REPETITIVE AND COMPETITIVE MEDIA FRAMES AND HOW THEY AFFECT AUDIENCES’ TRUST
REPETITIVE AND COMPETITIVE MEDIA FRAMES AND HOW THEY AFFECT AUDIENCES’ TRUST

Summary/Abstract: Today, due to the dynamic media context, there is a high probability that people expose to different types of media frames over time. Thus, the present study starts from two suppositions: firstly, individuals tend to be exposed to a variety of information flows, including one-sided or two-sided information flows and secondly, the exposure to different frames might cause different effects. More specifically, these flows refer to either repetitive ( one-sided information frames ) or competitive coverage ( two-sided information frames ) . Therefore, this study aims at comparing the effects of repetitive versus competitive frames on audiences’ trust in political figures, as well as determining the duration of framing effects. The research methodology used for the present study is based on a framing experiment ( N=769 ) , since this study empirically follows the dynamic nature of framing effects and their duration. Therefore, to investigate the effects of repetitive and competitive media frames over time, we conducted a survey experiment with three measurement points: T1 – immediate after exposure, T2 – one week after exposure and T3 – one month after exposure. As a stimulus material, we chose the issue regarding the present economic situation in Romania because studies show that topics linked to economic consequences tend to be more socially relevant to people in general. Findings show that there are some differences between the groups of participants assigned to the repetitive scenario as compared to those assigned to the competitive one. When analysing the duration of framing effects, we found grounds to argue that framing effects are more powerful after one month, if compared with one week.

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