Framing
Sigurd Allern,
Trends in international journalism
News as frame
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News is a window of the world. Through its frame,
American learn of themselves and others, of their
institutions, leaders, and life styles, and those of other
nations and their peoples…
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But, like any frame that delineates a world, the news
frame may be considered problematic. The view through
a window depends upon whether the window is large or
small, has many panes or few, whether the glass is
opaque or clear, whether the window faces a street or a
backyard. (Gaye Tuchman, Making News, 1980)
Defining framing
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“Frames are organizing principles that are socially
shared and persistent over time, that work symbolically
to meaningfully structure the social world” (Stephen D. Reese
(2001: 11) in Reese, Gandy & Grant (eds.): Framing Public Life, L. Erlbaum
Associates, New Jersey/London)
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“To frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality
and make them more salient in a communicating text”
(Robert Entman 1993: 52)
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“The frame suggests what the controversy is about, the
essence of the issue” (Gamson & Modigliani 1989, in Vreese: 27)
Defining framing (2)
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Frames are..”persistent patterns of cognition,
interpretation, and presentation, of selection,
emphasis and exclusion by which symbolhandlers routinely organize discourse” (Gitlin
1980: 7)
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Frames are ..interpretative packages that give
meaning to an issue (Gamson & Modigliani,
1989: 3)
Journalistic tools in framing the news
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Choosing the news angle
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Selecting the sources
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Formulating the headline of the story
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Summing up the main point of the story
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Choosing the right picture
How was the news item
introduced?
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Headline or prefatory statement by reporter or anchor?
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What expectations did the introduction create about the
story?
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What other introduction could appropriately have been
used? How would other introductions have reframed the
report?
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Was there a summary statement at the end of the
report? What interpretation, if any, did it impose on the
report? (Jamieson & Campbell: 115)
Frame-building
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Frame-building are factors internal and external
to journalism that determine how journalists and
news organizations frame issues. Internal
factors are to an example journalistic news
values, market strategies and organizational
constraints.The frame building process takes
place in a continuous interaction between
journalists and elites and social movements. The
outcomes of the frame-building process are the
frames manifest in the text (Vreese 2003: 24, 43)
Frame-setting
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Frame-setting refers to the interaction between
media frames and individual’s prior knowledge
and predispositions. Frames in the news may
affect interpretation, learning, and evaluation of
issues and events. The consequences of framesetting can be considered both on the individual
and societal level (Vreese 2003: 24-25)
Generic news frames
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Generic news frames are general and not
confined to a specific issue. Examples:
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‘Horse race frame’ (Politics as a ‘game’ with winners and
losers)
‘Episodic’ and ‘thematic’ news frames (Iyengar 1991)
Conflict frame
Economic consequence frame
Responsibility frame
Morality frame
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Issue-specific news frames
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Media frames in specific news stories:
The war in Iraq (‘occupation frame’ versus ‘war against
terrorism-frame’)
 Closing of industrial plants : ‘economic necessity frame’
versus ‘social responsibility/employment frame’
 Predator policy: ‘Environmental protect the wolf & bear
frame’ versus ‘protect the farm animals frame’
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Framing contests
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If political actors are to succeed in getting their frames
wholly or partly presented in the media, they have to
adhere to certain news conventions and genre demands
from news organisations giving priority to conflicts,
power struggles and drama which can be personalized.
Often politicians will try to avoid “negative news”.
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When factions in a political party are competing for the
leadership, it will be of vital importance to influence how
this power struggle is presented and commented in the
news. News frames (like focusing on the elements of
conflict) are therefore supplemented by more political
frames (defining the problems and proposing solutions)
which are negotiated between political actors and news
organisations.
A strong emphasis on conflict
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The study shows that when European issues are
covered in the news this often happens with a strong
emphasis on conflict. This presence of the conflict frame
suggests that the considerations made by journalists
when choosing events and issues for the news are
translated into how these are presented in the news.
Emphasizing the conflict may justify the publication of a
news story above and beyond its news value and at the
same time provides journalists with a clear conception of
how to package and present the news. (Vreese: 164)
”What is the Norwegian interest in this”
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During our days of observation at the NRK Dagsrevyen
the political news editor, Kyrre Nakkim, said, “When
working with EU topics we often follow the reports from
the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation (SVT), and ask
ourselves: what is the Norwegian interest in this?”
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The standard requirement of framing EU issues in a
national context is also looked upon by some
interviewees as a limitation. The most important
professional challenge is “to combine a focus on
Norwegian cases and Norwegian special interests with
an understanding of the broader picture and the longer
trajectories of development in Europe,” said the foreign
news editor at Aftenposten, Per Kristian Haugen.
The importance of a national angle
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The importance of a national angle can be interpreted in
more ideological terms as a type of traditional
nationalism. However, we think the most important
element here is the market and audience orientations of
the news organisations, a trait common to most news
media all over the world. “How does this affect us, what
are the consequences for our area and our daily lives?”
are standard questions that the news media try to
answer.
Geographical, cultural and political proximity represent
an informal, standard ‘market contract’ between news
organisations and both their audiences and their
advertisers.
An European framing?
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A broader, pan-European perspective of course also
exists, but only as a supplement to the dominant national
framing. A constructed ‘European framing’ will, in our
opinion, only be typical for European news media that
either have an international audience or are newspapers
read by elite groups participating in some of the more
exclusive ‘public spheres’ of the EU.
The news organisations are of course independent
actors that in different ways influence the political and
cultural developments in their countries. At the same
time they are mediators, channels of communication and
arenas for debate, normally communicating in a
language specific to one or more nation states. Their role
as part of a ‘European public sphere’ will always have
this limitation.