CHAPTER 3
Television News Framing
Since the development of television news in the mid 1940s, television has rapidly
replaced newspapers as the primary form of information for Americans. Sig Mickelson, a former
CBS News president, documents the rapid speed with which television news integrated itself into
American society:
By the end of 1960 television news had moved light years ahead of those early
days. Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, John
Cameron Swayze, and Douglas Edwards had become names almost as familiar to
American citizens as the most popular Hollywood movie stars’. Newspapers
were changing patterns to interpret news and add background as a complement to
television rather than assume that TV was only a supplemental source of news.
Television set density in American homes had soared to nearly 90 percent.
Television would continue to grow but the patterns were established. The
revolution was over.1
Roper polls tracking the competition between television news and newspapers show a substantial
leap of respondents who answer that television is their major source of news information: in
1959, 51 percent of respondents named television as their source for news and 57 percent chose
newspapers but by 1979, 75 percent of respondents selected television and only 20 percent
1
Mickelson, 224.
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answered newspapers.2 The dramatic increase in television news viewership has drawn the
attention of political scientists who study media effects and political behavior.
One area of television news study is examining how the news is embedded with
contextual cues that facilitate and influence the decision outcomes of viewers. The interpretative
structures that provide the decision-making cues are known as frames. By casting a story within
a frame, people are better able to understand and subsequently respond to the story. Frames have
a considerable influence in how people respond to stories. In the often-cited experiment,
Tversky and Kahneman (1981) demonstrate the effectiveness of frames on decision-making. In
their study, they present the following problem:
Imagine that the U.S. is preparing for the outbreak of an unusual Asian disease,
which is expected to kill 600 people. Two alternative programs to combat the
disease have been proposed. Assume that the exact scientific estimate of the
consequences of the programs are as follows:
If Program A is adopted, 200 will be saved. [chosen by 72 percent]
If Program B is adopted, there is 1/3 probability that 600 people will be saved,
and 2/3 probability that no people will be saved. [chosen by 28 percent]
A second group of respondents was given the same problem with a different description of the
program options:
If Program C is adopted 400 will die. [chosen by 22 percent]
If Program D is adopted there is a 1/3 probability that nobody will die, and 2/3
probability that 600 will die. [chosen by 78 percent]3
William Adams, “Network News Research in Perspective: A Bibliographic Essay,” Television Network News:
Issues in Content Research, ed. William Adams and Fay Schreibman (Washington, D.C.: George Washington
University, 1978), 12; Mickelson, 223.
3
Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, “The Framing of Decisions and the Psychology of Choice,” Science 211,
no. 4481 (January 1981), 453.
2
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Although the first set of programs is identical to the second set of programs, the responses to the
options are completely reversed. When the solutions are given the contextual cue of the number
of lives being saved, the respondents are more likely to be risk averse, as in the case of programs
A and B. When the solutions are framed in the context of the number of people dying, on the
other hand, the majority of respondents are risk taking. Tversky and Kahneman demonstrate that
by framing an identical situation differently, one is able to elicit a particular decision in
respondents. Framing has also been studied in the context of particular policies such as the
Equal Rights Amendment and abortion with similar results.4
This idea of framing can be applied to the contextual cues in television news stories.
Iyengar (1991), Patterson (1993), and Cappella and Jamieson (1997) examine the different types
of frames that television news media use on political issues and events. Iyengar (1991) links
news framing to how viewers attribute responsibility for problems and events to political actors.
He categorizes news stories as either “episodic” or “thematic.” He conducted a series of studies
exposing viewers to either episodic news stories, which portray public issues as concrete events,
or thematic stories, which present issues in a more general and abstract way with background
information. Iyengar argues that the news media’s tendency to use episodic frames for stories
affects how television viewers assign responsibilities for political issues and events. In other
words, because television reporters tend to focus on a specific plane crash or the story of a
particular welfare recipient (episodic frames) as opposed to looking at overall safety in the airline
industry or an in-depth analysis on the history and implications of welfare policy in America
(thematic frames), viewers tend to attribute responsibility of a problem or situation to the
George Quattrone and Amos Tversky, “Contrasting Rational and Psychological Analyses of Political Choice,”
American Political Science Review 82, no. 3 (September 1988), 726-7.
