Lazy Person's Guide to Framing: Decoding the News Media

by Brian Dean

From Futura Pocketbooks, a “Lazy Person’s Guide” to media framing, which explains how headlines and news stories can be decoded using the latest know-how from the cognitive sciences. Find out how media narratives and political spin are unravelled and deciphered by “frame semantics” – an essential part of what has been labelled, “The Cognitive Revolution”. This is a fun and highly readable guide, written especially for the layperson, which, in the tradition of George Lakoff (author of Don’t Think of an Elephant), popularises the new linguistic field in a way that makes it accessible and deeply relevant for anyone concerned by the power wielded by those who “frame the message” in media and politics.

As the book shows, framing is far more than just a respectable form of spin or wordplay. Frames are mental structures which shape our worldviews. They structure the way we reason, and define what we take to be “common sense” – yet our use of frames is largely unconscious and reflexive. This has a huge bearing on politics and media. The book investigates many examples of political and news frames, from so-called “benefit tourists” and “flatlined economy”, to the moral framing of war, crime and “responsibility”, etc.

Author, Brian Dean, has previously written regular columns for The Guardian newspaper, The Idler and Sleaze magazines, among others. He is the creator of the counterculture magazine and website, Anxiety Culture (which was praised by the Guardian, BBC online and the likes of Robert Anton Wilson) and has, for several years, written a popular blog on the topic of news and political framing.

68 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 30, 2014

Reviews

[Kieran Telo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basic in some ways if you have a grasp of ideology and propaganda, and certainly in need of updating to account for the phenomena of social media, fake news, and the role of twitter in hammering home accepted truths. Nevertheless a very able dissection of how what is thinkable, what narratives are palatable, and how language shapes the political. Highly recommended, as are all Brian Deans other “anxiety culture” publications. A good bloke.

[James McCallister · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading in these times of 'framed' narratives promulgated through the ubiquitous voice of corporate PR channels (ie, 'mainstream journalism').

[Tomj · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought provoking and a fun read.

[Richard Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent resource for understanding social media and the methods used to manipulate popular opinion.