Framing water: How media framing influences cognitive responses to water policies in the United States

Abstract

This study addressed media framing of environmental policy in the United States (US) and the effect that popular frames and biases have on public attitudes toward water-related regulations. In recent years, the Clean Water Rule, a proposed change to the 1972 Clean Water Act, generated deep partisan divide over the historically bipartisan law. While hydrological scientists and environmentalists largely considered the Clean Water Rule a crucial policy for effective protection of US waters, the reaction from industry representatives and conservative politicians was swift and furious. Legislative and judicial battles subsequently played out the news. Scholars have demonstrated that the news can influence public opinion on policy issues - particularly on science-based topics such as water policy. To better understand media coverage and its effect on the audience, I developed a two-pronged approach in this thesis. First, using a media content analysis, I examined news coverage of the Clean Water Rule in the most popular online media sources, including partisan websites such as the conservative Breitbart News and the more liberal Huffington Post. In the second step of the approach, I conducted a framing experiment on US-based students. To test the effect that common frames and biases found in the content analysis have on attitudes toward the Clean Water Rule and Clean Water Act, I compared reactions to two opposing news frames- a "pro-environment" frame and an "anti-regulation" frame. Additionally, I examined the influence of personalisation (i.e. attributing the Clean Water Rule to either President Barack Obama or President Donald Trump) on partisan attitudes towards the Rule. This study found that the news media frequently elevates conflict over substance when covering the Clean Water Rule. Furthermore, conflict-driven, negative frames decreased likely support for the Clean Water Rule and the Clean Water Act as a whole. Associating the Rule with either former-President Barack Obama or President Donald Trump seemingly produced a shift in support for the Clean Water Rule/Act that is split on partisan grounds. Conservatives are more likely to support the Rule when it is attributed to Trump than Obama, and liberals are less likely to support the Rule when it is attributed to Trump than any other association.