We are officially in 2024 and an American Presidential election year. I’ve had people over the years ask me to make my research (on news, information, and how average people process both) available so they can read it and share it with others.
Substack seems to be the right place and 2024 seems like the right year to do that finally. So here we go:
Here is a concept you must have as we go into the election cycle: The Strategy-Game Frame.
The thing is, humans do not deal in pure information. Even if I handed you a spreadsheet full of numbers, for you to understand the numbers I would have to give you some context for what you’re looking at.
When we watch the news journalists and broadcasters are giving us both the central information AND the context around it. This isn’t due to some nefarious plot, it’s just how language and information works. We call this process “framing.”
It’s just like if you were to take a picture of your dessert to post on your socials. You may choose to keep in the gilded cherry but crop out the weird face your date is making. We frame things to present them.
What you should understand, however, is that modern news content, particularly in the U.S., is choosing to present information in the same frame. Over and over….and over again.
A strategy-game frame is “the framing of politics as a strategic game [with a] focus on questions related to who is winning and losing, the performances of politicians and parties, and on campaign strategies and tactics.” (Aalberg et al. 2012, p 163)
Information is presented primarily as a political battle. This means the debates and the questions are not about policy per se, but whether it will help or hurt the election chances of a politician or a political party. Here is an example (which took me all of 6 seconds to find):
You can read the full article here.
This story is about energy infrastructure and policy - it is political work done by politicians. However, the story is generally framed around the electability of Biden as president. It’s Strategy-Game Framed.
Here’s another more blatant example:
Full story here.
“The economy,” which includes all activity where money is involved (so …everything), becomes a story about Biden and the Democratic Party. A Strategy-Game Frame.
I’ll go into why this is happening in a future post. Today I want you to understand what it is doing to us as people who are reliant on the news to give us critical information.
In short: It’s making us more cynical and more dumb. In a way that we can measure with science.
In experimental research done on this question, it was found that when people were given news clips in various frames, the strategy-game frame had a significant impact on how the participants remembered and considered the information presented in the story. They were less likely to discuss (or remember) the policy or issue at hand and were instead more likely to remember and discuss the politicians. Particularly, their brains got stuck on the politicians’ self-interest (Rhree 1997; Valentino et al 2001a; 2001b).
Some of that result is because strategy-game framed news tends to have less actual information than stories framed in other ways. However, a few of these studies were smart enough to check against this issue. In these research designs it was guaranteed that the news clips in question had substantive policy information in the story. However, if it was framed in the strategy-game frame, the viewers were far less likely to absorb any of it (Valentino 2001).
Yikes.
So, if this is the impact of the strategy-game frame for a single story under the controlled conditions of an experiment - what is this doing to us collectively? When we are exposed to it day in and day out?
You tell me if any of the following rings true to your experience:
These researchers theorized that the result of absorbing most of your information through the strategy game frame leads you to focus more on the politicians and less on policy. Worse, it makes you consider policy through the self-interest of politicians. The result is you cultivate feelings of resentment towards politicians and know little to nothing about actual policy (Jamieson 1992, Patterson 1993, Cappella & Jamieson 1997, 1997b).
Collectively this looks like widespread cynicism and distrust combined with massive under-information.
Does this resemble the world you’re living in? Then click subscribe and join me for the rest. It’s going to be a wild year.
*If this does not resemble the world you are living in, please give me the coordinates of your next landing place and let me come with you.
citations
Aalberg, T. Stromgback, J. & de Vreese, C.H. 2012. The Framing of Politics as Strategy and Game: A Review of Concepts, Operationalizations and Key Findings. Journalism, 13(2), pp. 162 - 178
Cappella, J & Jamieson, K.H. 1997a Spiral of Cynicism, New York: Oxford University Press.
Cappella, J. & Jamieson K.H. 1997B Spiral of Cynicism: The Press and the Public Good, New York: Oxford University Press.
Jamieson, K.H. 1992 Dirty Politics, New York: Oxford University Press
Jamieson, K.H. 2005. Constructing Political Reality: News Narratives and News Framing, New York, NY. Rowan and Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Patterson T.E. 1993 Out of Order, Vintage
This helps explain why commercial news outlets have become all but useless to my husband and I. I’m craving news all the time but the thin gruel currently on offer leaves me with far too many questions to be satisfied. Thank you for framing framing.
This is just one of the reasons why democracy only works well in a homogenous society. As soon as you’re broken down into tribes the friend-enemy distinction rules all. Why would you want to consume your enemy’s propaganda on a daily basis? It’s grating. It makes you angry.