4
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individuals depicted in the story rather than to place the blame on societal forces.5 Iyengar’s
study on television news framing and the attribution of responsibility lays the groundwork for
research on media framing.
Instead of classifying news stories as episodic or thematic, Cappella and Jamieson use the
categories of “strategic” and “issue” to categorize television news stories on political issues and
events. They argue that the media’s tendency to frame the news in terms of the motivations and
strategies of political actors, which they call strategic frames, creates a public that is more
cynical about politics. Testing both print and television news coverage, they use an experimental
approach to measure how viewers responded to strategic frames applied to a political campaign
for mayor and a policy debate on health care.6 Their finding that “strategic press frames form
cynical frames in the citizenry”7 suggests that Americans’ increasingly cynical responses to
government officials and the political process are affected by media frames that portray political
events as competitions and political actors as self-interested.
Although Patterson (1993) does not explicitly use the terminology of frames, his work on
the game and governing “schemas” used by journalists and voters is closely related to Cappella
and Jamieson’s conception of strategic and issue frames. Schemas are cognitive frameworks in
which a person can simplify and comprehend issues and events. Patterson describes a schema as
“a cognitive structure that a person uses when processing new information and retrieving old
information. It is a mental framework the individual constructs from past experiences that helps
make sense of a new situation.”8 Because humans have limited cognitive capacities, schemas
5
Shanto Iyengar, Is Anyone Responsible?: How Television Frames Political Issues (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1991),
6
Joseph N. Cappella and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Spiral of Cynicism: The Press and the Public Good (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1997).
7
Ibid., 231.
8
Thomas Patterson, Out of Order (New York: Vintage, 1993), 56.
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perform several useful functions: they provide a method of organization for an individual’s
experience so that relevant schema structures can be used to order the elements in a person’s
environment; they determine what information will be stored in and retrieved from memory; the
structure of schemas allow an individual to fill in the missing information in a story; schemas
function as shortcuts that facilitate problem-solving; and they supply a basis for expectations of
situations upon which an individual’s experiences can be evaluated.9 Patterson uses the
schematic model to describe the fundamental difference in the mode of thinking between
journalists and voters.
In Out of Order, Patterson argues that the American public’s cynicism about politics is
caused by the increasing dichotomy between the media’s game schema, which places election
stories in the framework of a horse race and concentrates on the strategy and game of the
campaign, and the voters’ governing schema, which view election stories in terms of questions
that concern issues and policies. Because of the growing use of game schemas, the way in which
election news is reported has changed dramatically: “Whereas the game was once viewed as the
means, it is now the end, while policy problems, issues, and the like are mere tokens in the
struggle for the presidency.”10 Patterson notes that the phenomenon of the media’s game schema
is a development in the past 40 years: in 1960 about 50 percent of news stories were framed in
the context of a game schema and 50 percent used a governing schema, but by 1992 governing
schemas accounted for less than 20 percent of news stories.11 The media’s shift from framing
election stories in a governing schema to a game schema changes the way voters perceive the
campaign.
Pamela Johnston Conover and Stanley Feldman, “How People Organize the Political World: A Schematic Model,”
American Journal of Political Science 28, no. 1 (February 1984), 96-7.
10
Patterson, 69.
11
Ibid., 74.
9
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The effects of framing news stories in the context of a governing schema or a game
schema are equivalent to what political scientists call priming effects. Priming refers to the
standards by which people use to judge political figures and policies. In considering a political
candidate, voters can use different standards to judge him or her. Standards may include but are
not limited to the candidate’s strategy in the campaign, the candidate’s policy preference on
particular issues such as affirmative action, and the candidate’s personal character. Iyengar and
Kinder (1987) demonstrate through a series of experiments that television news has the power to
influence what standards viewers use to make political judgments, in other words, priming
effects are evident in television news. They conclude that “television news…[is] a powerful
determinant of what springs to mind and what is forgotten or ignored. Through priming
(drawing attention to some aspects of political life at the expense of others) television news help
to set the terms by which political judgments were made.”12 Priming effects can explain how
voters’ perceptions of a campaign are different when election stories are framed using either a
game schema or a governing schema.
