Prologue—Framing Public Life: A Bridging Model for Media Research

Abstract

This chapter addresses the need for a more integrative approach called for by Entman by proposing a set of identifiable stages in which framing can be investigated in public discourse and mass media content, in a process people call the Spiral of Opportunity. It conceptualizes news media framing of issues as an ongoing process in which journalists and contending stakeholders interact. The chapter examines the imperatives under which journalists operate and how stakeholders attempt to exploit the imperatives. Journalists in turn capitalize on conflict between stakeholders, which in turn motivates stakeholders to provide journalists with the grist for producing news in a manner that is economical and convenient. The chapter also addresses the need for more precise analytic methods by proposing Frame Mapping, a new computer assisted content analysis method that incorporates cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling. It offers a broad guiding theory with which communication scholars may continue their studies.