How the Media Uses Framing to Shape How the American Public Views Life

Ava NobileWilliam Paterson University

The articles summarized in the following paper have to do with the way the media frames advertising messages and T.V. shows, and the effect these depictions have on the American public. They look at different television shows and commericals, and study the connection between how people and items are portrayed in them and the opinion its audience has of what they see. The results of some of the studies seem like common sense, while other findings actually prove to be very surprising. What's most important, however, is the insight these works lend to their readers. The paper on the Sierra Club, for example, is one study that does just that. The following is what it has to say.

"Most public relations scholarship has looked at activism as something to be managed or as something that forces corporations toward better public relations practice. Still, it is generally acknowledged that activist organizations themselves are highly effective at employing traditional public relations strategies and tactics. [Framing analysis of activist rhetoric....] analyzes collective action and issues frames of the Sierra Club...to understand the efficacy of message framing in communicating with activist members and the general public" Reber, H., & Berger, B., 2005, p 2).

"....several observations about the Sierra Club, its issue and collective action frames, and some of the strategic public relations implications that arise from the findings...confirm...the Sierra Club, like corporations, constructs and uses issues frames (and other public relations strategies and tactics not explored here) to attempt to influence the perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of internal and external audiences. Framing, then, as a way in which media and media professionals organize and make sense of issues and events (Reese, 2001), is a strategic communication process that organizations use to "make meaning" for its members and to attempt to influences public policy debate and formation" (Reber and Berger, 2005).

"Like all organizations, the Sierra Club faces the challenge of consistently and effectively communicating frames to audiences. Chapter newsletters are primary (and controlled) channels for conveying collective action and issues frames to members. To the extent that Sierra Club seeks the consistent presence of strong and unwavering issue frames to influences member perceptions, the newsletters appear to be underutilized..." (Reber and Berger, 2005).

The organization might solve this problem by"...conducting or increasing editorial briefings or planning workshops for chapter newsletter editors...or other initiatives"(Reber and Berger, 2005).

Along with the non-profit area, the broadcasting arena uses television shows like The West Wing to also focus on framing. Holbert, Tschida, Dixon's Cherry's, Steuber and Airne (2005) did a study on how the broadcasting system uses frames because, as the above mentioned put it, "there is a need to understand the ways in which entertainment-based television content communicates messages about the American political system and those who serve as public officials."

To conduct this study, the authors collected data "from a content analysis of the 21 original...episodes" from "the 2001-2002 television season. All episodes wee collected by videotape as they aired on KOMU-TV, the local NBC affiliate in the Columbia, Missouri market. All 21 episodes were" united "into individual Bartlet scenes.... [the study's] reliability was assessed by [ a supposed computer program], and the two coders [or tools] proved highly reliable for the exercise" (p.513).

After putting together the entire experiment, Holbert, Tschida, Dixon's Cherry's, Steuber and Airne found that "the more professional roles of chief executive and political candidate tend to present principled character traits, while the more personal role of private citizen tends to bring out the engaging traits of the fictional Bartlet". This is an important distinction. All of the individual character trait items analyzed for this study have been raised consistently in previous presidential elections (e.g., Benoit & McHale, 2003). However, the display of these trait types fluctuates with the role performed by the fictional Bartlet. If the role determines which personality characteristics are presented, then The West Wing offers a complex picture of the American presidency given its use of three distinct depictions" (Holbert, R. L., Tschida, A. D., Dixon, M., Cherry K., Steuber K., & Airne, D., 2005, p. 517).

Future work with this study could merge analyses of [the characters and the show] with analyses of the effects the show has on its viewers (e.g., Holbert, 2004; Holbert, Pillion et al., 2003). If nothing else, this study shows "that the true influence of the show on the American presidency may be more about character than the presentation of issues. It is important that future research continues to make these types of connections and we argue for a multi-method approach in order to build off the inherent strengths and weaknesses of different" ideas (Holbert, R. L., Tschida, A. D., Dixon, M., Cherry K., Steuber K., & Airne, D., 2005, p. 518).

