Depiction Of The Brett Kavanaugh Scandal In News Media Sources
Brett Kavanaugh has become a common household name due to coverage surrounding his confirmation for a Supreme Court Justice which has gained national, if not, global attention. The Brett Kavanaugh scandal has several different narratives being depicted by a variety of news media sources.
Allegations concerning sexual misconduct by Brett Kavanaugh were brought up by at least three women pending his nomination, vote, and confirmation as a Supreme Court Justice. Christine Ford is the main witness who came forward with her allegations which resulted in media scrutiny against Christine Ford and Brett Kavanaugh on both sides. The concept of framing can be used to describe how different perspectives are shown in the media stemming from the same original story or event. The duration of this essay will be comparing the articles’ use of framing theory in political communication between media sources.
Left leaning and Right leaning news sources can begin with the same information and cherry pick the facts that are shared with the public by way of news articles, video clips, and sensationalized headlines to have two different resulting interpretations. The way a media source processes information, chooses which attributes to share, and interprets a story for their readers can be described by the political communication theory of framing. News sources can frame stories in different ways to create lenses for their readers to look at an event through. Framing consists of media framing, audience framing, frame building, and frame setting.
There are several factors that influence how media and news personnel frame an issue, research shows it comes down to: patterns in journalism, current social values, pressure from organizations or interest groups, as well as the political partisanship of the journalist. I utilized three news articles for my popular sources from well known news media networks NBC News and Vox Media. I wanted to compare the articles as well as analyze them to explain the type of framing or lens the media used to introduce the ideas to the public.
The first article posted on NBC “Trump: Democratic attacks on Kavanaugh a “disgrace to this country” and looks at the Kavanaugh allegations as a political game play by the Democrats. The article uses testimony from GOP members talking positively about Kavanaugh’s character and negating the idea that these allegations could be correct. The article uses quotes from Donald Trump that establish his disdain for democrats “That lawyer who just came out, he’s a low life, he represents democrats…”. By utilizing language that creates a social barrier, them vs us mentality, this article frames the experiences of Christine Ford as nothing more than a political attack on the GOP by the Democrats.
The second article was also published by NBC news and is being used in combination with the first to explain the lens that was used to frame the information. The second article is entitled “Trump apologizes to Kavanaugh on behalf of our nation, says judge was proven innocent” quotes the President Donald Trump on his claim that the allegations brought upon Kavanaugh were a “hoax manufactured by democrats”. By proclaiming Kavanaugh’s innocence in the title the article frames the information as if Kavanaugh’s innocence is fact; this perpetuates an idea of false innocence as the FBI investigation lasted only one week and Kavanaugh was not tried in a court of law for criminal sexual assault, so he is not legally innocent or guilty. The article quotes and uses the Commander in Chief’s words in the title which frame the article as fact when these quotes are based on President Trump’s opinion. There is no evidence or proof presented in the article that backs up claims that the allegations were a hoax, falsely filed, or an attack masterminded by the Democrats. The article quotes Trump that the allegations were fabricated by evil people who can be inferred from previous quotes to be Democrats. The article acknowledges verbal attacks that Trump has taken against Ford, when he mimicked and imitated her testimony at a campaign rally as well as included a hyperlinked video of the mockery. The title also insinuates that the country is unified in the apology or that the people of this country should be apologetic for their critical questions, demand for investigation, and media coverage when allegations are brought upon a powerful political figure. By dismissing that these allegations have any truth to them, Trump frames sexual assault as an issue not to be concerned with because his opinion is that the assault never occurred.
The third article I looked at was published by Vox Media and is entitled “Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump, and the chilling power of Sexual Violence”. This popular source article opens with a description of Trump mocking sexual assault victim Ford and the implications that could have on rape culture. The article makes a point to emphasize that Trump’s use of making fun of Ford’s testimony reinforces the ideologies around sexual assault that systematically neglects to get justice for survivors of sexual assault. Trump mocking Ford sends a message that women who come forward with their sexual assault traumas are not to be believed without proper evidence and that sexual violence is not being taken seriously in this country. This article highlights the issue of painting Kavanaugh as a hero to discredit Ford’s allegations. This article frames the Kavanaugh-Ford controversy as an issue of women’s rights, bodies, and sexual violence in response to the contemporary rape culture that is present today. This article focused on the ideologies pertaining to rape culture and how a political figure talks about an issue to the public affects how the public perceives and views the issue. The article makes a connection between ideology and media so if Donald Trump talks negatively about women who come forward with claims of sexual assault, it reinforces negative stigma that comes with rape culture such as victim blaming, victim dismissiveness, social injustice, and the incorrect percentage of perceived false allegations. This article frames this political event as a paradigm that contributes to rape culture.
These three articles all began with the same introductory information about the allegations, hearings, and outcomes. However, the articles utilized framing in different ways when presenting the information to readers and the public. The articles in some instances used the same small pieces of information that they had very differently. The Vox article uses the mockery of Ford as an introduction to their main points which concern social culture, rape culture, and sexual assault depicted in the media. The NBC article includes this information about the campaign rally but does not elaborate or comment on the quote after it is published. The use of framing for the same information, story, or event can ultimately result in a variety of interpretations and inferences. Media sources cherry pick which facts, statistics, and information to use to best cultivate the message or understand of meaning that the Source is trying to present. NBC presented more quotes and interpretations of the situation from Trump’s point of view, while Vox maintained a more left leaning perspective of the Kavanaugh controversy. Some implications of framing or how media sources frame information is that out of proper context information can take on a new meaning or understanding that is incorrect or misinterpreted.
Framing can bring a new meaning and understanding of concepts due to the ability to choose which information to use in the frame. Typically opposing news sources choose opposing frames in which to present their information which creates a wider divide between party lines. Framing by use of integration tactics describes the process in which framing occurs by utilizing more than one way to frame the information or bringing together two frames in unison. If media news sources utilized several frames for their articles rather than one frame, the frames may overlap on certain issues which could serve to unite and bring together the gap in our political divisions that are caused by a plethora of contradictory and misinformation.
