FAST FACTS

MEDIA AGENDA-SETTING, PRIMING AND FRAMING

Through agenda-setting, priming and framing, the media have the ability to select which issues are news-worthy, often shaping what the American public considers important. By selecting certain news stories over others, depending on current presidential or political events, public opinion, consumer interest and the need for profit, the media often determine what stories, views and opinions will be covered and expressed. Agenda-setting occurs when the media use television, newspaper, radio, magazines, books, film and most recently, the internet to place political issues on America’s agenda. The media do not necessarily tell the American people what to think, but they do have the ability to tell them what to think about (McCombs/Estrada, 247). The salient issues in the national news become the issues that the viewing public regards as the nations most important. Therefore, by covering certain issues and avoiding others, the media have the ability to shape the American public’s political priorities.

Framing is the ability of the media to emphasize certain attributes of an issue, greatly impacting public opinion. The media tend to be more episodic than thematic, as argued by Political Communication scholar Shanto Iyengar in his book, Is Anyone Responsible? How Television Frames Political Issues. Episodic framing is event based, focusing on the individual event and the individuals involved, not the broader historical and contextual perspective. Void of context and analysis, episodic framing tends to be shallow, providing little information in which the viewer can draw conclusions and unfortunately is more widely used than thematic framing (Paletz, 143). Thematic framing concentrates coverage on broader perspectives and larger institutions, such as government, society or education which, as Iyengar argues, leads consumers to place blame on them instead of the temporal political actors involved in episodic framing.

Priming creates a context in which viewers evaluate policies, representatives and political issues that are covered in the news. According to the priming theory, media tend to focus on the "game of politics" whereby reactions of individuals to policies or events are more prominently covered than the actual policy or event itself (Paletz, 142). The viewing public will then be "primed" to evaluate policies, representatives and political issues on the game of politics--who does or says what, rather than on the actual content of the policy. The more an issue is covered, the more exposure people have and the more likely primed viewers will use information selected by the media to evaluate policies, representatives and political issues.

Agenda-setting, priming and framing are theories that attempt to explain media behavior and impact. As with much social science research, there is no silver-bullet theory. However, the combination of theories coupled with media and consumer behavior provides an appropriate context in which to evaluate such impact.

INFOTAINMENT

Infotainment is the collision of news and entertainment. It provides the media with a vehicle for reaching more viewers, increasing ratings, thus increasing profit through the use of high profile celebrities and issues in electronic and print mediums which attracts advertising dollars. The ascendancy and perceived legitimacy of infotainment has been strengthened by the proliferation of testimonial television (Oprah Winfrey, Donahue, Jerry Springer), investigative reporting (Hard Copy, Inside Edition) and inflammatory radio (Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern). Such venues reinforce the validity of sound-bite arguments and quick resolution, usually within the confines of short segments with little attention to analysis, historical impact and future ramifications (Hallin, 57). Infotainment has led news programs to cover more sensationalized stories, in order to compete with the aforementioned new formats and it has also led news reporters to become opinion shapers. Through "Cross-Fire" type talk shows, "pundits" such as Cokie Roberts, George Will and Pat Buchanan address issues and news in sound bite format, often yelling, and cutting each other off. As James Fallows argues in his book, Breaking the News, such pundits are the "Jerry Springer" of hard news.

As a function of the free market, media agencies compete for ratings which determine profits for media organizations and their owners. In an effort to gain greater market share, the news media have become more entertainment driven in order to increase ratings by co-opting entertainment news shows such as Hard Copy, therefore providing owners with greater profits to expand their media empires by purchasing other entertainment ventures (Paletz, 44).

Unfortunately, what is often considered important by the media, based on desire for ratings, is not always in the best interest of providing news and information and is often disregarded as "news" by the public. Recall the success of 20/20’s Monica Lewinsky interview which revealed minimal news-worthy information but was advertised and presented as news, though consumed as entertainment. Such dumbing down of the news is detrimental to those who ascribe to its validity.

SWEAT SHOP FACTORIES

Sweatshops, also referred to as Maquiladora's, are assembly factories located in Asia, Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean, Indonesia and even major urban areas of the United States. The term maquiladora was coined in Mexico in the 1960’s when the Border Industrial Program was initiated, allowing for free trade zones where foreign companies could establish factories with little regulation. Sweatshop employees are predominantly women between the ages of 16 and 25, a segment of the population that is often supplementing the wage of a male head of household (Fuentes/Ehrenreich, 28). Women frequently enter and leave the labor market due to the supplemental nature of their wage in the household, thus minimizing the chances of union organization as well as health benefits. More recently, single women supporting a family have come to depend on sweatshop labor as a means for survival. They seldom organize for fear of losing their job and often fear being black-listed from future production employment. Sweatshop labor does have a voice through grass-roots organizations that seek to eradicate human rights labor violations.

NATIONAL LABOR COMMITTEE

The National Labor Committee (NLC) is a New York based human rights advocacy group founded in 1981 as a labor-based organization committed to opposing the U.S. government's interventionist policies throughout Central America. The organization has evolved to encompass labor rights issues under the direction of Charles Kernhagen, who heads the NLC. Kernhagen was in Honduras researching sweatshop conditions in 1995 when he discovered Kathie Lee Gifford’s name on the label of clothing manufactured by children. Unbeknownst to him at the time was the accountability affixed to the name. Gifford is a popular co-host on the nationally syndicated program, LIVE! Regis and Kathie Lee. Upon return to New York, Kernhagen unsuccessfully attempted to reach Gifford by mail and subsequently approached a gathering of House Democrats and journalists. Kernhagen’s persistence ultimately led to national coverage sparked by Gifford’s tearful televised rebuttal to Kernhagen, placing the issue on the national agenda, albeit for infotainment. Kernhagen and the NLC single-handedly catapulted the issue into the media.