Agenda-setting and Framing Lecture Review

Flashcards covering key concepts from the lecture on Agenda-setting and Framing, including definitions of methods, types of agenda-setting, and various message framing techniques.

Content analysis

Systematic measurement of variables found in fixed texts (e.g., books, TV shows, TikTok posts) to identify what is communicated and how.

Meta-analysis

A research method that combines results from many studies of the same topic.

Qualitative methods

Research approaches including in-depth interviews and focus groups.

Bernard Cohen (1963) statement on the press

The press is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about, even if it's not always successful in telling them what to think.

First-level agenda setting

Mass media tell the public what issues are important (issue salience); greater media coverage leads to more salient issues.

Issue salience

The perceived importance of an issue, often increased by the amount of media coverage it receives.

Second-level agenda setting

Mass media tell the public what attributes about an issue are important, influencing how the issue is framed.

Agenda-setting effects (factors)

Depend on the immediacy of the issue (low immediacy = greater effects), familiarity with the issue (low familiarity = greater effects), and the partisan slant of the coverage.

Iyengar & Kinder (1987) study

An experiment demonstrating increased issue importance for participants exposed to a week's worth of TV coverage about a specific issue (e.g., nuclear arms control, civil rights, unemployment).

Intermedia agenda setting

News media setting each other's agendas, leading to convergence on the most important issues despite different forms or preferences.

Message framing

Selecting certain attribute(s) of an issue and making it more salient, which shapes judgments of causes, effects, solutions, and morality.

Equivalence framing

Presenting identical information in logically equivalent but distinct ways (e.g., '6% unemployment' vs. '94% employment').

Gain/loss framing

Emphasizing potential gains or losses of an issue or action (e.g., 'If you quit smoking, you’ll live longer' vs. 'If you don’t quit smoking, you’ll live a shorter life').

Episodic frame

A type of message framing that focuses on a single case or example (exemplar) when discussing an issue.

Thematic frame

A type of message framing that focuses on a larger trend or phenomenon when discussing an issue.

Emphasis framing

Highlighting different facets or attributes of an issue, not presenting the exact same information but emphasizing different aspects (e.g., birth control as healthcare vs. a moral issue).