Who won the blame game? An audiovisual framing analysis of attributions of responsibility in the network coverage of the 1995-1996 federal government shutdowns

摘要

Television news plays an increasingly important role in the interpretation of political events for most Americans, particularly when negative outcomes demand responsibility. The aim of this study was to assess if the major networks attributed more blame to the Republican Congress than to the President in their broadcast coverage of the 1995-1996 federal government shutdowns, to examine the news framing of this event, and to examine the characteristics of the audiovisual messages. Findings suggest that the Republican Congress was blamed more for the shutdowns and received more negative audio and visual attributions than the President. Findings suggest that while the networks presented the shutdowns through more strategy than issue frames, a human-interest frame was identified as a dominant theme throughout the coverage. Results did not support the hypothesized relationship between frames and visual images. Theoretical, methodological and applied implications for political media and suggestions for future research are advanced.