Media salience and the process of framing

Coverage of the Columbine school shootings

A presentation by Logan Molyneux of Chyi, H. I., & McCombs, M. (2004). Media Salience and the Process of Framing: Coverage of the Columbine School Shootings. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 81(1), 22-35.

Overview Attribute agenda setting and framing New measurement scheme Columbine coverage in The New York Times

Literature Agenda setting

Attributes of an object Compare media, public agendas

Framing Include or exclude elements of a story How is this framed?

Limitations Too specific

No cross-object comparison Too general

Thematic, episodic (Iyengar, 1991)

New measurement scheme Mutually exclusive Exhaustive Major aspects of news Generalizable

New measurement scheme

Columbine school shootings April 20, 1999 No. 2 news story of the year (Pew)

Behind President Clinton’s impeachment 68 percent followed closely (Pew)

Behind Rodney King and TWA flight 800 in the 1990s 170 articles from The New York Times over 30 days

Research questions RQ1: number and distribution of stories RQ2: use of space frames RQ3: use of time frames RQ4: relationship between time frames and space frames

Frequency

Frame-changing – space

Frame-changing – time

Space frame by time frame

Core frame Community and present "On 20 April 1999, two gunmen in Littleton, Colorado, killed

twelve fellow students and a teacher before turning their guns on themselves.“

Original, not most common Only 24 percent of stories

Extended frames “Antique cookie cutters” (Darnton, 1975) 76 percent of all stories Greatest contributor to salience