Key Factors in Frame Building: How Strategic Political Actors Shape News Media Coverage

In this article, the author focuses on the relationship between political actors and the mass media. The author uses media frames as dependent variables and investigates the factors that influence the presence and frequency of frames applied by journalists (the frames in "news media"). This has come to be known as frame building. The author argues that there are at least three important factors in frame building: power, the salience of the frames in the media input, and the multiplication effect of the minister. Using data from content analyses of campaign material and news media and from interviews with political actors, the author finds support that for frame presence, power is important. For frame frequency, the salience of the frames in the media input and the minister are crucial.