Framed From Media Frames

Do you ever think about how much media has taken control over your life? When was the last time you went a few hours, wide awake without any access to electronics or the internet? I know for me it was a couple months ago when my roommate and I had the opportunity to attend the PGA Senior Championship in May. We had never been to a golf tournament, much less played golf on green grass, but an opportunity for free tickets sent us onto the course. My roommate and I had conducted research on golf etiquette prior to attending, but it was very apparent on the course that phones were not allowed. Even the ring of a text would alert volunteers to come over and remind you of the etiquette this sport had, with subtle movements in the gravel and talking also calling these individuals over to keep the courses silent for the golfers concentration.

While we didn’t make it all 18 courses, we made it halfway, spending over two hours in silence, walking along the green. When we had determined the Texas heat was too much for us and our feet began to ache, we pulled ourselves off the silence of natures wonders and back into the technological world surrounding the course. After, we both mentioned to one another how we hadn’t realized how much we missed being without the constant reminders that the news provides, of how we are not meeting the standards of others, and how the news often frames life to be exhausting.

Framing is problematic with the media. Yet what exactly is framing? Framing is the way society interprets new information based off of context that emphasizes selective facts over others (Lind 2023). This was very prevalent with COVID-19, with the amount of informational news being spread around on TV, radio and social media platforms. Misinformation was very prevalent with a study over information finding “90%” of it to be online rumours and “less than 10%” conspiracies (Okorie, 2022). This allowed for even specific channels to take on certain views about COVID, in particular opinions for and against the vaccine and how these outlets wanted their viewers to feel about COVID-19 (Okorie, 2022).

Another issue to be present in the media is racial framing. Political movements for an example, are another example of how press tends to construct stories to fit specific narratives they want their viewers to see (Pruitt, 2018). Often people in the U.S. have been found to turn an eye to racism outside of the country, despite recognizing how racism still persists within America (Pruitt, 2018). While a natural idea of how to combat racism may be to protest, the media may choose specifically how to angle the story, especially when those of minorities are involved (Pruitt, 2018). This can make political issues for those of other ethnic backgrounds seem dismissive and minamal which highlights how framing is a problematic strategic tactic (Pruitt, 2018).

References: Lind, R. A. (2023). In Race/gender/class/media: Considering diversity across audiences, content, and producers (5th ed., pp. 1–2). essay, Routledge. Retrieved 2023,. Okorie N. (2022). Global media framing, COVID-19 and the issue of vaccination: An empirical inquisition. Health promotion perspectives, 12(2), 186–191. https://doi.org/10.34172/hpp.2022.23 Pruitt, Vanessa (2018) "Racial Media Framing of Riots and Protests: A Constructionist View,"Undergraduate Research Journal: Vol. 22 , Article 10. Available at:https://openspaces.unk.edu/undergraduate-research-journal/vol22/iss1/10