Topic: Guide for Using the "Talking Children's Issues" CD-Rom.
by Debbie Morgan with Susan Bales for the FrameWorks InstituteBy now, you should have received "Talking Children's Issues," a fully-narrated communications presentation on CD-Rom, developed and produced by the FrameWorks Institute for the Annie E. Casey Foundation's KIDS COUNT Network.
This new CD-Rom can be an important tool for KIDS COUNT projects to use as you communicate data and policies for children and families. It can be watched individually or in groups. And when watched as a group, it can help get others on board with better strategies for communicating children's issues.
This E-Zine is designed as a companion document to the CD-Rom presentation. In the next few pages, we describe a few different ways KIDS COUNT projects can use the CD-Rom as a training tool with colleagues, coalition partners, grassroots advocates, community leaders, Board members, and others. These suggestions are not meant to be exclusive, but rather to spark your creativity for locally appropriate applications.
No matter how you choose to use the CD-Rom, it is important to set some overall goals for your session and use those goals to help you decide whom to invite to your training. If your goal is to share what you have learned about framing children's issues with staff and Board so that everyone is on the same page, you may want to limit attendance to those groups and focus your discussion questions around the specific work of your organization. If your goal is to advance the policy work among the broader community of child and family advocates, you could organize a session that uses the CD-Rom as a "jumping off point" for strategizing about upcoming advocacy efforts.
No matter what strategy you pursue, the CD-Rom can help you confidently introduce the concept of framing children's issues to the broader community of service and advocacy organizations. Let's take a look at some ways to do that.
#1: The Always Enjoyable Brown-Bag Lunch
Who doesn't enjoy a good brown-bag lunch now and then? After all, it's an opportunity to learn something in a short span of time — while eating. What could be better! Some organizations and coalitions already have a regularly scheduled brown-bag lunch series. If that is available to you, suggest showing the CD-Rom at an upcoming brown-bag and leading a discussion afterward. If no such series already exists, why not create one?
But how should you use the brown-bag lunch as a training opportunity? Brown-bag lunches are typically short - around 1½ to 2 hours maximum. The KIDS COUNT CD-Rom runs around 45 minutes, but with stop and start-up, you should budget an hour. Therefore, a brown-bag session allows just enough time for viewing the CD-Rom and a brief discussion, making it an ideal vehicle for an introduction to framing children's issues.
We recommend that you give a brief introduction to the CD-Rom, then play it on a computer hooked up to an LCD projector. You could then spend about 20 - 30 minutes leading a discussion. People in attendance will also likely ask questions about the material covered in the presentation, but don't be flustered! If you don't feel comfortable answering the question, just write it down and email it to FrameWorks at info@frameworksinstitute.org, and we will get back to you with an answer.
Discussion questions for a brown-bag session should focus on the basics of framing, for example:
- What issues are you currently working on that you would like to frame more effectively?
- What level one values do you think would advance those issues?
- What level one values are currently attached to your issues by the media?
- Which elements of the frame do you think you are not using effectively?
- How could you use those elements of the frame to construct a better frame of your issue?
#2: The Framing Refresher Course
The CD-Rom can also serve as a refresher course for those staff, coalition partners or other colleagues who have already heard a presentation or attended a training. Here are some ideas for planning this kind of event. Your refresher course could serve as the basis for getting everyone focused strategically on developing a new communications strategy for your organization, planning a communications campaign, organizing the communications aspects of an advocacy effort, or writing the communications materials for a publication release.
When using the CD-Rom in this capacity, we suggest you ask everyone in attendance to read "KIDS COUNT E-Zine #8: A Five Minute Refresher Course in Framing" in advance of getting together. Then, when everyone gathers for the session, you can show the CD-Rom and lead a follow-up discussion and/or an exercise to help people practice the methods and techniques described in the presentation.
Discussion questions for this kind of event could include:
- How are we currently framing our issues?
- How is the state media framing our issues?
- How is the opposition framing our issues?
- How are legislators framing our issues?
- What level one values are we promoting when we communicate our issues? Are those level one values accomplishing what we want?
