media effects (framing etc)

1. MEDIA EFFECTS
PS 475
Peffley

2. Media Effects, Definitions
 Persuasion (attitude change)
 Reinforcement
 Learning
 Agenda setting
 Priming
 Framing
Historical note: Iyengar did some path-breaking work on subtle effects
like agenda-setting, priming and framing, but because of the loose and
strange way he defined these terms, it took others a decade to sort out
the differences.

3. Definitions (excludes learning and reinforcement)
 Agenda setting: The amount of news coverage (e.g., # of stories) an issue (or
candidate) receives influences the degree to which the public thinks the
issue or candidate is important.
 E.g., “It’s the economy stupid” in 1992 election.
 Focus on “what people think about“ vs. “what people think.”
 Priming: Changes in the number of stories about an issue influences the
criteria used to evaluate a political leader (An extension of agenda-setting).
 E.g., “it’s the economy stupid”  low H.W. Bush approval ratings.
 (Issue or Emphasis) Framing: Changes in the content of a story about an
issue influence the criteria used to evaluate the issue. Framing works by
altering the importance individuals attach to certain beliefs that shape
political attitudes. Influences how people think about an issue.
 Media frames  Framing effects
 E.g., Headlines, pictures, etc.  Interpret meaning of story.
 Direct Persuasion (attitude change): works by altering actual belief
content.
 E.g., Negative ads  negative evaluations of a candidate.

4. Agenda setting, Time-series
• News coverage is more important
than objective reality in shaping
perceptions of the important
problems facing the country.
• Change in the # of news stories
on unemployment a better
predictor of change in % naming
unemployment as the most
important problem than the actual
unemployment rate.

5. Agenda setting is a function of news coverage, which
may or may not be related to real world events
A substantial
portion of the
public continued
to rate crime as
the most
important problem
for several years
after the actual
crime rate began
to fall.

6. Agenda setting is a function of news coverage, which
may or may not be related to real world events
Updating the
previous figure
from 1994 to
2012, same
result.

7. Why is this important?
 Since 1953 public opinion has been a
fundamental determinant of changes in the
incarceration rate.
 As the public became more punitive, the
incarceration increased as elites responded to
public opinion.
 Public opinion became more punitive, despite
a huge decline in the crime rate.

8. “The Public’s Increasing Punitiveness and Its Influence
on Mass Incarceration in the United States”
Peter K. Enns Cornell University

9. Agenda setting, Experimental
After watching edited news broadcasts with more stories on an issue,
subjects rated that issue as a more important problem facing the country.

10. Priming: a political consequence of
agenda setting
 Priming vs. Persuasion: Priming occurs when an
individual changes the criteria on which he or she
bases an overall evaluation (e.g., basing the
evaluation on defense or energy), whereas
persuasion involves altering what an individual
thinks of the president on a given dimension
(e.g., does the president do a good or poor job
on defense policy?).
 Priming does not involve changing perceptions
of how well the president is doing on an issue—it
simply alters the issues on which individuals base
their overall evaluations.

11. Priming example: How priming influenced G.W. Bush’s
general approval ratings
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
2/10-12/01
4/4-5/01
6/14-18/01
9/11-12/01
9/20-23/01
12/7-10/01
1/15-17/02
2/24-26/02
4/28-5/1/02
5/19-20/02
7/8-9/02
7/22-23/02
9/2-5/02
10/3-6/02
11/20-24/02
1/19-22/03
2/10-12/03
3/4-5/03
3/15-16/03
3/20/03PANEL
3/22/2003
3/24/2003
3/26-27/03
4/11-13/03
5/9-12/03
8/26-28/03
9/28-10/1/03
11/10-12/03
1/12-15/04
2/24-27/04
3/30-4/1/04
5/20-23/04
7/11-15/04
9/12-16/04
10/1-3/04
10/14-17/04
11/18-21/04
2/24-28/05
4/13-16/05
6/10-15/05
7/29-8/2/05
9/6-7/05
10/3-5/05
12/2-6/05
1/20-25/06
3/9-12/06
4/28-30/06
6/10-11/06
8/11-13/06
9/15-19/06
10/27-31/06
12/8-10/06
1/18-21/07
2/23-27/07
3/26-27/07
4/20-24/07
6/26-28/07
Percentage
Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling
his job as President?
9/11
Invades
Iraq
Surge
How can priming explain the fluctuations in George Bush’s approval?

12. Evaluations of Iraq Policy
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Percentage
Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is
handling the situation with Iraq?
Saddam
Statue
Toppled
Saddam
captured
Bush
launches
invasion
Abu
Ghraib
Iraq Study
Group
Report

13. Politicians attempt to prime the issues where they
are strongest: Issue Emphasis in Bush’s 2002 State of
the Union Address
Bush Defines “Axis of Evil” in
State of the Union Address

14. Impact of watching Bush’s 2002 State of the
Union Address, Experiment
People who watched the
speech were much more
likely to base their general
approval of Bush on
terrorism approval and
leadership.
In addition to media priming,
Presidents can use rhetoric
to prime the issues that
underlie their approval
evaluations.

15. Politicians attempt to prime and counter-prime:
 Joseph Biden in a Democratic
debate said of Rudy Giuliani:
 “a Giuliani speech is ‘9/11’ +
subject + verb.”

