Framing in Television News

By: Hillary Thornton

So really how reliable is the information you receive through television news? TV journalists have delveloped several techniques for framing their stories. Does this mean they are bringing false evidence, facts and information. No, they just have ways of making their audience see the story through a certain angle. Ways they do this are by using or not using certain video footage, different editing techniques. whether they cover the stroy live of as a pre-produced package, where in the newscast the story comes and the length of time the story gets. All of these things are very simple things but tv journalists heavily consider all of these details because they do greatly effect their viewers and how they feel about the story at hand. For example, stories that come at the beginning of a newscast make viewers believe it is one of the most important stories for the day. However, there could be much greater issues going on that day. Since the newscasters placed the story at the beginning the viewers believe has the most importance. TV journalists tend to frame stories surrounded by conflict. Stories involving high-profile celebrities (recent example of Tiger Woods), politics, race, war, etc. are almost always framed whether the newscasters are aware of it or not. Framing is simple using effects to make your audience see the story through a particular angle. Often framing is used to persuade the audience, maintain integrity or simply gain an advantage. In the Duke lacrosse team rape case. Duke's Public Relations professionals used framing. The university was in the national spotlight and their school's prestige and integrity was under scrutiny. The university was involved in a case of rape however the school never actually discussed rape. The PR people never discussed the 'big issue' with the public. They focused on the emotional aspect of the students and how these particular athletes were being wrongly accused. There is more framing in this example...the athletes were found not guilty of rape. Even though the majority of America first believed without a doubt they were guilty of rape because of the way the story was portrayed by the media...the story was framed.