Framing Affirmative Action

Abstract

A content analysis of U.S. newspaper editorials ( N = 158) examined framing of U.S. Supreme Court rulings on affirmative action at the University of Michigan. Results showed that remedial action and no preferential treatment, frames dominating affirmative action discourse in news media from the 1960s through the mid-1990s, were overshadowed in 2003 newspaper editorials by diversity, a frame asserting that a mix of racially and ethnically different people serves to strengthen organizations and society. The Newsroom Diversity Index (the ratio of the proportion of minorities professionally employed by the newspaper to the proportion of minorities living in its market) was positively associated with choosing the diversity frame and negatively associated with choosing the no preferential treatment frame.