- Are we using all the elements of the frame effectively? If not, how can we use them more effectively?
Sometimes it helps to do a brief exercise so that people apply framing lessons to something other than the task-at-hand. Here is a sample exercise you can use:
Bring a copy of today's local newspaper to the refresher course. After you've viewed the CD-Rom, take out the paper and pick out an article as a group. If possible, don't pick an article on an issue you are familiar with. If you cannot find an article you want from today's paper, look at recent newspaper editions on-line. Make enough copies of the article for everyone and then ask the group to review it, along with any visual(s) that may accompany it. Then, as a group, answer the following questions:
- What values are being communicated in the core message of the article?
- Does the message set up a systems perspective on the problem, i.e., does the message make the link between people and their environment as opposed to blaming individuals or groups?
- Does the message set up policy and systems solutions to the problem, as opposed to individual transformation (fix the people) or better information (consumer model)?
- Who are the key messengers used to tell us what this article is really about?
- What is the probable impact of the use of these messengers?
- Are there any metaphors or simplifying models used in the article? If so, what are they? Do these metaphors or models advance or impede the goals of the article?
- Are they using any visuals and symbols in the article? If so, what are they?
- Do the visuals add to, or detract from, the overall frame of the article? Why?
- Are numbers and statistics used in the article? If so, how?
- Are these numbers likely to be understood by their audience? Are they being deployed appropriately and effectively? Are the memorable?
- Is there a reasonable or rhetorical tone used in the article?
- What effect do you think the tone has on the overall effectiveness of the article?
Conclude the refresher course session by giving the group a challenge. For example, challenge participants to go back to their own work and select something they have written - a press release, an executive summary, an op/ed, etc. Then have them ask the same questions about what they wrote. Challenge them to rewrite something they have written, applying what they've learned about framing.
Another idea, as a way of integrating framing practice into everyone's work, is to institute "Framing Fridays" among your staff or partners. As part of "Framing Fridays," the group would gather for an hour each Friday, with each person having selected an article out of the past week's newspaper for discussion. It helps to focus on a particular aspect of the frame that is dramatized: messengers, metaphors, numbers, visuals and symbols, context, tone, stories. At the gathering, each person would share their article with the group and have a discussion about the way the issue was framed by the media (you can use the questions in this E-Zine or create new ones for your discussion).
#3: Do-It-Yourself Media Content Analysis
In this application, we suggest showing the CD-Rom to the group, followed by a more lengthy exercise resulting in a media content analysis. This can serve as a foundation for teaching people how to institute a regular process to identify the frames your organization may be up against in the daily roll-out of news. This type of training would involve two sessions: one in which we recommend showing the attendees the CD-Rom, then taking some time for questions, and finally moving into the exercise on how to do a media content analysis. The exercise involves some preparation work, as well as follow-up work by the participants. Therefore, the second session would involve coming back together to share and discuss the results of the content analysis.
Listed below are four easy steps for performing a media content analysis exercise. The exercise demonstrates how to capture the news, discuss it in a group, educate a constituency on the meaning of framing, and come out with a plan to fight the frames you're up against.
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- Core position: the argument that the evidence, opinions, and examples are compiled to support
- Metaphor: the analogy or comparison offered in support of the core position
- Catch phrase: the slogan or memorable "news bite" that sums up the position
- Visual images: both those that are running on screen and any "word pictures" used to dramatize the story for the audience
- Source of the problem: who or what is seen as the root cause of the problem? Who or what is presented as the "solution?"
- Predicted outcome: what will happen if nothing is done? What compels intervention?
- Appeal to principle: what is the underlying value on which the appeal is made? Often, these are fundamental values (Level Ones) like freedom, equality, community, etc. Try to state the principle as a statement (personal freedom will be eroded by this law).
STEP ONE: A little more than one week before the training, assign each person a TV station (make sure everyone has access to a VCR). Each person will be responsible for capturing one segment of the evening news from that specific station on tape for one week.
