Who wants to be a millionaire? How the press framed the role of the public in the dispute between time Warner cable and Disney's ABC network in may 2000

Abstract

At midnight on May 1, 2000, Time Warner Cable dropped the signal of Disney's ABC network from its systems in seven major markets. The signal was unavailable for approximately 39 hours, affecting roughly 3.5 million subscribers. While lawyers and regulators pondered the retransmission consent provisions of the Cable Act of 1992 and the accompanying FCC rules, the press was called upon to report and interpret these issues to the public. This paper examines the frames present in journalistic accounts triggered by the loss of ABC's signal in five mass newspapers and five trade publications. Specifically, the paper addresses the question: How did the press portray the role of the public in relation to the Time Warner ‐ Disney dispute? The data presented in the paper strongly suggest that the press failed to develop a cogent discussion of the underlying policy issues in a way useful to the public. The analysis of the press coverage concludes that the public was framed as passive and was largely excluded from the policy debate around the dispute.