News Framing: Definition, Models, and Examples

News framing is the way media select and emphasise certain aspects of an event, steering readers towards one way of understanding the problem, its causes, how to judge it, and what should be done. Two outlets can report the same event with the same facts and still leave very different impressions because their frames differ.

The concept comes from communication research, but it is highly practical for communication teams. Reading frames helps explain why an issue feels negative even when the sentiment of each story looks neutral, and which narrative is actually forming among the public.

Definitions of framing

Robert M. Entman, in Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm in the Journal of Communication (1993), explains that to frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a text. That salience promotes four things: a problem definition, a causal interpretation, a moral evaluation, and a treatment recommendation.

In Indonesia, framing analysis is widely studied through Eriyanto's book Analisis Framing, which summarises several models, including Entman's and the model by Zhongdang Pan and Gerald M. Kosicki. These two are the models most often used to dissect news.

Entman's four framing functions

Function	Question the story answers	Illustrative example
Problem definition	What kind of problem is this event?	A fare increase is called a burden on residents, not a cost adjustment
Causal diagnosis	Who or what caused it?	Congestion is blamed on poor planning, not a holiday surge
Moral evaluation	What values are used to judge it?	A project delay is linked to broken promises
Treatment recommendation	What solution is offered?	The story ends with calls to evaluate officials, not technical fixes

The examples above are illustrative. A single story does not always contain all four functions, but strongly framed stories usually contain at least two.

Pan and Kosicki's four framing structures

Pan and Kosicki (1993) analyse framing through the structure of the news text. Their model suits close reading of individual stories.

Syntactic: how the story is arranged, from headline and lead to quotes and closing. What sits in the headline and first paragraph is what the story most wants to highlight.
Script: how the event is narrated, following the 5W+1H pattern. The element that gets the emphasis, such as "who" or "why", shows the story's direction.
Thematic: how the journalist builds opinions into propositions, such as cause and effect between paragraphs.
Rhetorical: word choice, terms, metaphors, photos, and charts that reinforce a particular impression.

Examples of news framing

Suppose a city government closes part of a road to repair drainage. Here are three illustrative headlines for the same event.

Illustrative headline	Frame emphasised
Drainage Repairs Begin, Flood-Prone Area Targeted to Be Puddle-Free	Solution and long-term benefit
Road Closed Without Warning, Residents Complain of Hours-Long Jams	Immediate impact and poor communication
IDR 40 Billion Drainage Project Digs Up the Same Road Again	Budget efficiency and planning

All three can be accurate. The difference lies in which aspects are highlighted, which sources are quoted, and the order of information. That is what framing means: not lying, but choosing.

Framing, agenda setting, and sentiment

Framing is often linked to agenda-setting theory. Agenda setting explains how the media determine which issues are seen as important. Framing explains how those issues are understood. Some scholars treat framing as part of second-level agenda setting, the salience of an issue's attributes.

Framing also differs from sentiment. Sentiment rates a story's tone towards its subject: positive, neutral, or negative. Framing looks at the story being built. Neutral-toned stories that keep framing a programme as "wasteful" can harm a reputation more than a single negative story on its own.

Why communication teams should read frames

Story counts and sentiment answer "how loud" and "how negative". Framing answers a more decisive question: "which story is the public coming to believe". Some benefits:

Understanding the dominant narrative. Among hundreds of stories, usually only two or three frames keep repeating. Recognising them helps the team decide which messages to reinforce or correct.
Choosing spokespeople. Frames often follow who is quoted. If stories only quote critical commentators, the space for the organisation's explanation has not been filled.
Writing relevant press releases. A release that addresses the developing frame is more likely to be quoted than one about something else.
Reporting to leadership. Leaders grasp "this issue is framed as a planning problem" more easily than a row of sentiment figures.

At small scale, frames can be read by hand. With hundreds or thousands of stories a month, teams need help grouping issues and narratives. Qola groups national and regional online news and expert statements into issues and summarises the public narratives that appear most often, so communication teams can focus on interpretation and response. The results can feed a report for leadership. See Qola's features.

Cover photo: Laura Cleffmann via Unsplash. The photo is an illustration, not documentation of a Qola customer.

FAQ about news framing

What is framing in news?

Framing is the way media select and emphasise certain aspects of an event, steering readers towards one way of understanding the problem, its causes, how to judge it, and how to resolve it.

Is framing the same as fake news?

No. A strongly framed story can be entirely accurate. Framing happens because journalists must choose facts, sources, and angles from complex events. Fake news contains untrue information.

What is the difference between framing and agenda setting?

Agenda setting explains how the media influence which issues the public considers important. Framing explains how those issues are understood. Agenda setting answers "what to think about", framing answers "how to think about it".

Which framing analysis models are most used?

In Indonesia, Robert Entman's model and Pan and Kosicki's model are the most used, especially in communication research. Entman's model focuses on the functions of a frame, while Pan and Kosicki's focuses on the structure of the news text.