Why the media frames its stories:
- The media doesn't report facts; it reports stories. Facts are only reported as part off stories.
- The media has limited time and space to tell its stories, so it is forced to compress them.
- The media focuses and filters it stories by using frames of reference for its stories.
How the media frames its stories:
- The media uses two basic frames for most of its stories: the Horserace Frame, and the Three Vs Frame.
- The Horserace Frame reduces the story to a competition. The nature of the conflict between the characters in the story is not important; the story focuses on who is winning and who is losing. This is the basic frame the media uses for sports stories, many business stories, legal stories, and most civic and political stories.
- The Three Vs Frame is about the three characters - or groups of characters - in the story. The three characters are: a VICTIM who was harmed, a VILLAIN who allegedly harmed the victim, and a VINDICATOR who is acting on behalf of the victim. This is the basic frame the media uses for crime stories, investigative stories, consumer stories, most editorials, and some civic and political stories.
- The frames the media uses imply judgments about their stories and suggest values that should be used when evaluating their stories' subjects. While most members of the media try to report with accuracy and balance the coverage of their subjects, the frames they choose for their stories connote huge amounts of unspoken or unwritten information. For example, in a Three Vs story, the audience knows which character has been defined as the VILLAIN and understands which side they are expected to be on.
Over the next few posts, I'll spend some more time going into the Horserace and the Three Vs and how they are crucial to having your story understood and reported by the media in the way you intended.
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