The Jeremiad Over Journalism

campaigns.
2.5 Framing
Framing, media researcher Robert Entman, recently pointed out ―is an omnipresent process in
politics and policy analysis. It involves selecting a few aspects of a perceived reality and connecting
them together in a narrative that promotes a particular interpretation.‖ 218
Entman‘s understanding of frames is a useful extension of the American sociologist Gaye
Tuchman‘s ―framing‖ analogy where she describes ―news‖ as a ―window on the world.‖
Tuchman‘s image is a succinct way of pointing out, that perspectives on news stories change
depending on who looks through the ―frame.‖ 219 In her study of the construction of reality,
Tuchman pointed to two cornerstones used to define framing, namely the news producers and the
news consumers.This distinction between the framing of news content and the framing‘s effect is at
the very core of framing research and therefore also at the core of Entman‘s, oft-cited definition
where he emphasizes both the journalist‘s selection and the audience‘s interpretation of news
content,
"Framing entails selecting and highlighting some facets of events or issues, and making
connections among them so as to promote a particular interpretation, evaluation, and/or
solution." 220
In the current project‘s content analysis, media frames are studied along with the components which
make up individual newspaper articles. Hence, the focus in this section will on framing content as
opposed to framing effects.
It is, however, important to note that concepts such as agenda setting and priming also play a central
role in the media studies literature on framing. 221 McCombs and Shaw‘s ground-breaking article
218 Entman, "Media Framing Biases and Political Power: Explaining Slant in News of Campaign 2008." Page 391.
219 Gaye Tuchman, Making News: A Study in the Construction of Reality (New York: Free Press, 1978). Page. 1.
220 Robert M. Entman, "Cascading Activation: Contesting the White House's Frame after 9/11," Political
Communication 20 (2003). Page 417.
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