Patterson also analyzes television news coverage in respect to tone. Examining election
stories, he finds that there is a substantial increase in unfavorable news coverage of candidates.
This rise of negativity in the media is a trend that began in the 1960s: 25 percent of election
stories evaluated the presidential candidate as unfavorable in 1960; however, by 1992, over 60
percent of election stories gave candidates negative ratings.13 He establishes a correlation
between the increasingly negative election coverage and a rise in unfavorable voter opinions for
presidential candidates.14 In Out of Order, Patterson demonstrates that the framing and the tone
12
Shanto Iyengar and Donald Kinder, News that Matters: Television and American Opinion (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1987), 114.
13
Patterson, 20.
14
Ibid., 23.
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of news matter—voters change how they view political characters and the political process based
on their exposure to news stories.
Patterson, Iyengar, and Cappella and Jamieson all focus on how television news framing
affects political attitudes and behavior but television research is a much broader field than just
framing effects. Gerbner and Gross (1976) discuss how heavy television viewing distorts
viewers’ sense of reality, particularly in respect to violence. As described in Chapter 2, Gerbner
uses a combination of content analysis of television entertainment shows and surveys of
television viewing habits, to conclude that a strong correlation exists between how much
violence an individual watches on television, which occupied over 75 percent of prime-time
shows from 1967 to 1975, and their sense of fear and danger. In their content analysis, they
create a Violence Index that codes for instances of violent actions. In their coding of violent
actions, they counted the number of scenes of images in which violent actions took place.15
Gerbner and Gross use their method of studying television effects, which they call Cultivation
Analysis, to show “that television viewing cultivates a general sense of danger and mistrust.”16
SOCIAL CAPITAL AND NEWS FRAMING
In studying how television news affects social capital, consideration must be given to
what types of news or what types of news frames will increase or decrease an individual’s
motivation to join associations or to work in a group to accomplish a collective goal. News
George Gerbner and Larry Gross, “Living with Television: The Violence Profile,” Journal of Communication 26,
no. 2 (Spring 1976), 185. Gerbner and Gross’s Violence Index coded for not only violent actions but also different
types of programming and characters. Types of prime time programming may include cartoons, made-for-television
productions, and feature films and are coded to calculate the prevalence of violence in the programs All characters
are analyzed as to whether or not they participated in violent actions and are noted for the role (as a violent character
or a victim character) in the program.
16
Ibid., 191.
15
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stories can be broadly categorized as two types: social capital-enhancing and social capitaldiminishing. Social capital enhancing stories are news stories that may potentially increase an
individual’s involvement with others in groups and associations. Social capital-diminishing
stories are ones that may decrease the likelihood of individuals to participation in groups and to
work together to accomplish goals. Based on Cappella and Jamieson’s conclusions on framing
effects and the cultivation effects of Gerbner’s Cultivation Analysis, types of news stories, tone,
framing, and images are important elements in studying television effects.
News stories can be classified into an infinite number of topics. For the purpose of this
paper, I have chosen to classify news stories into 23 groups, which are not mutually exclusive
and which include the categories of “crime,” “political scandals,” “business,” and “human
interest.”17 I also classify stories in terms of their scope—does the story focus on a national or
state and local issue? State and local stories might increase viewers’ considerations of their own
communities, whereas stories dealing with national issues are less likely to prime viewers about
their own communities.
I have also categorized stories according to the different frames they might use.
Although most political scientists only applied their framing scheme to political news, I am
extending a coding scheme to all news stories. Social capital is composed of political and
community participation, in which case all types of news framing that might affect viewers’
perceptions of the political, social, and personal world are important. My framing classifications
are Iyengar’s episodic and thematic frames, Cappella and Jamieson’s strategic and issue frames,
and individual-oriented and group-oriented frames. Individual-oriented frames show individual
actors as the main characters in a news story. Group-oriented frames, on the other hand, show
individuals working in groups of three or more and feature the groups as the main characters in a
17
For a full list of the 23 categories and descriptions, please refer to the codebook, which is included in Appendix A.
