A Tale of Two Stories: Framing Bias in the First Impeachment of President Trump

• In Event: Framing in the Wild and the Lab

Abstract

Do broadcast and cable news outlets provide audiences with a similar quantity of Democratic and Republican frames in their coverage of political controversies? If not, such partisan disparities in frame diversity may detract from civic discussion as people cannot debate the merits of political arguments they do not hear. Contrary to popular belief, if such bias exists it may not necessarily be a function of a partisan agenda, but may instead be caused by market or institutional forces. Unfortunately, there is little scholarship that actually tests various partisan and structural explanations of frame representation against each other. This paper addresses this gap in academic literature by examining partisan frame representation in an inherently newsworthy event, the first impeachment of President Trump. Using search terms in NexisUni, I identify every instance in which any of four partisan frames (two Democratic and two Republican) are used by ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX News, or MSNBC during prime news times over the course of the 135-day impeachment process. This data provides the means to establish an objectively derived metric that can be used to compare partisan frame differentials over time and across news mediums. The findings are then compared with the predictions of three leading theories of news generation (partisan bias, marketplace incentives, and institutional forces). The data shows that marketplace and institutional theories are better at predicting partisan frame diversity than theories of a partisan press.

Author

• Joshua P. Montgomery, University of North Texas