PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

Frames der Verantwortungszuschreibung (Responsibility Frames) in der Medienberichterstattung betonen sowohl spezifische Ursachen als auch spezifische Lösungen für ein Thema. Die Forschung zum Responsibility Framing von Medieninhalten und deren Wirkungen untersucht diese Betonung bislang zumeist auf zwei verschiedenen Ebenen: der Individualebene und der gesellschaftlichen Ebene. Diese Betrachtungsweise vernachlässigt allerdings die wichtige mittlere Ebene des sozialen Umfelds der Menschen. Hier befinden sich zentrale Akteur*innen (wie Familie, Freund*innen oder Kolleg*innen), die als Ursache oder Lösung zu einem Problem beitragen können, was insbesondere bei Gesundheitsproblemen deutlich wird. Das Ziel des Beitrags ist es daher, die Ebene sozialer Beziehungen in das Konzept des Responsibility Framings zu integrieren. Dafür verknüpfen wir zentrale Elemente der sozialen Netzwerktheorie (Akteur*innen und ihre Funktionen für das Individuum) und der Attributionstheorie mit den Framing-Konzepten. Darauf aufbauend werden Konsequenzen für die zukünftige Forschung der Kommunikationswissenschaft abgeleitet.

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This article conceptualizes the role of the social network within the concept of responsibility framing. Central elements of social network theory (different actors and their functions for the individual) and attribution theory are linked with research on media frames and framing. Specifically, we integrate the social network as a distinct influence level between the level of the individual and the societal level, which have been predominantly focused in existing research on the concept of responsibility framing. Social relationships are relevant across different communication contexts, e.g., activism or education, but their most important role might be in health communication. Health and health responsibility are significantly determined by an individual’s social relationships – both informal ones (e.g., family and friends) and formal ones (e.g., colleagues at work). Social relationships come with different functions including providing social support, shaping social norms, or influencing opinions or behaviors, and they thereofore strongly contribute to a person’s physical and mental constitution. Consequently, research in the health and social sciences acknowledges the social network as a distinct determinant for individual health. However, despite its significant impact, both news media reports about health issues and communication studies on health reporting largely disregard influences on the social network level. This is particularly evident within research on the concept ofresponsibility frames, i.e., frames emphasizing responsibility for causes of or solutions to a health issue. Many content analytical and experimental studies on responsibility framing focus on responsibility attributions at the individual vs. societal level. Therefore, only little is known about the prevalence and effects of responsibility frames on the level of an individuals social network. Few recent studies on the responsibility framing of chronic illness, however, indicate that responsibility attributions to the social network do appear in the media coverage, and that they seem to have an effect on the recipients’ responsibility attributions. From studies investigating the effects of responsibility frames at the individual vs. societal level, we know that individual frames lead to more individualized attributions and may inhibit the recipients’ policy endorsement and lower intentions of civic engagement. It is therefore likely that frames at the social network level significantly shape attributions, opinions and behavioral intentions of the audience. In addition, attribution theory suggests that certain characteristics of an issue, such as perceived controllability, influence intentions to help individuals affected by this issue. However, existing studies have not yet examined the extent to which the framing of responsibility attributions at the network level influences social support intentions. Overall, important factors influencing opinions and (health) behaviors, precisely factors at the social network level, have so far been largely neglected in framing research. Consequently, it is our objective to extend the concept of responsibility frames to include the level of social networks (in addition to the individual and societal level). With a three-level-model of the responsibility framing process, we demonstrate (1) how to include responsibility attributions at the network level in the framing process (frame building, frame setting) and (2), the consequences for research in communication studies.Frame buildingdescribes which factors influence the emergence of journalistic frames. Research suggests that if the social network plays an important role for a specific (health) behavior, strategic communication reflects this with social appeals or by addressing relevant pro-social behaviors. Moreover, a content analysis on the responsibility framing of diabetes mellitus and depression shows that social network influences are indeed prevalent in journalistic media coverage, albeit less than individual and social influences. As compared to media frames and framing effects, research on journalists’ frames and their attributions of responsibility is very rare. Therefore, an explorative approach to journalists’ responsibility frames seems appropriate. In theframe settingprocess, the media frames are studied as an independent variable. Thus, studies seek to answer the question whether and how media frames are reflected in the cognitive frames of the recipients—a question which is usually examined by experiments. To account for influences of the social network, both responsibility frames and the recipients’ responsibility attributions to the social network level should be considered in experimental studies. (3) We also discuss which topics are suitable for a transfer of this new theoretical conceptualization of responsibility framing. Since responsibility frames are defined as generic (i.e., independent of specific issues), we provide a theoretical foundation for framing research that can be applied to a variety of other topics. By outlining the results of individual studies of the DFG project “Representation and Effects of Responsibility Frames for Health Topics: A Comparison of the Relevance of the Individual, the Social Network, and the Society” (DFG project number RE-3650/4-1) we want to help make our model applicable to other research topics.