You will want to select the evening news with the widest viewership; you can determine this by calling the advertising department of any station and asking them which nightly news has the biggest audience. Make sure that all tapers clip that same news hour, even though they are clipping different stations. If you have more people than you need, have them choose an alternative news hour and clip several stations at that time.
Give each taper a videotape with their news hour and station call letters on the ID sticker. They can then program their VCRs for that station and time. At the end of the week, each member of the group has a sample of roughly seven hours of news coverage.
STEP TWO: Next you will want to discover whether your issue is getting any coverage at all, whether you are even on the agenda. To do this, you must decide what "cluster" of issues you judge to fall within your area of interest. For example, people interested in violence prevention might want to look at segments that explicitly addressed crime, race, drugs, and economic development. With a big issue like children and families, you must have a short checklist of issues that you define as being related to your public policy goals so that you can winnow down the news. So, at the training session, come up with a short list of issues that your group wants to track.
Then, as a "homework assignment" ask each participant to watch one segment of their taped news and to code it for the presence of related issues.
They could create a scratch sheet like the following:
Date -
Station -
News hour -
Total number of news segments -
Related segment 1 (title) -
Placement on tape -
Related segment 2 (title) -
Placement on tape -
From doing this, you can: (1) compute the relative visibility of your issue, and (2) identify the placement of segments you want to submit for further analysis.
STEP THREE: Organize a second session, during which each member of the group will bring in the tapes that address your related issues and show them to the group. Try not to review more than 4 or 5 segments at a time, as they tend to blur together. You can now begin to deconstruct the frames used by the media on your issues. Following is a summary of a suggested "framing matrix" first developed by Charlotte Ryan and refined by Liana Winnett to help structure your analysis. Advocates are advised to refer to the more detailed explanations available from both authors (Ryan, C. 1991. Prime Time Activism: Media Strategies for Grass Roots Organizing. Boston: South End Press. Winnett, L. (1997); "Advocate's Guide to Developing Framing Memos." Do The Media Govern? Politicains, Voters, and Reporters in America. Eds. Shanto Iyengar and R. Reeves. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.) The following is a much simplified, and editorialized version of these more finely developed tools.
Have everyone in the group jot down what you see in each segment corresponding to these categories:
Additionally, we suggest you ask what is missing from the frame. Remember that you may have "insider" information about an issue or problem that helps explain it. Look for who and what isn't in the newscast that would help people contextualize the issue.
Remember to ask what is the solution being set up by this kind of news? If it results in volunteers, for example, is that going to solve your problem in the long-run or distract from efforts to get systemic reforms?
STEP FOUR: Now review and discuss the findings from your framing matrix. Given what you've learned from the CD-Rom about the effects of frames on public understanding, what can you speculate about how the public understands your issue? Is it well-covered but badly framed, in which case you must figure out how to reframe it? Is it invisible, giving you both a challenge and an opportunity? Summarize your meeting with a statement: what are we up against?
The temptation may be to march into media outlets and demand fairer treatment for your issue. Often seeing the stark outlines of the frames you are up against provokes emotion and a sense of moral outrage. But remember that journalists frame the way they do because they are taught that certain elements of a story make for better news, engage the public, etc. They develop rolodexes of experts, insiders and influentials who are "news-worthy." They rely on "B-roll" (background video) as backdrop for their news stories because time is short and they have an archive of "good video" in the can that fits the storyline. Until you have a very good idea of the news you want to make to engage people in your issue, and how you could organize the traditional pieces of a news story to give the journalists a "fresh story," but one that still fits their definition of news, it's best to devote your time to strategic reframing, and not to "educating the media."
Often, advocates are tempted to figure out how to make more of the same kinds of news they see in local media. Once you've figured out the formula, you want to be able to give your issue greater visibility. But remember that quantity is only half of the news equation. You need to think carefully how to get the quality of news you need to "reframe" the problem for public solution. Content analysis is only one of a necessary set of steps to take in your quest for a media strategy.
