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the Republican efforts to be inclusive as genuine and highlighted the positive aspects of
the convention. It also emphasizes the boost in the polls that George W. Bush received
among Latinos and the general population coming out of the convention.
African American frames included the Cautious, but Historically Reflective frame
of Black Republicanism, which offered readers a historic context and a forum for Black
Republicans to comment about the current status of the Republican Party; The
Assessment frame of Gen. Colin Powell’s keynote address, which served to provide an
outlet for various perspectives of prominence, influence, and involvement in the
hierarchy of the Republican Party; The Verdict frame over the success of the convention
to deliver the message of inclusion, which suggests that much of the coverage contained a
skeptical, but hopeful recognition by the Black Community; and finally the Verdict frame
coverage often mentioned the awareness that the message of inclusion was actually meant
for a mainstream white audience of Independents and moderate Democrats.
The limitations of the current study include that Latino coverage was obtained
only through Ethnic News Watch. A close examination of Spanish language newspaper
articles reduced the number of stories about the Republican efforts to court the Latino
vote from 67 stories in 8 city-wide papers to 18 stories in 4 different regional papers. A
larger sample of stories from other news sources would support or negate the existence of
the frames identified in the current study. Due to the limitations of acquiring coverage
through the databases, no examination of photographs and other visual elements could
determine their contribution to the media’s framing of the convention. Additionally, the
inclusion of electronic coverage, such as Univision’s and Telemundo’s coverage, as well
as transcripts of radio programs should be included in future studies. Future research
Convention