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Media Framing of a Civil Liberties Conflict and Its Effect on Tolerance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Thomas E. Nelson ,
Rosalee A. Clawson  and
Zoe M. Oxley
Thomas E. Nelson
Affiliation:
Ohio State University
Rosalee A. Clawson
Affiliation:
Purdue University
Zoe M. Oxley
Affiliation:
Ohio State University
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Abstract

Framing is the process by which a communication source, such as a news organization, defines and constructs a political issue or public controversy. Two experiments examined the effect of news frames on tolerance for the Ku Klux Klan. The first presented research participants with one of two local news stories about a Klan rally that varied by frame: One framed the rally as a free speech issue, and the other framed it as a disruption of public order. Participants who viewed the free speech story expressed more tolerance for the Klan than participants who watched the public order story. Additional data indicate that frames affect tolerance by altering the perceived importance of public order values. The relative accessibility of free speech and public order concepts did not respond to framing. A second experiment used a simulated electronic news service to present different frames and replicated these findings.

Type
Articles
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 91 , Issue 3 , September 1997 , pp. 567 - 583
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1997

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