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

• In Event: Media Frames and Frame Building

Abstract

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 journalistic intervention 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 political conflict, and by amplifying possible consequences of conflicts. However, intervention in conflict framing is not merely a result of individual agency of journalists. Media routines embedded in organisational practices were found to increase this active role in conflict framing. Finally, journalists are mainly found to be active when politicians or parties with political power are involved.

Authors

• Guus Bartholome, University of Amsterdam

• Sophie Lecheler, U of Amsterdam

• Claes H. De Vreese, U of Amsterdam