Media Framinging And The Media

Media framing is a process by which issues are portrayed in the news media that is, provide boundaries around a news story and determine what is and is not newsworthy or notable. Gamson and Modigliani (1987: 143; 1989) argue ‘media framing is central organizing idea or story line that provides meaning to an unfolding strip of event. Frame suggests what the controversy is about’.
Mcleod & Hertog (2001: 142) describes frames as organizing principles that are socially shared and persistent overtime, that work symbolically to meaningfully structure the social world. This description creates a nexus between framing and ideology for dominant ideologies are those that are most accepted and visible in mainstream society. As such supporting Hall’s (1977) assertions that separating ideology and framing is more difficult, that is, the two concepts are intertwined especially when analyzing media framing as reflecting dominant ideology. Semetko and Valkenburg (2000: 93-109) posit that ‘Scholars track frames to identify trends in issue definitions, compare coverage across media outlets, and examine variations across types of media and establish the dominant ideology’ this is true for example the war against terror and how it was covered after September 911 bombing of twin towers in the United states of America.
This paper discusses framing from the agenda setting role of the media perspective based on agenda setting theory of communication whose assumption is that the media constructs what it perceive as important which is influenced by dominant ideology through selecting issues they consider salient or that the society should be concerned about for example public awareness issues and public interest. Through discussing Media frames a ...

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...se of news worthiness and sometimes occurs unconsciously through priming and agenda setting role of the media. Oscar Hall supports this position by stating that in each society there is a dominant ideology that most members accept without reflection: it is the common sense of the culture for example Terrorism, capitalism and communism. Mcleod and Herttog (2001 : 141-161) support this conclusion by stating it is difficult to separate ideology and framing especially if you look at it from the priming perspective and conclude in their study that frames to be reflective of and influential in supporting the powerful institutions in society which is true according to Marxist theory for example the passing of Patriotic Act by Congress in the USA after September 911 bombing which infringes on human rights and freedoms upon which that the American society is founded.