Journalists, Reframing and Party Public Relations Consultants

Research on agenda setting and framing has been dominated by studies of television and the daily press, developed mainly in the United States and in northern European countries and paying special attention to electoral periods. Far from this mainstream approach, our research focuses on agenda and frame building in radio in a non-electoral period in Catalonia (Spain). We conducted in-depth interviews with political party communication consultants and radio editors to analyse how strategies are set and how political issues are framed. We adopt and reconceptualize the concept of “reframing”, referring to the journalistic task of readdressing the direction of messages promoted by frame sponsors. The journalist who plays a weak reframing role is an easy target for political parties’ public relations with vested interests and, in this model, communication consultants have a great capacity to influence the framing of the news aired. The strong reframer, on the other hand, minimizes political party influence on setting and framing issues. In this model, the journalists admit that they engage in an ongoing, strategic battle regarding control of media frames with professional spin doctors. The article also highlights the special conditions of the radio as a medium (ubiquity and immediacy) and its impact on the framing process.