News Framing and Public Opinion : A Mediation Analysis of Framing Effects on Political Attitudes
A Mediation Analysis of Framing Effects on Political Attitudes

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Bibliographic Details
Authors and Corporations: Lecheler, Sophie, de Vreese, Claes H.
In: Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 89, 2012, 2, p. 185-204
published:
SAGE Publications
Media Type: Article, E-Article

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further information
Physical Description: 185-204
ISSN: 1077-6990
2161-430X
DOI: 10.1177/1077699011430064
published in: Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly
Language: English
Subjects:
Communication
Collection: SAGE Publications (CrossRef)
Table of Contents

<jats:p> There is no satisfactory account of the psychological processes that mediate a news framing effect. Based on an experimental study ( N = 1,537), this article presents a mediation analysis of a news framing effect on opinion, testing for two important mediation processes: belief importance and belief content change. Results show that framing is mediated by both belief importance and belief content, with belief content being the more prominent variable. The extent to which each process takes effect depends on a person’s level of political knowledge. Knowledgeable individuals are affected to a greater extent via both belief content and belief importance change. </jats:p>