Public journalism and the power of the press : exploring the framesetting effects of the news / Sean Macheath Howell Aday.

Format:

• Book
• Manuscript
• Microformat
• Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

• Aday, Sean Macheath Howell.

Contributor:

• Jamieson, Kathleen Hall, advisor.
• University of Pennsylvania.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

• Penn dissertations--Communication.
• Communication--Penn dissertations.

Local Subjects:

• Penn dissertations--Communication.
• Communication--Penn dissertations.

Physical Description:

xi, 233 pages ; 29 cm

Production:

1999.

Summary:

An experimental design was used to test the "framesetting" effects of different news formats, and to provide a quantitative test of the influence of civic journalism on audience attitudes. Framesetting is posited as a new theory bridging agenda setting and framing research. It occurs when audiences not only ascribe importance to an issue covered prominently in the press, but simultaneously adopt the media frame of that issue. In this study, 199 adults from the general population were randomly assigned to five conditions: two conventional journalism conditions employing an "objectivist" frame, two civic journalism conditions employing an "advocacy frame", and a control condition. Participants read stories about crime for a week and then filled out a questionnaire. Results show that advocacy-framed stories had a greater framesetting effect than did objectivist-framed stories, which had a minimal framesetting effect. Those in the advocacy conditions were statistically more likely to rank crime as the most important topic facing the country and their community, constructed fewer arguments when asked to name causes and solutions for crime, and were more likely to volunteer solutions consistent with the stories they read. Those in the objectivist conditions were more likely than control participants---but less likely than advocacy participants---to rate crime the most important problem. They were not different from control in terms of the number of causes and solutions offered, or in terms of the types of causes and solutions they recommended. In addition, those who read advocacy-framed stories were more likely to offer favorable opinions of the city they read about and its crime problem than were those who read objectivist and control stories. Minimal effects were found in terms of increasing civic capital in advocacy audiences. A cognitive-based model for explaining the framesetting effect is proposed.

Notes:

• Supervisor: Kathleen Hall Jamieson.
• Thesis (Ph.D. in Communication) -- University of Pennsylvania, 1999.
• Includes bibliographical references.

Local Notes:

University Microfilms order no.: 99-37694.

OCLC:

187474925