The Dynamics of Issue Frame Competition in Traditional and Social Media

Abstract

This study examines the dynamics of the framing of mass shooting incidences in the U.S. occurring in the traditional commercial online news media and Twitter. We demonstrate that there is a dynamic, reciprocal relationship between the attention paid to different aspects of mass shootings in online news and in Twitter: tweets tend to be responsive to traditional media reporting, but traditional media framing of these incidents also seems to resonate from public framing in the Twitterverse. We also explore how different frames become prominent as they compete among media as time passes after shooting events. Finally, we find that key differences emerge between norms of journalistic routine and how users rely on Twitter to express their reactions to these tragic shooting incidents.

The Dynamics of Public Attention: Agenda-Setting Theory Meets Big Data

“…It is unlikely that variation in terminological emphasis changed deeply held views on this famously contentious issue, but clearly as events unfolded there was a reciprocal pattern of linkage between the traditional and social media. Our analysis of framing dynamics is reported in more detail elsewhere (Guggenheim, Neuman, Jang, & Bae, ) but we see from Table that the ratios of attention to issue frames in the traditional media and social media for the examples at hand (despite some variation) are roughly similar, and when differences arise they appear usually in but one of the social media under study. Further, we see again a rich mix of patterns of leading and lagging in the Granger analysis with no dominant pattern of agenda setting by one medium.…”

Constructing Policy Narratives in 140 Characters or Less: The Case of Gun Policy Organizations

“…Elected officials, news organizations, and interest groups (among other political actors) actively post on Twitter, now the eighth most popular website globally according to http://Alexa.com (). While there is a growing body of literature examining the role of social media in politics (see Gainous & Wagner, ; Merry, ; Raynaud & Greenberg, ), little research has evaluated the framing of issues on social media (for an exception, see Guggenheim, Jang, Bae, & Neuman, ). In particular, do political actors use social media to construct policy narratives, or accounts defining problems, characterizing relevant participants, and proposing solutions?…”

Measuring Exposure Opportunities: Using Exogenous Measures in Assessing Effects of Media Exposure on Smoking Outcomes

“…Considering that the exogenous exposure measures are gaining popularity among media effects studies, and that the progress of media effects studies will depend heavily on the quality of exposure measurement, the need for additional validation evidence is clear. Potential approaches would include: associating over-time variation in media coverage of an issue, for example, with over-time survey reports of exposure (e.g., Kelly, Niederdeppe, & Hornik, 2009), or testing whether over-time variation in coverage of a topic in one media source is associated with coverage in another source (e.g., Guggenheim, Jang, Bae, & Neuman, 2015). …”