40
story. For example, in 1975, CBS reported on the role of two Canadian sisters, Elois and Anna
Sharet working in Cambodia to help starving and sick children. Instead of focusing on
organizations that offer relief to children in Cambodia, the journalist presented the story as two
individuals working outside the structure of a group to solve a problem. By using individualoriented frames, viewers may gain the perception that problems are better solved by individuals
than by groups or associations.
Based on Patterson’s claims of negativity in election stories, I also code for tone in all
news stories. I classify each story as positive, negative, or neutral.
Images featured in television news are also counted as an element in television effects.
Similar to Gerbner’s use of violent actions in his Violence Index, I am calculating the types of
television news images. Image types include pictures that feature only an individual, pictures of
groups of people working or socializing together, and pictures of catastrophes and crimes.
Within images of groups, classifications of formal, informal, political, and interference are
distinguished. Putnam distinguishes between formal and informal groups in his description of
social capital: some associations such as labor unions and parent organizations are formally
organized with membership dues and elected officers while others associations are created
informally when people gather regularly at a bar for a drink.18 I code for images of informal and
formal associations. I also track the number of political images, which are defined as images of
people working in political and diplomatic meetings. Many political images are also classified
as formal images, such as pictures of a Democratic or Republican Party convention. Some
images of groups may show government interference in the case of an organized protest that is
broken apart by the police. I code these images as government interference images. Images of
18
Robert Putnam and Kristin Gross, introduction to Democracies in Flux: The Evolution of Social Capital in
Contemporary Society, ed. by Robert Putnam and Kristin Gross (New York: Oxford University Press), 9-10.
41
Figure 3.1: Characteristics of Social capital-diminishing and Social capital-enhancing news
stories
Social capital-diminishing
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Social capital-enhancing
Strategic frames
Episodic frames
Individual-oriented frames
Group-oriented frames with
government interference
Negative tone
Stories that can be classified as alert,
crime, catastrophe, political scandals
Stories with numerous images of
people working alone
Stories with images of people
working together but with
government interference
1. Issue frames
2. Thematic frames
3. Group-oriented frames with no
government interference
4. Positive tone
5. Stories that can be classified as
state/local stories
6. Stories with numerous images of groups
working together
natural and human-related catastrophes—volcano eruptions, oil spills, and bodies of the war
dead—are calculated as well. Images, tone, frames, and the type of story are coded and
complied together to compose a scheme of measuring television news in relation to how it
affects social capital.
As shown in Figure 3.1, social capital-enhancing and social capital-diminishing news
stories consist of a collection of my coding categories. Social capital-enhancing stories are
stories that can be classified as state or local stories. News reports with issue frames, thematic
frames, and group-oriented frames with no interference are also likely to be social capitalenhancing. These frames do not cause political cynicism and may prime the viewer’s conception
of successful group work. News stories that have a positive tone and that have numerous group
images are also categorized as social capital-enhancing.
Social capital-diminishing stories, on the other hand, include news stories that are
categorized as alert, crime, catastrophe, or political scandal stories. News stories that warn
42
viewers on issues such as the safety of planes, identity thefts, or shark attacks, are coded as alert
stories. Stories featuring criminal behavior such as murder or arson are categorized as crime
stories. Catastrophes include stories that feature man-made or natural disasters (i.e., earthquakes
and riots) in which several individuals are injured or killed. Political scandals are stories that
expose political actors or branches of government.
Stories with strategic frames or episodic frames are classified as social capitaldiminishing. Individual-oriented frames and group-oriented frames with government
interference may bring the thought of working alone or the dangers and failure of group work to
the viewers’ mind; thus, they are also classified as social capital-diminishing. News stories that
have a negative tone and that have images of people working alone or as a group but with
government interference may also be social capital-diminishing. These elements of television
news stories such as strategic framing and episodic framing are classified as social capitaldiminishing and may potentially contribute to the decline in civic engagement and interpersonal
trust. In the next chapter, I will test if news stories have increasingly become more social
capital-diminishing in the past 30 years. These changes in television news may be one of the
causes of the decline in social capital.
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