16. The limits of priming effects: Who is
primed?
(Experiment, Miller and Krosnick)
 To what extent are citizens mindless
“victims” of the media’s “primordial
power?”
 Many people aren’t influenced, including:
 People with little exposure to the news
 People with little trust in the news media

17. The difference between priming and
agenda setting is
1. Agenda setting refers more to
entertainment shows
2. Priming is more powerful
3. Agenda setting influences views of
issue importance
4. The influence of priming is more
subliminal

18. Framing: News Frames (the stimulus)
 Definitions:
 Frames act like plots or story lines, lending
coherence to otherwise discrete pieces of information.
Frames organize the presentation of facts and opinion
in a news story.
 How Journalists frame a story: through use of
headlines, well-placed quote or soundbite, visual
images or photos, metaphors, caricatures, and
catchphrases all may carry frames, especially useful
forTV. Frames reduce a complex issue down to 1 or 2
central points.
 Note: this is the stimulus, not the effect

19. Examples of frames, news frames
 Estate tax or Death tax?
 Poor people or welfare?
 Obamacare vs Affordable Care Act
 Global warming vs Climate change
 Process, strategic, or game frame vs. policy frame
 Episodic versusThematic Frames (Iyengar)
 Bill Clinton’s affair: a personal matter between him & his family,
or an impeachable offense?
 Decrease in Medicare spending: A reduction in increases in
Medicare spending or a cut in the program?
 News stories on Iraqi war:
 Casualty frames relative to enemy killed?
 An attack by insurgents,Al Qaida, civil war, domestic violence, Bush
popularity

20. Framing Effects
 Versus other effects:
 Agenda-setting and priming demonstrate how
mere media attention can subtly influence public
opinion.
 Framing focuses more on media content than
mere coverage of a problem.

21. Framing Effects, Experiment
Nelson et al.
 Different emphasis frames in local
TV news stories on KKK’s threat to
march in Columbus, OH.
Support for the KKK’s right to
speak is influenced by two
considerations:
 Free speech: KKK and protestors
pressed their right to get out their
message
 Threat of violence: KKK rallies
provoke violence between a hate
group and protestors

22. Experiment manipulating news (emphasis)
frames on civil liberties issue
Free speech a more important
determinant of political tolerance
(should KKK be allowed to hold a
rally?)more support for rally.
Public order a more important
determinant of political tolerance
(should KKK be allowed to hold a
rally?)less support for rally.
New frame influences emphasis and tolerance

23. Framing affects the weight given to different
beliefs underlying political tolerance
 Political tolerance (i.e., allowing the
expression of ideas one finds offensive) is
based on both support for free speech and
support for public order.
 News frames influence the salience or weight
of free speech or public order, and thus
influence the level of political tolerance.

24. News frames  Belief Importance  Tolerance

25. Katrina news stories: Framing with captions and photos
 Caption says he has just
been "looting a grocery
store."
 Caption says they are shown
"after finding bread and
soda from a local grocery
store."

26. The limits of issue framing
 To what extent are citizens mindless “victims” of the
media’s “primordial power”?
 Framing effects are important but are not so
mindless.They are limited by:
 Predispositions: People can reject a frame that’s
inconsistent with their predispositions
 Source: Frames from less credible sources (e.g., The
National Enquirer) have less impact than those from
credible sources (e.g., NewYorkTimes)
 Competitive Framing: Frames of equal strength neutralize
each other. Inoculation: use a weak counter-frame to
bolster the impact of the stronger frame.

27. Death Penalty Experiment: Peffley & Hurwitz (2007)
Baseline Condition
(No Argument)
Racial Argument Innocent Argument
Do you favor or
oppose the death
penalty for persons
convicted of murder?
Some people say* that
the death penalty is unfair
because most of the people
who are executed are
African-Americans.
Do you favor or oppose
the death penalty for
persons convicted of
murder?
Some people say*that
the death penalty is unfair
because too many
innocent people are being
executed.
Do you favor or oppose
the death penalty for
persons convicted of
murder?
Whites 65.96%b 77%b 64.28%b
% Favor -
Baseline
+12% Favora b - .70% Favor
Blacks 50% 38% 34%
% Favor -
Baseline
-12% Favora -16% Favor
a Difference across baseline and argument condition is statistically significant (≤.05)
b Difference across race of respondent is statistically significant (≤.05)

28. Racial argument against the death penalty actually
increases support for capital punishment among Whites.
Among Whites,
emphasizing the racial
unfairness argument
against the death
penalty creates a
backlash of greater
support for the death
penalty because it runs
against many Whites’
belief that the justice
system is color blind.
Among Blacks,
emphasizing racial
unfairness moves
them toward reduced
support for capital
punishment.
Framing effects depend on peoples’ predispositions to
accept the frame.

29. Comparison of Some Media Effects
Media Effect Type of media
Change
Specific
effect, change
Examples Influence
varies by:
Agenda setting Increase in the
amount of news
coverage (e.g., # of
stories)
Importance of issue
or candidate
changes
“It’s the economy, stupid”
in 1992.
(The media affects what we
think about, not what we
think.)
Media trust
Political knowledge
Priming Changes in the
number of stories
about an issue
Criteria used to
evaluate a political
leader
(Political extension
of agenda setting)
“It’s the economy, stupid”
in 1992
 low approval for H.W.
Bush
(Issue or Emphasis)
Framing
Changes in the
content (frames) of a
story about an issue
Criteria used to
evaluate the issue
E.g., Headlines, pictures,
etc.  Interpret “meaning”
of story.
(Game vs Policy frame,
Episodic vsThematic frame)
Predispositions,
Source
Competing Frames
Direct Persuasion
(attitude change):
Changes in the
content of a message
Changes in beliefs
or attitudes
Negative ads  negative
evaluations of a candidate
Source, Message,
Audience
Characteristics