Flying the friendly skies: Agenda setting and aviation safety following the implementation of the ISO 9001:2000 quality management system

In September 2006, the Aviation Safety (AVS) organization of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) obtained the world's first multi-site, multi-national ISO 9001:2000 certificate of registration for a federal regulatory agency in an effort to demonstrate to its customers and stakeholders a commitment to the quality of the products and services provided to the American flying public. In the analysis of media coverage of aviation accidents in the time period since the obtaining of the ISO 9001:2000 registration, this thesis seeks to observe if the framing and content of newspaper articles demonstrated a more favorable sentiment toward the FAA. It was found that there was no discernible impact on the reporting and framing of newspaper articles and, subsequently, how the American public perceives the safety of air travel in the United States based on media coverage despite a continuously increasing amount of positive stakeholder feedback.