Ruhao (Irene) Pang L&S Social Sciences
A Comparative Study of Framing by Left- and Right-Leaning News Outlets
In the framing process of affirmative action, how is our fragmented news system increasingly tailored to targeted audiences of particular political stripes? What interpretation is made available in news publications? In 2014, the decision of Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action expanded the influence of affirmative action on college admission. This decision further triggered left-leaning and right-leaning news outlets to inform and set agenda for specific groups.As opposed to the existing agenda-setting research or content analysis research in the 1980s or 1990s for the public at large with unified public opinion, this research will examine the implications of the fragmented public sphere in current American public discourse. To understand how major media institutions with ideological differences frame issues and provide the ideological servicing of partisan sub-public or political sub-cultures, this research will scrutinize how the left- and right-leaning news frame affirmative action after 2014. Thus, by revealing the salient liberal or conservative opinions of the news through content analysis, this study could extend the scope by analyzing the parallel agenda-setting function in the age of media abundance.
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