1.  Lesson 4: Critically Consuming Statistics, Frames, Media and Claimsmaking Social Problems Robert Wonser 1

2. 2 Damned Lies and Statistics  Statistical Benchmarks:  U.S. population +/- 310 million  About 4 million babies born every year  About 2.4 million die every year  1 in 4 from heart disease (1,206,374 deaths in 2004), cancer too  Traffic accidents: 43,000 people (about 1 or 2%), breast cancer: 40,000, homicide: 17k, suicide 32k

3. 3  In general, the worse things are, the less common they are  As a general rule, advocates prefer to define social problems as broadly as possible:  First, advocates claim they are drawing attention to the issue  Second, they allow advocates to count more cases

4. Frames  Research suggests that a small number of frames (or maybe just one) on any particular issue become dominant in public discourse while others are ignored  Frame describes how the public, media, activists, politicians, and anyone else portray social problems.  They provide a way to make sense of what we experience

5. What Framing Techniques are being used?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyZoNs0kAkA 5

6. Calmismakers frame issues  They do so in ways that reflect their beliefs about the issues but also that get people ’ s attention and compassion (or derision).  Media choose to frame issues in ways that attract the largest audience possible.  Media is in the business of using social problems to entertain their audience rather than educating them

7. Framing Techniques  Piggybacking  Domain expansion  Constructing worthy victims  Horrifying examples

8. What makes some claims more successful than others?  Read the article on looksismlooksism  Is this successful? Why or why not?  How would you suggest improving it?