1) A student writes the following:
I think this article from the Washington Post today is the perfect example of Bennet, Lawrence, and Livingston’s argument.
Now that a prominent official has come out against the effort in Afghanistan, that point of view is finally acknowledged in the press.
I think that this is right. In addition, Senator Russ Feingold went on the CBS Sunday show “Face the Nation” last week and made similar arguments. If Bennett et. al. are correct, these voices will be drowned out by the roar of the Washington consensus. We’ll need to wait and see what happens but I hope that you all continue paying attention.
2) This week we begin our discussion of media coverage of campaigns by reading Patterson, Hershey, and Farnsworth. I want to spend most of our time thinking about one theme that runs through each work: the role of frames.
To begin this discussion, I am posting a series of news clips that I think highlight the role of frames and how they change through the campaign (as discussed by Hershey/Farnsworth). You should think about what frames are at work here, how they change, and what they say about coverage of campaigns:
Clip One: ABC round-table discussion of Sarah Palin days after the Republican Convention (September 7, 2008);
Clip Two: The widely seen reaction to Palin’s September 24, 2008 interview with Katie Couric:
Clip Three: Election night analysis of the “Palin Effect:”