The presidential study examined how depictions of various sides of a television character can sell, or not, the real life politicians come voting time. Another study conducted by Laskey, Fox and Crask (1994) did something similar to this. Laskey et al.'s study [examined] whether or not different products are sold based on different advertising styles. It also aimed to determine if the effectiveness of the various styles of message communication varies by product category. It seems reasonable that different advertising styles might be more appropriate for different types of products, causing the effectiveness of executional styles to vary across product categories" (Laskey, A. H., Fox, J. R. & Crask, R. M., 1994, p. 9).

They found a few things. One, that the effectiveness of an advertisement is based on whether or not the public is able to recall it later and understand the key message it tries to communicate. Two, the individual strengths and weaknesses of the various
Brown, A. N. & Gatty, R also studied television advertisements, they too looked at the effectiveness of various types of commercials, but unlike the previous study's attention to style, they "questioned whether' commercials in their rough form give similar results as... finished commercials.

To find this out, they videotaped commericals using a program called Telepex and "solicited" people "by mail" to test Telepex roughs". Telepex is a program that predicts the performance of finished or unfinished TV commercials and makes comparisons between two or more of them. (Laskey, A. H., Fox, J. R. & Crask, R. M., 1994, p.22.)

In short, they found that the roughs had just as good an impact on viewers as normal, finished commercials did.

Another article by Haynes, A. A., & Flowers, F. J., & Guerian H. P. (2002) looks at how different communication strategies affect the presidential nomination campaign and focuses on the invisible primary to do so.

Haynes et. al "test the hypothesis that a candidate's strategic goals, which are generally defined by the candidate's competitive status..., determine the dominant type of message communicated during this period" Haynes, A. A., & Flowers, F. J., & Guerian H. P., 2002, p. 633.

The authors found this idea to be true. They also found that candidate's competitive messages" outweigh the "discourse...relative to the news media to a far greater extent than anticipated" Haynes, A. A., & Flowers, F. J., & Guerian, H. P., 2002, p. 633).

Stewart and Koslow's (1989) study is a replication of a previous study that test the many influence on advertising performance. Using a new set of 1,017 commericals,...the replication finds that ads are highly effective when they are accompanied by a message that sets the product apart and a strong focus on the product.

To sum up, each of these scholars found many answers to their different types of studies. They found that T.V. characters greatly influence people's perceptions of the people who have those roles in real life, and that they especially influence the public's perceptions during election time. The authors also found that what sets one product apart from another is the clarity of the message it sends and how strongly the product is placed in the spotlight. Moreover, whether or not a commercial or ad is done to perfection or just until it is good enough doesn't really matter, so long as it sends the message it intends to send. Although these studies all looked for different things, each of these topics all share the same basic idea. They all want to know what makes a message effective in influencing human behavior, and that in itself is the most important thing.

References

Brown, A. N. & Gatty, R. Rough vs. finished TV commercials in Telepex tests. Advertising Research, 21-24.

Haynes, A. A., & Flowers, F. J., & Guerian H. P. (2002) Getting the message out: candidate communication strategy during the invisible primary. Political Research Quarterly, 55, 633-652.

Holbert, R. L., Tschida, A. D., Dixon, M., Cherry K., Steuber K., & Airne, D. (2005). The west wing and depictions of the American presidency: expanding the domains of framing in political communication. Communication Quarterly, 53, 505-522.

Laskey, A. H., Fox, J. R. & Crask, R. M. (1994). Investigating the impact of executional style on television commercial effectiveness. Journal of Advertising Research, 9-16.

Reber, H., & Berger, B. (2005). Framing analysis of activist rhetoric: How the sierra club q succeeds or fails at creating salient messages. Public Relations Review, 31,185-195.

Stewart, W. D. & Koslow, S. Executional factors and advertising effectiveness: a replication. Journal of Advertising, 18, 21-32.