This kind of framing exercise should be done regularly, to watch the evolution of your issue over time. Don't just clip the news you make after a news conference or special event, but watch the context of news as it plays out year-after-year to get a sense of where you need to weigh in, and how your issue may be changing.
#4: The Situation Analysis
A fourth way to use the CD-Rom as a training tool is to use it to provide the background information needed to conduct a framing situation analysis on a specific children's issue. This situation analysis is designed to help you take a deliberate look at how your issue is currently framed by the media and then how you want it to be framed, by guiding you through a set of questions. You can do this with your own staff or with a coalition devoted to a common issue. But you may need a day's retreat to undertake this kind of reflective workshop.
In advance of the workshop, select one children's issue that the participants are currently working on. Ask participants to bring to the meeting their best and worst news clips on the specific topic you've chosen. In this situation analysis, you are going to answer a set of questions from two different perspectives: first, descriptively, how the news media is framing the issue currently; and second, prescriptively, how you would like the issue to be framed.
At the workshop, first put the CD-Rom in a computer hooked up to an LCD projector and watch it together as a group. Spend some time answering people's questions about the presentation, so they feel comfortable applying what they have learned. Remember, if you don't feel comfortable answering a question, just write it down and email it to FrameWorks at info@frameworksinstitute.org, and we will get back to you with an answer.
For example, let's take a look at the issue of kids and smoking. For many years, the traditional way the news media framed the issue was as follows:
Smoking: Old Dominant News Frame
Individualism — it's up to each person to decide whether or not to smoke
Freedom/choice — you can't and shouldn't legislate individual choice
Harmless experimentation — everyone tries it, it's part of growing up
Drug addiction (regrettable, person) — only some get hooked, it's internal to the person
Responsibility of parents — if parents raise their kids right, they won't smoke
Bad behavior (teens') — kids who do smoke are not well disciplined or parented
Vital industry — the tobacco industry is important to American jobs and productivity
Resilience/values — if kids have the right values, they will learn to resist
Protection (Just say no) — the best way to protect our kids is to teach them to resist
Science isn't in — it's unclear that smoking really causes cancer
The tobacco-free kids advocates wanted to reframe the issue, and did so in a very effective way.
Smoking: Recent Reframe
Bad behavior (companies') — It's the tobacco companies that are acting irresponsibly, not people or kids
BigTobacco/corruption — Little people can't fight the power of this giant addicting industry
Manipulation of drug addiction — When people get addicted, it's because they didn't know tobacco was a drug
Responsibility of government — Government must regulate the marketing of drugs to minors, and other unfair or duplicitous practices
Big $/corruption — The reason government isn't doing its job is because too many politicians are being paid by Big Tobacco
Defective product — Government should regulate this product just as it does any defective product, to protect consumers from harm
Difft from other companies — It's not that tobacco control advocates are anti-business, it's that this industry is a renegade
Clean air (environment) — We all have a right to be protected from second-hand smoke, like other forms of pollution
Protection from advertising — The best way to protect our children is not to allow tobacco advertising to kids in the first place
Scientific consensus — The science is in; tobacco kills
When you look at these two different sets of frames, you begin to see how intentionally and strategically the tobacco-control movement has operated over the past decade. By carefully substituting new frames for old ones, they created a new story about tobacco in America.
To spark your workshop discussion, you will have participants share their best and worst news clips on the specific topic you've chosen. Elect a facilitator and document the frames you're up against, in much the same way that we have above. Then look at the substitute frames you've been trying to move out: are you telling a comprehensive new story? Are you leaving some old frames out there, unchallenged by new ways of thinking? Do you really have your reframes boiled down to a few key words so that you, and all your colleagues, remember what it is you are trying to do?
Spend some time documenting the frames you want to move into public discourse. If your group congeals, you may want to schedule a follow-up meeting to discuss the message strategy and tactics for implementing these desirable reframes.
We hope these suggestions give you ideas for using the CD-Rom in creative ways in your state. As always, FrameWorks is eager to hear how you use these products. Please let us know by email at info@frameworksinstitute.org. We hope you enjoy these latest framing tools, and find them useful to your important work.
