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News framing can exert a strong influence on public opinion. Following a media content analysis, this article investigates the effects of news framing on support for membership of Turkey in the European Union. A first experimental study ( n = 304) showed a significant difference in the level of support for Turkish membership between respondents who were exposed to a positively valenced news frame and respondents who had received a negative frame. The results of a second survey-embedded experimental study ( n = 1,632) corroborated the first study, and tested the hypothesis that frames affect the importance of certain considerations and that the valence of the news frames also directly affects opinion. Negative news frames yielded stronger effects than positive news frames, and high political sophisticates were more affected by positive framing. The study demonstrates that (change in) public approval of Turkish EU membership is contingent on the elites’ and the media’s coverage of the issue in interaction with individual characteristics.
Vreese et al. (Tue,) studied this question.