(Page 2 of 28) - News Coverage about the Bosnian War authored by Ruigrok, Nel., Scholten, Otto. and De Ridder, J..

receiver. In other words, the sender makes conscious or unconscious judgements before deciding
on the content of the message. He is guided by frames (or schemata) that determine his view of
reality. As a result of these perspectives the message itself contains frames as well “which are
manifested by the presence or absence of certain keywords, stock phrases, stereotyped images,
sources of information, and sentences that provide thematically reinforcing clusters of facts or
judgments” (Entman, 1993, 52). Finally, the audience receives the message. Looking from this
perspective a frame can be defined as: “[A] schema of interpretations that enables individuals to
perceive, organize, and make sense of incoming information” (Valkenburg et al, 1999, 551).

Looking at the selection process or in other words the general level of framing, we understand a
media frame, according to Gitlin (1980, 1994), to be “persistent patterns of selection, emphasis,
and exclusion which furnish an interpretation of events.” Entman also combines in his definition
of framing the choices made by journalists and the outcome of these choices. He states: “Frames
essentially involve selection and salience. To frame is to select some aspects of a perceived
reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a
particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation and/or treatment
recommendation for the item described.” (Entman, 1993, 52). To make these aspects more
salient means, in Entman’s words, making the message “noticeable, meaningful or memorable”
(1993, 53). According to Entman, salience begins with the process of selection, which means
omitting some pieces of the picture to emphasize others. “The exclusions are at least as
important as the inclusions; they reinforce the inclusions by depriving the audience of the data
they would need to forge an alternative interpretation of reality” (1993, 54).

The selection of news
There is an over-representation of untypical events in the news: everyday realities are not news.
News is not about long-term processes but about short-term events. It is not about decades of
development, it is about sudden destruction by a natural disaster. The focus on action, ‘event
orientation’, leads to a neglect of background circumstances. Reporters tend to be more interested
in events than causes. Nevertheless, not all events are included, like Hartley concludes: “Events
don't get into the news simply by happening... they... must fit in with what is already there...be
known and recognised...To win inclusion in any particular news, they must fulfil a certain
number of criteria...Finally, newsworthy events themselves must jostle for inclusion in the limited
number of slots available.” (Hartley 1982, 75).

According to McQuail (2000, 500) news values are “the criteria applied by journalists and editors
in news organizations to determine whether or not to carry particular items of news.” A wide
range of research has been done about news values journalists use in selecting the stories they
cover. This kind of research can best be understood within the context of the social construction
of reality approach to the news media. “People communicate to interpret events and to share
those interpretations with others and reality is constructed socially through communication.”
(Littlejohn, 1996). The social construction of reality approach emphasizes that there is no single
‘reality,’ rather a range of definitions of ‘reality.’ Reality as presented by the mass media is
therefore not a reflection of ‘reality,’ but, rather, a constructed interpretation of reality. The role
of the media in this theory is to provide multiple portrayals of reality (Chang, Shoemaker, &