Responding to Scheufele's View on Framing

Responding to Scheufele's View on Framing

Course: Communication and Society

Written: February 4, 2014 
Published: January 10, 2017
© All Rights Reserved

It’s obvious that the media influences public opinion because outside of family and social groups, the media is a primary source that influences how we develop our ideologies, especially political views.

I agree that the author clearly stated his position that past framing research has been vague, scattered, and ineffectively confused with agenda setting and priming. I believe Scheufele achieved depth by using relevant primary and secondary sources to support the complexities of framing as a theory. Scheufele used multiple perspectives and definitions from other authors to support his reasoning that framing research would benefit from a more unified theoretical model on hand.

From an anecdotal perspective, I can relate to the idea of wordage or theories being used ineffectively. For an example, I was a professional actress in my younger years.  A previous manager would say that acting is believing in imaginary situations. The term 'imaginary situations' was ubiquitous amongst managers and casting directors in the industry. As I developed my craft, I formed a different, more applicable model that worked for me. Instead of believing in imaginary situations, I began acting as if I am living in the situation. This lead to a natural performance.

Similar to the 4-key process model of framing, this takes time to apply after conceptually understanding it. The underlying connection here is the process of remodeling a confused concept or theory by developing another model that becomes useful, like Scheufele did.

It’s obvious that the media influences public opinion because outside of family and social groups, the media is a primary source that influences how we develop our ideologies, especially political views.  Although the article was written in 1999, the author's reasoning is sufficient and comprehensive for today. I appreciate that the author did not wander away from the article's premise. I respect how Scheufele challenged previous approaches to framing research.

Equally as important, Scheufele’s 4-key process model of framing is precise and applicable to framing research.

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