Frame Adoption in Referendum Campaigns: The Effect of News Coverage on the Public Salience of Issue Interpretations

Answering the call for nonexperimental framing effects research, this article analyzes the effects of news frames on citizens' political cognitions using data derived from a campaign on the naturalization of immigrants. A content analysis of TV and newspaper coverage was combined at the individual level with answers to open-and closed-ended panel survey questions. The results largely confirm prior experimental framing effects research. Media frames had a strong impact on their public salience. Prior to the campaign, however, audience members interpreted the issue in different ways. Individual media exposure was found to affect frame adoption for all respondents (and all frames investigated), irrespective of the initial attitudes of respondents and the frames' origin. The implications of these findings for experimental and nonexperimental framing effects research are discussed.