Manufacturing Conflict? How Journalists Intervene in the Conflict Frame Building Process

Autor(en)

G. Bartholomé, S. Lecheler, C. de Vreese

Abstrakt

A considerable amount of research is devoted to the presence and effects of conflict frames in the news. However, it is unknown if journalists actively manufacture and inflate conflict in their coverage of politics, or if they merely respond to contentious politics as it happens. This study focuses on the extent to which journalists take an interventionist stance in the conflict frame building process. We conducted expert interviews (N = 16) among Dutch political journalists. Results show that journalists indeed take an active stance in conflict frame building. They contribute to the emergence of conflict frames by using exaggerating language, by orchestrating, and by amplifying possible consequences of political conflict. However, intervention in conflict framing is not merely a result of individual agency of journalists. Rather, some role conceptions seem to counter an interventionist stance. Media routines that are embedded in organizational practices were found to facilitate this active role in conflict framing. Finally, journalists are mainly found to be active when politicians or parties with political power are involved.

Organisation(en)

Externe Organisation(en)

University of Amsterdam (UvA)

Journal

International Journal of Press/Politics

Band

20

Seiten

438-457

Anzahl der Seiten

20

ISSN

1940-1612

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161215595514

Publikationsdatum

2015

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

508020 Politische Kommunikation

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Communication, Sociology and Political Science

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/17b5dc1e-ddc5-4e91-8c74-edf84d5aa500