
New Zealand	Evening Post	n/a	Positive tribute: Elvis had “clean cut qualities” and deserved to be called “superstar”	1	0	0
New Zealand	The New Zealand Herald	n/a	Influence of black music on Elvis	1	0	0
Peru	La Prensa	n/a	Elvis’ music to live on forever	1	0	0
South Africa	Rand Daily Mail	n/a	“black, white, young and old mourned Elvis the Pelvis” “very distressed, very sad”	1	0	0
Sri Lanka	Ceylon Daily News	n/a	“More people cared to…or were forced to listen to him than to any other modern singer”	1	1	0
Sweden	Aftonbladet	“Elvis Dead After Heart Attack”	Elvis the biggest pop idol ever; fan tributes (most positive)	1	0	0
Sweden	Expressen	“ELVIS DOG – sjuk, ensam, och radd” (ELVIS DIED – sick, alone and afraid”)	“Doctors Say Heart Attack”, “Police Say Drugs”	0	1	0
Sweden	New Day	n/a	Communist weekly offered some positive comments but emphasis on “the dark side” of the American Dream	0	1	0
Thailand	Bangkok Post	n/a	Focus on shock of Elvis’ death	1	0	0
USA	The Washington Star	“Elvis Presley”	Positive eulogy	1	0	0
USA	The Los Angeles Herald-Examiner	“Elvis Presley Dies”	Positive eulogy	1	0	0
USA	San Francisco Examiner	“Elvis Presley Dies”	“Heart attack, doctor says”	1	0	0
USA	The New York Times	“Presley Gave Rock Its Style”	Articles referred to Elvis as “Mr Presley”	1	0	0
USA	The Boston Globe	“Elvis is dead at 42”	“Grief”; questions about cause of death	1	0	0
USA	Chicago Tribune	“Reveal Elvis’ Drug Use and Violence/Associates Tell All In New Book”	Review of “Elvis, What Happened?”*	0	1	0
West Germany	Frankfurter Allgemmeine Zeitung	n/a	“His fame is so secure that we need not worry about his legend”	1	1	0
West Germany	Bild	Sein Todeskampf (“His Death Struggle”)	Tabloid story focusing futile attempts to save Elvis’ life	0	0	1
West Germany	Express	Elvis Presley/tot! Erstickt! (“Elvis Presley/dead! Struck down!”)	Tabloid story focusing on potential mass hysteria expected due to Elvis’ death	1	0	1
West Germany	Stern	n/a	Focus on Elvis’ devastating lifestyle	1	1	0
West Germany	Der Spiegel	n/a	“The King will live in our hearts”; “Don’t tell us he was fat”	0	1	0

* after the initial coverage of Elvis’ death in American daily newspapers, many picked up on the book, “Elvis, What Happened?” with its sensational claims of drug abuse and violence. Across the US, subsequent articles in many newspapers focused on what would become known as “the Bodyguard book”

Sampling:

Forty-four newspaper headlines/articles published in seventeen countries, representing a cross-section of global media articles, was examined. The media sample was published in the initial days following Elvis’ death on August 16, 1977. The newspapers were a mix of daily and weekly newspapers including “tabloid” publications. The full analysis included a comparison of how “tabloid” and “non-tabloid” publications reported Elvis’ death.

Headline texts and Articles sourced from:

1. “When Elvis Died Media Overload & the Origins of the Elvis Cult”, Neal & Janice Gregory, Pharos Books, New York, 1992, ISBN: 0-88687-663-X

2. Personal collection of Dr. Gary Enders

3. “The Australian Press, August 16, 1977”, David Troedson, www.elvis.com.au

Coding and Analysis notes:

The essential coding unit used by the researchers is the “Headline” used in August 1977 for articles about the death of Elvis Aaron Presley. The researcher also examined the article narrative to identify any inconsistencies in theme between the headline and the story.

As the analysis is intended solely as a general guide to the subject being researched, the researcher adopted a simple qualitative schematic on which to base the analysis. Undoubtedly, a more complex, multivariate data analysis would have yielded more robust findings. Three indicators or categories were used: positive, negative and ambivalent. More than one indicator can be recorded for individual headlines/reports where conflicting themes are expressed. The researcher ignored “relative” strengths of value between individual headlines/reports in conducting the analysis.

As the media sample used related only to a few days following Elvis’ death on August 16, 1977, it does not include or examine any change in reporting after that period.

Findings

The researcher found:

there was no appreciable difference in initial views and attitudes about Elvis Presley in the first few days after his death, based on a continent by continent analysis
there was a difference in initial views and attitudes about Elvis Presley in the first few days after his death based on a country by country analysis
countries with a strong “communist” element generally reported the death of Elvis Presley in a negative way – emphasising the evils of American capitalism. These countries included France and West Germany, although the researcher notes the West German press media expressed both “positive” and “negative” messages in its texts about Elvis’ death
newspapers in western countries were generally “positive” in their views and attitudes about Elvis, at least in the first few days following Elvis’ death
a continent by continent analysis of the media sample showed the following general indicator:

Table 2: Analysis Continent by Continent

Continent	Indicator
Africa	+
Australia	+
Asia	+
Europe	0
North America*	+
South America	0

* in the case of North America, the analysis showed that the USA press was generally “positive” in its initial reporting of Elvis’ death while the Canadian press media was generally “negative” in its initial reporting.

Researcher’s Acknowledgment:

The researcher is indebted to the seminal work of Neal and Janice Gregory as found in their superb publication, When Elvis Died Media Overload & the Origins of the Elvis Cult. Without their tireless efforts this paper would not have occurred.

This paper is an abridged version of the researcher’s analysis. The full paper examines 125 media reports from mid August 1977 and presents a textual analysis, split on a “headline” and “substantive article” basis as well as a headline:article textual comparison.

The researcher is contactable at: garyenders@yahoo.com