No consensus on framing? Towards an integrative approach to define frames both as text and visuals
No consensus on framing? Towards an integrative approach to define frames both as text and visuals

Summary/Abstract: With a relatively recent history, the concept of framing has known a flourishing development, being without any doubt one of the key theories in current mass communication research. Although the growing number of studies on the topic of framing, seeking to understand what framing is and how frames manifest themselves in a number of different sites and across a number of domains, there is no consensus regarding the meaning of this powerful concept. With few exceptions, most of the scholars reduce framing only to written words, fully ignoring the visual cues within news stories. This study aims at filling this gap, bringing new theoretical explanations and trying to make some clear conceptual clarifications. Thus, the paper will address the following questions: How have meanings of framings have evaluated across time?; What are the limitations of these definitions?; How do visual cues function as agents of framing? As a theoretical paper, this article explores the integrative approach on framing, urging researchers to start conducting more framing analysis which combine both verbal and visual elements in news coverage.

• Details
• Contents