Media templates: patterns of association and the (re)construction of meaning over time

TLDR

The article introduces the concept of media templates and examines their role relative to theories of key events and news icons. Using focus groups, content analysis, and interviews, the study shows how templates shape news narratives and are sustained through source strategies, power relations, and audience reception. Illustrated with the Cleveland scandal and Orkney crisis, the paper argues that templates influence perceptions of child sexual abuse and offers implications for media production, theory, and audience research.

Abstract

This article introduces the concept of `media templates' and explores how these templates operate in relation to existing theories around key events and news icons. Drawing on focus group discussions, content analysis and interviews with media personnel, I demonstrate how templates help to shape news narratives and guide thinking not only about the past, but also about the present and the future. The argument is illustrated by examining the position of the `Cleveland scandal' (and the subsequent `Orkney crisis') in discussions of child sexual abuse. The discussion explores how templates such as Cleveland are established and maintained by source strategies, social power relations and journalistic/audience reception processes. The article concludes by outlining the implications of templates for media production practice, media studies theory and audience reception research.