1. Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong 1 Concepts in media studies: framing, agenda setting and media effects Media, politics and the environment Class 3 Miklos Sukosd

2. Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong Media representation Media as a source of information Media as a source of interpretation Media as a source of relevance, salience Media representation of reality: selection, editing, sourcing in media reality Journalism, news media vs. artistic media representation Objecivity vs. bias in news media 2

3. Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong 3 Media frames (Entman, 1993) - Missing aspect of the “objectivity approach” - Influence over human consciousness by communication of information/text - Key features: selection and salience - Select some aspects of reality and make them salient

4. Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong 4 Frames - Promote particular problem definition (define problems) - Causal interpretation (diagnose causes) - Moral evaluation (make moral judgements) -Treatment recommendation (suggest remedies) Frames by/in - Communicators (sources, journalists) - Text - Receivers - Cultural context

5. Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong 5 Examples: Housing development project in suburbs Background: legal re-classification of agricultural lands for housing development 1. Development frame - Working opportunities subframe - Local infrastructure development sf. 2. Critical democratic frame - Transparency of decision subframe - Whose interest? subframe

6. Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong 6 3. Environmental frame - Peaceful conditions subframe - Ecological subframe - Environmental legal subframe 4. Real estate frame - Prices/markets for buyers subframe - Real estate trends and investment for professionals subframe Framing power: cultural capital + financial power Framing wars: conflicting and mutually exclusive frames (politicians; states in international conflict) Framing coalitions: agreement on larger frames Masterframes: incorporating elements of frames

7. Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong 7 Agenda setting - Salience of issues, topics, topic areas in media and popular attitudes - Causal relationship from media to cognition - Lonely people (few interpersonal contacts) follow political agenda more – stronger agenda setting role of the media - Classic Iowa referendum study: counties with newspaper and citizens’ committee: significantly different voting patterns, self-interest effect is reinforced by agenda setting

8. Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong 8 Criticism of agenda setting - Roots of media agenda are missing: policy (legislative), political, public (civic, NGO, citizen) agendas - Methodologies and methodological problems - Content analysis and polling - How many media sources? Example: Comparative research project re news consumption and political knowledge in 8 countries - Longitudinal research opportunities

9. Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong 9 Questions re framing and agenda setting: How relevant are these concepts for environmental issues? How free are journalists, editors, filmmakers, and media users to - select or define the frames re the environmental stories? - set agendas with environmental with stories? Can stories exist without frames and agenda setting?

10. Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong 10 Media effects 1.Long run vs.Short run effects 2. Cumulative vs.One time effects 3. Cognitive vs. Attitudinal vs.Behavioral effects 4. Strong vs. Weak effects 5. Important/Relevant vs. Marginal effects 6. Qualitative vs. Quantitative effects Many areas (social, political, economic, cultural) of effects

11. Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong 11 Media effects and network media Traditional media - television radio, press, film -one-to-many communication Digital media -internet, Web 2.0 -many-to-many network communication Traditional media, mass communication: effects on audiences Web 2.0, social media: effects by active users