Framing

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rights. Though most of the images of China are negative, there are still positive and touching images of China disseminated via TV channels, especially images of the Sichuan earthquake on May 12, 2008. Perhaps one of its most touching images was the one showing Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao comforting a little girl who lost contact with her parents after the earthquake. With a choked voice, he said to the crying little girl that ―there is still the government to look after you‖. Here, Wen was portrayed as a leader caring for his people and feeling what his people were feeling.

Whether the image of a nation presented to the audience is positive or negative is determined by how news media frame the events, issues, figures, or place of the country. So, what is a frame? How do journalists frame events and figures? What are the effects of frames? These are some of the questions further explored in the next section.

2.1.2 Framing

The concept of framing was first brought up by Bateson, who defines ―frame‖

as the psychological principles and subjective process in which individuals understand and organize events (Tsang, 1999). However, it was not until Goffman published Frame Analysis in 1974 did scholars further delve into this concept. Following Bateson‘s psychological definition, Goffman (1974) defines ―frame‖ as ―the principles of organization which govern events—at least social ones—and our subjective involvement in them.‖ He further asserts that frame is a schema originated from people‘s past experience, through which individuals interpret and understand the real world, answering the question of ―what is it that‘s going on here‖ (Goffman, 1974)? It enables users ―to locate, perceive, identify, and label‖ occurrences in this world.

Making reference to Goffman‘s work, scholars have developed their own

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definitions of ―frame‖ and ―news frame‖. Gamson (1989) defines news frame as ―a central organizing idea for making sense of relevant events and suggesting what is at issue‖ through the use of selection, emphasis, exclusion, and elaboration (Tankard, 2001; Zaharopoulos, 2007). They are constructed from and embodied in the metaphors, keywords, concepts, symbols, and visual images (Entman, 1991). Parson and Xu (2001) define framing as a cognitive process journalists engage in when they seek to organize and make sense of what happens. Entman (1993) contends that to frame is ―to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating context, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described‖ (p. 52). Thus, the functions of framing are those of defining problems, diagnosing causes, making moral judgments, and suggesting remedies (Entman, 1993).

The process of framing is often conceptualized as an active process for it involves selection (Zaharopoulos, 2007). Goffman (1974) conceptualizes that journalists package news stories and give stories meanings in the process. They decide which elements to include or to exclude in a story; hence, events can be framed in various ways, producing different versions containing different attributes (Tankard, 2001). Parson and Xu (2001) argue that these frames, or ‗internal structures of the mind‘ are often based on external values such as social norms, organizational constraints, and interest-group pressures. In their analysis of ―News Framing of the Chinese Embassy Bombing by the People’s Daily and the New York Times,‖ they examine how the two most prominent newspapers of China and the U.S. frame the bombing of the Chinese Embassy by the U.S. military in Belgrade and the aftermaths of the event. Their textual analysis of key words in the two newspapers, particularly adjectives that reflect ideological frames found that the New York Times repeatedly

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called the Chinese Embassy bombing as ―the accidental bombing‖ (p. 57), whereas People’s Daily called it ―the brutal attack‖ (p. 57). As for the aftermaths of this event, of which the Chinese protested outside the U.S. embassy in Beijing, The New York Times framed the student protests as ―choreographed‖ (p. 59), while the People’s Daily referred to them as ―spontaneous expression of indignation‖.

Kobland, Du and Kwon (1992) argue that news is a channel for which ideology is conveyed through the choice of words used to describe characters and events, the way in which events are framed, the tone and emphasis of the news story as well as the way it is organized, and the selection and omission of events. Akhavan-Majid and Ramaprasad (1998) argue that framing is an important mechanism by which ideology is transmitted via the news, and identify three types of ideology that influence the framing of news: dominant ideology, elite ideology, and journalistic ideology or occupational ideology. They see capitalism, anti-communism and male world views and values are examples of dominant ideology within the American society. Elite ideology refers to the particular ideology or policy orientation of the government or administration in office at a particular point in time. Occupational ideology functions as a major source of influence on how news is framed. For example, journalists‘

preferences for official actors and sources can affect how characters and contents in news stories are shaped (Akhavan-Majid & Ramaprasad, 1998).

