Framing referendum campaigns in the media: towards a frame-building model

Chapter 7 proposes an explorative frame-building model for referendum campaigns to help explain how the media cover referendums in particular media systems. It compares insights from the previous chapters with those from other framing studies in different contexts and discusses the extent to which certain frames may be expected to emerge in the coverage of referendum campaigns in general, as a broader category of political event. Comparisons are drawn to research focusing on the 1980 Quebec independence referendum, the 2000 Euro referendum in Denmark and the 2008 Swiss direct-democratic consultation on immigration, which are the other case studies where media framing studies have been carried out. The chapter identifies connections between the similarities these cases share and the characteristics of the media systems where they are located. These similarities form the basis of the original analytical model proposed here.

The process of frame-building

Chapter 6 attempts to explain the prominence of these frames in the media coverage, based on insights from interviews with broadcasters and their sources. It proposes five factors which played a role in shaping media frames: the influence of political campaigns, professional routines relating to balance, journalists’ views of their own role in the coverage of a contested issue, broadcasters’ perceptions of what attracts audiences and what constitutes a contribution to public debate, as well as previous experience of covering election campaigns. The discussion is contextualized within broader academic literature about frame building.

Conclusion

This chapter revisits the question of whether the mediation of referendum campaigns is distinctive enough to deserve dedicated analysis. It queries the extent to which the referendum analysed in this book bears similarities with the UK’s subsequent 2016 EU referendum and how that event was framed in the mainstream media. The chapter argues that the frame-building model proposed in chapter 7 appears to also provide an account for the mediation of that campaign. The chapter concludes with a wider consideration of the contribution of old and new media to our understanding of politics. It considers the changing nature of public debate following Brexit and the 2016 US Presidential election and questions the extent to which mainstream media remain key determinants of public discourse. It proposes that future avenues for frame building research would need to explore frame building processes on social media, where the gatekeepers and organizational routines that are so central in the frame building model proposed in this book are absent. It argues that in order to deliver the complete picture frame analysis needs to engage with the totality of news provision and sharing as this moves towards the internet and news aggregation, propaganda sites and social media.

Introduction

This chapter discusses the significance of referendum campaigns as an increasingly used form of direct democracy and explores the role of the mass media in determining how referendums are understood in the public sphere. It introduces the idea of media framing and sets out the research questions addressed in this book.

The Scottish constitutional issue and the 2014 referendum

Chapter 3 provides historical background to the case study analysed in subsequent chapters by looking at the historical events that led to the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. It offers a summary of how the Scottish constitutional issue developed particularly in the second half or the 20th century, the movement for devolution in the 1990s, the establishment and the first decade of the devolved Scottish parliament, up until the 2011 Scottish election, which instigated the independence referendum. It also discusses definitions of Scottish identity and their role in claims for Scottish independence. It then maps out the media landscape in Scotland and the media’s ideological positions in relation to autonomy.

The media framing of the referendum

Chapter 5 looks at which frames were most prominent in the media coverage of the referendum. The frames identified earlier are traced in the coverage of the end of the campaign on BBC Scotland and STV, the two broadcasters that produce dedicated content for audiences in Scotland. This is complemented by an analysis of newspaper articles in ten Scottish daily and Sunday newspapers. The strategic game and policy frames were the two most dominant frames in both television and newspaper coverage, with the game frame becoming more prominent as the referendum date approached. The chapter concludes by discussing the democratic implications of representing the referendum as a strategic competition between political sides and as a decision about policy.

Sources and their frames

Chapter 4 focuses on the key actors who ran communication campaigns during the referendum, aiming to attract media attention for their views. It focuses particularly on the main Yes and No campaigns and the political parties that comprised them, as well as civil society organisations that did not support either outcome but still communicated to the media about issues they felt were significant in the debate. The chapter discusses the frames these participant actors promoted in the public debate. It is based on interviews with communication directors on both sides of the argument and representatives from impartial civil society organisations. It explores how different actors understood and defined what the referendum was about and how these understandings may be organized conceptually into different frames. It looks at similarities, differences and interactions between the frames that different actors proposed and explores whether different sides of the argument had ‘ownership’ over certain frames.

Framing political campaigns

This chapter explores framing as a broader theory of understanding media content and political communication in general. It reviews key themes in frame analysis and discusses previous work on the framing of political campaigns in different contexts. It also explores existing research on the generic frames commonly found in the coverage of political campaigns, and particularly of elections. Research exploring the conditions that give rise to such generic frames is also reviewed, with a view to establishing what may be learned from this research for the analysis of referendum campaigns.