Media in World Politics

5

Reporting Politics: Framing

Outline

News stories as 'persuasion' Frames and framing Persuasion and trust/credibility Political metaphors

'Frames' & 'bias'

Identifying bias is problematic External reality? Our own biases?

Reporting as a process of 'construction' Analysis of rhetorical narrative techniques Plot, actors, characters Story/issue 'frames'

News as persuasion

News persuades us that certain events have taken place and are important and that we should pay attention to them

Entertaining the Citizen

Quest: for political office (often during elections)

Conspiracy: deliberate thwarting of good intentions by secretive organisation.

Bureaucracy: again, individuals intentions are thwarted but there is some 'system' at work.

Soap: fallible and imperfect humans struggle together to realise some good intent.

Van Zoonen, Liesbet (2005) Entertaining the Citizen: When Politics and Popular Culture Converge. Rowman & Littlefield.

Love stories...

Rivalries and betrayals...

Frames vs. Biases

The idea of bias tends to reflect a view of the world which sees it largely as a dichotomy. Left v Right Democrat v Republican progressive v conservative Blue v Green

“A frame operates to select and highlight some features of reality and obscure others in a way that tells a consistent story about problems, their causes, moral implications, and remedies”

Entman, R. M. (1996). Reporting environmental policy debate: The real media biases. The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, 1(3):77–92.

Defining 'frames'

"I assume that definitions of a situation are built up in accordance with principals of organization which govern events […] and our subjective involvement in them; frame is the word I use to refer to such of these basic elements as I am able to identify."

Erving Goffman 1974: 10f

Goffman, Erving. 1974. Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. New York: Harper

Defining 'frames'

"Frames are principles of selection, emphasis and presentation composed of little tacit theories about what exists, what happens, and what matters."

Todd Gitlin 1980: 6

"[t]o frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation."

Robert Entman 1993: 52Gitlin, Todd. 1980. The Whole World Is Watching: Mass Media in the Making and Unmaking of the New Left. University of California Press.Entman, Robert M. 1993. "Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm." Journal of Communication 43 (4): 51-8.

Defining 'frames'

Pan, Z. and Kosicki, G. M. (1993). Framing analysis: An approach to news discourse. Political communication, 10(1):55–75.Gamson, W., Croteau, D., Hoynes, W., and Sasson, T. (1992). Media images and the social construction of reality. Annual review of sociology, 18:373–93.

“cognitive windows”

“maps to navigate multiple realities”

'Frames' and 'packages'

FRAMEOrganising

idea

metaphorsVisual images“eg.icons”

Exemplars“lessons from history”

catchphrases

depictions

Gamson, W. A. and Modigliani, A. (1989). Media discourse and public opinion on nuclear power: A constructionist approach. American journal of sociology, 95(1): 1–37.

'Frames' and 'biases'

Gamson, W. A. and Modigliani, A. (1989). Media discourse and public opinion on nuclear power: A constructionist approach. American journal of sociology, 95(1): 1–37.

“This frame typically implies a range of positions, rather than any single one, allowing for a degree of controversy among those who share a common frame.”

“A bias defines a tendency to frame different actors, events, and issues in the same way, to select and highlightthe same sort of selective realities...”

Framing '9/11'

“The deliberate and deadly attacks which were carried out yesterday against our country were more than acts of terror, they were acts of war […] This will require our country to unite in steadfast determination and resolve. . . . This will be a monumental struggle of good versus evil, but good will prevail.” (Bush)

Framing '9/11'

“Seymour Hersh’s (2002) article described the extensive support—financial, cultural, and otherwise—that the Saudi leadership had given to Islamic extremism and terrorism. Hersh suggested that it was no coincidence Osama bin Laden and 15 of the 19 hijackers of 9/11 were Saudis, and pointed toward the need to recognize that this putative ally was quite possibly a more critical target for American attention and perhaps wrath than Afghanistan.”

Entman, R. M. (2003). Cascading activation: Contesting the White House’s frame after 9/11. Political Communication, 20(4):415–432.

Nuclear power Examines newspaper and network news reports on

nuclear power related issues between 1945 and Chernobyl (1986).

Three 'eras' identified: Age of Dualism: From Hiroshima through the

1960s Rise of an Antinuclear Discourse: 1970s to TMI

(1979) Life Imitates Art: From TMI to Chernobyl

SAMPLE: “network evening news broadcasts on ABC, CBS, and NBC; Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report; and a 'saturation' sample of editorial cartoons and syndicated opinion columns that includes virtually all those published during the sample periods.”Gamson, W. A. and Modigliani, A. (1989). Media discourse and public opinion on nuclear power: A constructionist approach. American journal of sociology, 95(1):1–

37.

Nuclear frames

Progress package: This package frames the nuclear power issue in terms of the society's commitment to technological development and economic growth.

TV utterances on nuclear issues

%

Nuclear frames

Soft paths package: “Split wood,not atoms […] Nuclear energy relies on the wrong kind of technology – centralized and dangerous in the long run […] We need to pursue alternative,soft paths”

TV utterances on nuclear issues

%

Nuclear frames

Runaway package: fatalistic and resigned - “We did not understand what we were getting into with nuclear power. We thought we could harness it to maintain our standard of living. Now we are committed to it and will sooner or later have to pay a price of unknown dimensions”

TV utterances on nuclear issues

%

'Persuasion' We have access to many different types of stories. What persuades us that 'news stories' are

different and especially worthy of 'trust'? Jayson Blair (NYT: sacked) Johann Hari (Independent etc. - lost his job) Narciso Yepes (lost contract with AP)

'Persuasion' We have access to many different types of stories. What persuades us that 'news stories' are

different and especially worthy of 'trust'? Jayson Blair (NYT: sacked) Johann Hari (Independent etc. - lost his job) Narciso Yepes (lost contract with AP)

'News style' Not entertainment Sober (words and clothes), 'dry', 'serious',

reliance on 'official fact', 'professionalism'

'Persuasion' We have access to many different types of stories. What persuades us that 'news stories' are

different and especially worthy of 'trust'? Jayson Blair (NYT: sacked) Johann Hari (Independent etc. - lost his job) Narciso Yepes (lost contract with AP)

'News style' Not entertainment Sober (words and clothes), 'dry', 'serious',

reliance on 'official fact', 'professionalism'

Elections/politics as 'war'

Elections/politics as 'a race'

Elections as 'a romance'

Conclusions

Political coverage is made up of 'stories' These stories create a 'political narrative' The form of these stories is influenced by the

nature of the political system they report and the media system that reports them.

They are also affected by the 'frames' that are in circulation within a society.

'Framing analysis' can help identify these frames and thereby draw attention to what is excluded from media reporting of politics.