Akhavan-Majid and Ramaprasad (1998) state that U.S. newspaper stories covering China has reflected the dominant ideology. One predominant frame used when covering China has been that of the ―anti-communism‖ (Kobland et al., 1992;

Akhavan-Majid & Ramaprasad, 1998), and the ―deceitfulness of communists‖

(Kobland et al., 1992) has been often used as a narrative in the American press.

Further, the press‘s coverage of the communist countries has ―almost entirely focused on the problems and failures of Marxist governments (Kobland et al., 1992;

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Akhavan-Majid & Ramaprasad, 1998). The influence of anti-communist frame on the news can be manifested by Entman‘s (1991) study of how the American media cover the Korean Airlines and Iran Air incidents, of which the former was shot down by a Soviet fighter plane in 1983, and the latter was shot down by the U.S. Navy ship in 1988. Entman (1991) found that in the Korean Airlines case, the frame stressed on the moral bankruptcy and guilt of the perpetrating nation—the Soviet Union, whereas in the Iran Air case, the frame de-emphasized guilt and focused on the complex problems of military technology operation.

Xie (2007) in ―Framing China: A Comparative Study of U.S. Elite Newspaper‘s Coverage of Nixon‘s Visit to China and the Chinese President‘s Visit to the U.S.‖

found that the dominant ideology –the anti-communist frame—was used by the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal when covering the Presidents‘ visits.

Media framing is important because it can have powerful effects on the audience (Tankard, 2001; Zaharopoulos, 2007). It can shape their opinions about topics which they are ignorant (Tuchman, 1978). Kahneman and Tversky‘s experiment of the power of framing in 1984 is the most widely cited example (Entman, 1993). In ―experiment one‖ of their study, they asked participants:

Imagine that the U.S. is preparing for the outbreak of an unusual Asian disease, which is expected to kill 600 people. Two alternative programs to combat the disease have been proposed. Assume that the exact scientific estimates of the consequences of the programs are as follows:

If Program A is adopted, 200 people will be saved. (chosen by 72%)

If Program B is adopted, there is a one-third probability that 600 people will be saved and a two-thirds probability that no people will be saved. (chosen by 28%)

In ―experiment two,‖ the statements were phrased as follows:

If Program A is adopted, 400 people will die. (chosen by 22%)

If Program B is adopted, there is a one-third probability that nobody will die

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and a two-thirds probability that 600 people will die. (chosen by 78%)

The importance of this study is that it illustrates that frames determine whether people notice and how they understand and remember a problem, as well as how they assess and choose to act upon it (Entman, 1993).

Price and Tewksbury (1997) also note that framing is important because it has the potential to influence public opinion about a covered event and the people involved in it. Price, Tewksbury, and Powers‘s (1997) study found that news frames can affect audience's perceptions of issues and people in the news by stressing specific values and facts. Similarly, Kensicki (2004) asserts that frames influence how the public thinks about an issue by defining the issue, stating who or what is the cause, and suggesting what should be done. Tankard cited Lang and Lang‘s (1983) study of the formation of public opinion on the Watergate scandal during Nixon‘s presidency in early 1970s, which found an important shift away from support for President Nixon when the media changed their framing. The press originally used the frame of

―Watergate caper.‖ Public opinion began to change only after the frame changed to a national political scandal (Tankard, 2001).

Ghanem (1997) identifies four dimensions of media frames: the topic of a news item (what content is included in the frame), presentation (size and placement), cognitive attributes (details of what is included in the frame), and affective attributes (tone). The affective dimension deals with the public‘s emotional response that may result from how a journalist covered a story, and the narrative structure of the news is one way the media exerts this response (Ghanem, 1997). Ghanem (1997) further argues that one of the weaknesses of most framing studies is that the attributes of an issue are not generalizable to other issues, thus, these four dimensions could act as the basis of comparisons across different issues.

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According to Zaharopoulos (2007), the importance of framing research is reinforced via media effects studies. For example, De Vreese (2004) found that

―frames in television news have the ability to direct viewer‘s thoughts when conceiving of a contemporary public issue.‖ Thus, as framing has the power to shape how one perceives an issue and can affect one‘s thoughts, one of the aims of this study is to find out how Time and the Economist frame the Beijing Olympics.