News framing and public opinion: A mediation analysis of framing effects on political attitudes

Author(s)
Sophie Lecheler, Claes H. De Vreese
Abstract

here is no satisfactory account of the psychological processes that mediate a news framing effect. Based on an experimental study (N = 1,537), this article presents a mediation analysis of a news framing effect on opinion, testing for two important mediation processes: belief importance and belief content change. Results show that framing is mediated by both belief importance and belief content, with belief content being the more prominent variable. The extent to which each process takes effect depends on a person’s level of political knowledge. Knowledgeable individuals are affected to a greater extent via both belief content and belief importance change.

Organisation(s)
External organisation(s)
University of Amsterdam (UvA)
Journal
Journalism & mass communication quarterly
Volume
89
Pages
185-204
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699011430064
Publication date
2012
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
508020 Political communication
Keywords
Portal url
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/news-framing-and-public-opinion-a-mediation-analysis-of-framing-effects-on-political-attitudes(b42bfdd5-b80c-4c6e-9882-a677bf952cfa).html