Description
Neoliberal policy approaches have swept over the American political economy in recent decades. In Framing Inequality, Matt Guardino focuses on the power of corporate news media in shaping how the public understands the pivotal policy debates of this period. Drawing on a wide range of empirical evidence from the dawn of the Reagan era into the Trump administration, he explains how profit pressures and commercial imperatives in the media have narrowed and trivialized news coverage and influenced public attitudes in the process. Guardino highlights how the political-economic structure of mainstream media operates to magnify some political messages and to mute or shut out others. He contends that news framing of policies that contribute to economic inequality has been unequal, and that this has undermined Americans' opportunities to express their views on an equal basis. Framing Inequality is a unique study that offers critical understanding of not only how neoliberalism succeeded as a political project, but also how Americans might begin to build a more democratic and egalitarian media system.
Table of Contents
AcknowledgementsChapter 1 - IntroductionChapter 2 - Toward a Critical Understanding of News Media, Public Opinion, and the Politics of Economic InequalityChapter 3 - "Gipper Sweeps Congress:" Commercial News Media and the Launch of the Reagan RevolutionChapter 4 - "No One Wants to Change the System as Much as Those Who Are Trapped by the System:" Commercial News Media and the End of Welfare As We Knew ItChapter 5 - Framing Inequality at the Ground Level: An ExperimentChapter 6 - What's New? Media, Public Opinion, and Democracy in the 21st CenturyChapter 7 - Looking Backward, Looking Forward: Media, Power, and InequalityAppendix A - Content Analysis Information for Chapters 3 - 6Appendix B1 - Study Design Information for Chapter 5Appendix B2 - Supplementary Analyses for Chapter 5References
