21st Annual Student Research Conference
Media Frames: Constructing the Public Images of Democratic Presidential Hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in the 2008 Election
Alicia R. Collins* and Laura A. Lukowski
Dr. Mark Smith, Faculty Mentor
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the two frontrunners vying for the Democratic nomination as the 2008 presidential candidate. Considerable coverage has been dedicated to Clinton and Obama since their emergence to the political scene. Stories regarding both senators span an extensive collection of news sources. Readers' increasing reliability on the internet has caused a shift from traditional news sources to nontraditional commentaries, such as blogs, that fulfill readers need for political information. However, the introduction of this new commentary has not allotted many researchers time to analyze its place in the world of journalism and its effects on the presidential campaign. Journalists seem to be fitting the two presidential hopefuls into a limited number of frames that highlight only a few, obvious characteristics. This content analysis aims to identify positive, negative and neutral frames used in reference to the candidate's political platforms and/or personalities and the trends that follow.
Keywords: 2008 Election, Clinton, Obama, Media Frames, Democratic Candidates, Journalism, Blogs
Topic(s):Communication
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: 5-1
Location: OP Lobby
Time: 4:15