Edinburgh Napier University

  The economic and social composition of rural society has changed irrevocably. The role of the market town as economic epicentre of rural wealth has all but completely evaporated (Courtney & Errington, 2003). Rural areas, inclusive of mountainous ones, are witnessing, after many years of isolation, new regenerative activities. Within this environment alternative forms of economic support have grown. One growing element of that is tourism, of which events and festivals are seen as significant factors (Robertson & Darby, 2007). Events have the ability to draw positive effects for rural environments but the demand for these to be social cultural ones has received little attention (Reid, 2007).
As Getz (2008) indicates, the current research focus looks to explain the outcomes of events. He further points to the role that media content analysis can play in that. The research here uses a media framing technique (Entman, 1993; Van Gorp, 2007; Peel & Steen, 2007) to analyse the media coverage of the impacts of festivals and events. The results clarify that there is a marked change in the relationship between the community and their perception of the potential impacts of festivals on the rural area. These indicate the significance of – and the call for public and private sectors to ensure – event and festival plans based on socio-cultural factors as well as
economic development.