Framing and the Media

  The paper should first define framing, explain its role in the presentation of news and summarize the particular political issue that the student chooses to explore. Each student should select at least two different media (newspapers, television, radio, or web based) sources to examine and to select at least ten news stories NOT OPINION PIECES OR EDITORIALS) from each source as the “raw input” for their examination. You should select sources so as to maximize potentiadifferent approaches to the issue and include at least one conservative and one liberal source. For example, you could pair the more “liberal” New York Times with the more “conservative” Wall Street Journal for an economic issue, and a European and an American newspaper to examine discussions about NATO, the European Union, or the War in Afghanistan etc. It might also be relevant to examine local vs. national views of a particular issue. The approaches of the sources should then be summarized and compared. Finally, you should then consider the political implications that these frames present. What is gained and what is lost in consideration of the issues by each of the frames, what is considered and what is not and how does this influence the way the public conceives of the issues? If you have second (or third) language skills, you should consider adding a source with a different linguistic tradition. This might prove very enlightening when comparing approaches to the news and political issues as expressed in the liberal and conservative American news sources. I. Introduction: Please describe what it is you will be discussing, why – as in importance, and interesting overall differences/points to be made. A brief overview of study, don’t go into methods details but let us know what you are analyzing. Perhaps by discussing that you are looking at conservative versus liberal papers or looking at Mexican versus American viewpoint, etc. As opposed to listing papers, dates, etc. II. Theory. Discuss Framing and all different aspects discussed in class (or in readings) that apply to your paper. Liberal vs. Conservative bias, thematic/episodic, international versus domestic, conglomerates – homogenization, etc. How do these elements relate, or how could they relate to the issue you are writing about. III. Describe study. Methodology. Media sources used, dates, search terms, total numbers, etc. What you are looking at: headlines, word counts, etc. IV. Analysis of your media. Make comparisons and arguments here. V. Impact of these frames. How would one frame versus the other potentially impact readers? Consider different audiences. What are the political implications of seeing the story from these different frames? VI. Conclusion. Sum it all up; make some interesting broad points about the findings. You could also mention some interesting further research that this study suggests