Attracting an Audience 101: Framing

When looking for something to write about in my latest entry to this media journal, I noticed that a number of the top headlines feature stories about the death of top al-Qaeda figure Anwar al-Awlaki. I decided to explore this story further, looking at the way it was reported in three different publications: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and USA Today.

There were a number of similarities among all of these articles: all three could easily be accessed from the publication’s homepage (indicating its position as a top news story for the day), provided the basic facts about the death of Anwar al-Awlaki, and included multimedia (such as photos or video) that presented the reader with further information about the story. But while the articles from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times were relatively straightforward accounts of al-Awlaki’s death, the article in USA Today offered up a very different prospective. This article, titled “Killings boost Obama’s national security credentials,” quickly moves from informing the reader about the death of a member of al-Qaeda to analyzing the effects that this death will have on the public view of Obama as a leader of national security.

The differences between these articles can, in part, be attributed to framing. In her article “Getting Framed: The Media Shape Reality,” Charlotte Ryan explains that

“a news story results from multiple subjective decisions about whether and how to present happenings to media audiences. Newsmakers engage in a selection process, actively making sense out of an immense quantity of experience, selecting some points as critical, discarding or downplaying others” (54).

Because news stories pass through so many reporters and editors prior to their publication, it’s easy to understand how they can turn out in a variety of different ways.

It’s also possible that framing could occur in a publication’s attempt to stand out from the crowd. Though we like to think that the primary purpose of the press is to educate and inform the public, there’s no denying that journalism is a business. And because the ultimate goal of any newspaper is to make money, news organizations frame their stories in different ways to separate themselves from the competition. This becomes especially true when reporting on something such as the death of al-Qaeda personnel, as this type of event is sure to be spread throughout numerous news sources. USA Today decided to take a route that was different from other publications, perhaps reporting on the effects of this death in an attempt to make their story one worth reading.

Works Cited
Ryan, Charlotte. "Getting Framed: The Media Shape Reality". Prime Time Activism. Boston: South End Press, 1991.

Knowns and Unknowns (with Brian Williams)

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In his book Deciding What's News, Herbert J. Gans describes the different types of people that populate news stories, stating that the two most prominent types “could be well-known people, whom I call Knowns; or they could be Unknowns, ordinary people prototypical of the groups or aggregates that make up the nation” (8). I found this segment from Nightly News with Brian Williams interesting because it combines these two types of people, using “Known” Mark Zuckerberg as a launching pad for a story that focuses more heavily on several Unknowns.

Gans describes Knowns as “a combination of people […] assumed by journalists to be familiar names among the audience” (9). Because of this familiarity, they occupy a great deal of news coverage – anywhere between 70-85%, according to Gans. Unknowns, on the other hand, are “ordinary people [who] obtain about a fifth of the available time or space” (13) in the news. One of the things I found most interesting about this Nightly News segment was that its inclusion of Knowns was minimal—they were only represented briefly, at the beginning—but still apparent. Perhaps this is one reason why Gans argues that Knowns are so widely featured across the entire news spectrum: they make appearances in stories even when they don’t play a large role.

Before taking this class, I never would have questioned the existence of this segment or the role that Zuckerberg played in it. But after reading Gans and becoming more attuned to the lopsided tilt towards the use of Knowns in the news, I had to ask myself whether this story would have ever been produced and aired had the $100 million not come from Zuckerberg. And the answer that I keep coming up with is “no”.

Now, $100 million is certainly a lot of money, and any donation in that amount is bound to be the subject of a press report on some scale, somewhere. But had the money not come from Zuckerberg, a name recognizable to any tech-savvy American (and certainly to the millions who have Facebook accounts), I doubt that this story would have been featured on the Nightly News. The teachers and parents who were interviewed in this segment were featured because they were the recipients of Zuckerberg’s donation; in other terms, the Unknowns only made it into the news through the actions of a Known.

Gans believes that “the news ought to be about individuals rather than groups or social processes” (8), and, in this way, the Nightly News segment succeeds. But I know that I will now approach the news with a more diligent eye, questioning the roles that each source plays in a story and remaining conscious about the balance between Knowns and Unknowns in the stories presented to me.

Works Cited
Gans, Herbert J. Deciding What’s News: A Study of CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, Newsweek, and Time. 25th Anniversary Edition. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 2004.

Why I Love Hoda and Kathie Lee

I love The Today Show. Specifically, I love the show’s fourth hour, hosted by Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford. I watch it nearly everyday when I’m home on breaks, and have occasionally used a television in the basement of my dorm to catch an episode or two while I’m here at Vassar.

Though I’m normally quite embarrassed to reveal my affinity for The Today Show’s fourth hour, I’ve recently begun to question whether that embarrassment is warranted. Yes, the show is more of a “news-magazine,” frequently featuring fluffy segments about the newest fall fashions or the best ideas for throwing a Memorial Day party. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a worthwhile source of information.

The 10am hour always opens with a segment titled “Today’s Talk,” in which Hoda and Kathie Lee share their opinions about whatever is making headlines that day. Sometimes those selected are more focused on popular culture – even I had to tune out in the weeks leading up to Kim Kardashian’s wedding, for their coverage was just too much – but at other times these women weigh in on some of the more serious issues in the news. And though their opinions aren’t always the most articulate or ones that I necessarily agree with, it is interesting to hear what they have to say about any variety of topics.

Additionally, I find great entertainment value in this segment of their show, regardless of what they’re discussing. It’s as much fun to listen to them discuss random statistics about dating as it is to hear them weigh in on Hurricane Irene and its effects on New York City. And I don’t think I should be ashamed for turning to this program for entertainment. While the survey we took at the beginning of this semester showed that only 4% of Vassar students regularly watch The Today Show (I was one of them), 36% regularly watch The Daily Show and 25% regularly watch The Colbert Report. It’s certainly true that the humor of The Today Show with Hoda and Kathie Lee may be less intelligent and less purposeful than that of Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert, but that doesn’t mean I should be embarrassed for enjoying it.

Now, I’m well aware that watching The Today Show is no substitute for watching the evening news or picking up an issue of The New York Times. But sometimes it’s nice to get some news from a lighter source, to listen to the headlines while also listening to two women joke about the amount of wine they’re drinking at 10am. And if choosing the fourth hour of The Today Show as that lighter source is seen as less sophisticated than choosing The Colbert Report, I guess that’s just something I’ll have to deal with.