We investigated the prevalence of 5 news frames identified in earlier studies on framing and framing effects: attribution of responsibility, conflict, human interest, economic consequences, and morality We content analyzed 2,601 newspaper stories and 1,522 television news stories in the period surrounding the Amsterdam meetings of European heads of state in 1997 Our results showed that, overall, the attribution of responsibility frame was most commonly used in the news, followed by the conflict, economic consequences, human interest, and morality frames, respectively The use of news frames depended on both the type of outlet and the type of topic Most significant differences were not between media (television vs the press) but between sensationalist vs serious types of news outlets Sober and serious newspapers and television news programs more often used the responsibility and conflict frames in the presentation of news, whereas sensationalist outlets more often used the human interest frame

Framing European politics: a content analysis of press and television news

This article identifies key changes in society and the media that have shaped political communication in many democracies over the postwar period. Three distinct ages are described. In the first, much political communication was subordinate to relatively strong and stable political institutions and beliefs. In the second, faced with a more mobile electorate, the parties increasingly "professionalized" and adapted their communications to the news values and formats of limited-channel television. In the third (still emerging) age of media abundance, political communication may be reshaped by five trends: intensified professionalizing imperatives, increased competitive pressures, anti-elitist populism, a process of "centrifugal diversification," and changes in how people receive politics. This system is full of tensions, sets new research priorities, and reopens long-standing issues of democratic theory.

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The Third Age of Political Communication: Influences and Features

Historians and social scientists analyzing the contemporary world unfortunately have too little contact and hence miss some of the ways that their interests overlap and the research of one field might benefit another. I am, therefore, extremely grateful that the Journal of Consumer Research has invited me to share with its readers an overview of my recent research on the political and social impact of the flourishing of mass consumption on twentieth-century America. What follows is a summary of my major arguments, enough to entice you, I hope, to read A Consumers' Republic (Cohen 2003), in which I elaborate on these themes. Although this essay is by necessity schematic, the book itself is filled with extensive historical evidence and is heavily illustrated with period images. In tracing the growing importance of mass consumption to the American economy, polity, culture, and social landscape from the 1920s to the present, I in many ways establish the historical context for your research into contemporary consumer behavior and markets. I hope you will …

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A Consumers' Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America

Legislators and their scientific beneficiaries express growing concerns that the fruits of their investment in health research are not reaching the public, policy makers, and practitioners with evidence-based practices. Practitioners and the public lament the lack of relevance and fit of evidence that reaches them and barriers to their implementation of it. Much has been written about this gap in medicine, much less in public health. We review the concepts that have guided or misguided public health in their attempts to bridge science and practice through dissemination and implementation. Beginning with diffusion theory, which inspired much of public health’s work on dissemination, we compare diffusion, dissemination, and implementation with related notions that have served other fields in bridging science and practice. Finally, we suggest ways to blend diffusion with other theory and evidence in guiding a more decentralized approach to dissemination and implementation in public health, including changes in the ways we produce the science itself.

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Diffusion Theory and Knowledge Dissemination, Utilization, and Integration in Public Health

This study of the main evening television news programs in four European countries focuses on the framing of news surrounding a major European event, the January 1, 1999, introduction of the common European currency, the euro. We investigated the visibility of political and economic news in general and of the launch of the euro in particular. We found variations across countries in the emphasis on political and economic news, with the proportion of the newscast normally devoted to these subjects ranging from 45% to 60%. Journalists in all countries were more likely to emphasize conflict (rather than economic consequences) in framing general political and economic news. In the coverage of the launch of the euro, there was a greater emphasis on framing the news in terms of economic consequences. The findings are discussed in terms of influences on framing practices internal and external to journalism and the value of the cross-national comparative approach.

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Framing Politics at the Launch of the Euro: A Cross-National Comparative Study of Frames in the News

PART ONE: CONTEXT Theories of Political Communications The Campaign Context Understanding Media Effects PART TWO: PROCESS The Party Strategy The News Agenda The Public's Reaction PART THREE: IMPACT The Imapact On Civic Engagement The Impact On the Public's Agenda The Effects of Television News on Party Preferences The Effects of Newspapers Conclusions The Impact of Political Communications

On Message: Communicating the Campaign

Political Marketing: Lessons for Political Science

List of Figures - List of Tables - List of Plates - Preface - Acknowledgements - Introduction: Propaganda and Political Marketing - Crusted Agent to Media Expert: the Changing Face of Campaigns - The Rise of Thatcher: Political Marketing's Quantum Leap - Falklands' Fallout: Marketing Triumphant - Towards the Permanent Campaign: the 1987 Election - Government Publicity: Managing the News - Government Advertising: Information or Propaganda - The Image-Makers Unbound: Marketing in the post-Thatcher Era - The Americanization of British Politics? - Notes - Select Bibliography - Index

Designer Politics: How Elections Are Won

It has become commonplace to speak of political parties and brands. This article looks at the rise of the brand and explains how branding has become the cutting edge of commercial marketing. It examines how the brand concept and research techniques are used in politics and focuses in particular on the rebranding of Tony Blair in the run up to the 2005 U.K. general election. More broadly, it argues that branding is the new form of political marketing. If market research, spin, and advertising were the key signifiers of marketed parties and candidates in the 1980s and 1990s, “branding” is the hallmark now. It will argue that the brand concept has analytical value. It is not simply a convenient and fashionable term for image. Furthermore, it is a demonstration that we are moving from a mass media model to a consumer model of political communication.

Political Brands and Consumer Citizens: The Rebranding of Tony Blair

Health is a very prominent news category. However, we know little about the production processes of journalists leading to the health stories we encounter on a daily basis. Such knowledge is crucial for ensuring a vibrant public sphere for health. This article draws on interviews with eight health journalists in New Zealand to document what they consider to constitute a health story, their professional norms and practices, their perceptions of audiences, and the need for increased civic deliberations regarding health. Journalists privilege biomedical stories involving lifestyle and individual responsibility, and have limited frames for presenting stories that involve socio-political concerns. Stories are strongly shaped by journalists' considerations of their target audience, the sources they draw on, their professional norms, and institutional practices. This results in the omission of stories that have relevance for minority and disadvantaged groups and limits the nature of the stories told to ones that reflect the views of the majority. However, journalists are also reflective about these issues and receptive to ways to overcome them. This raises possibilities for health researchers to engage with journalists in order to repoliticise health and promote a more civic-oriented form of health journalism.

Margaret Scammell

Papers

On Message: Communicating the Campaign

Political Marketing: Lessons for Political Science

Designer Politics: How Elections Are Won

Political Brands and Consumer Citizens: The Rebranding of Tony Blair

Constructing health news: possibilities for a civic-oriented journalism