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The Interaction of News and Advocate Frames: Manipulating Audience Perceptions of a Local Public Policy Issue
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Public OpinionRhetoricCommunicationPublic RelationsJournalismMedia StudiesSocial SciencesInteractive JournalismNews AnalyticsPolitical CommunicationDiscourse AnalysisNews SemanticsPublic SphereContent AnalysisCivic EngagementAdvocacyPublic PolicyAudience PerceptionsHog FarmsMessage FramingSocial RepresentationsIssue AdvocacyTelevisionAdvocate FramesAdvocacy FramesPublic Perception StudiesFraming EffectsAdvocacy CommunicationMass CommunicationArtsPolitical SciencePublic Debate
The study examines how journalistic news frames can aid advocacy frames in shaping audience perceptions of a political issue through a two‑wave experiment. Researchers created five newspaper article versions about large‑scale hog farms, varying the prominence of frames from interested organizations. The differing frame emphases altered participants’ interpretations and evaluations of hog farms, with a modest but significant cognitive effect persisting after three weeks.
This article presents the results of a two-wave experiment designed to examine how journalistic news frames can facilitate the communication of advocacy frames designed to influence audience perceptions of a political issue. We constructed five versions of a newspaper article about large-scale hog farms. The versions differed in the weight they gave to frames promoted by organizations interested in this issue. The relative emphasis given the competing frames was reflected in subjects' interpretations of the issue and in their evaluations of hog farms. A retest three weeks after the initial exposure revealed a significant, though muted, cognitive impact of the frames. The implications of these results for journalism, issue advocacy, and the study of issue framing are discussed.