Framing

Most scholars of political communication probably agree on one thing: There is not a widely accepted definition of framing in the field of political communication. Since the 1980s, researchers have offered a variety of perspectives on framing that all differ with respect to their underlying assumptions including the way they conceptually define and empirically observe frames and the framing process. This entry provides the conceptual definitions relevant to the framing model, the theoretical assumptions underlying the idea of framing, and the important implications for framing research in the field of political communication.