Television Frames of the 2008 Liberal and New Democrat Accord

This article examines how the Liberal and New Democratic Accord was framed through and by national television news during the first week of December 2008. Using new institutionalism theory, this article argues that politicians must negotiate with journalists to present their framing of issues. While journalists may repeat and even balance competing frames, they also interpret politics strategically, and this is what dominates coverage. Based on a frame analysis, the study examines the national television coverage of the proposed coalition government. The analysis finds that TV news presented the preferred frames of the government and the coalition in similar proportion. However, the coverage spent significantly more time assessing performance and strategy and was highly critical of the strategy and performance of the key political players. RESUME Cette etude examine la facon par laquelle les informations nationales televisees ont expose les cadres d’analyse du gouvernement et des partenaires de la coalition durant la crise politique de 2008. La demarche entreprise utilise une methodologie d’analyse-cadre, ou la proportion de la couverture mediatisee accordee au gouvernement est comparee a celle donnee a la coalition. De plus, cette etude compare les cadres preferes des elites politiques avec les discussions televisees de strategies. Nous trouvons que malgre que l’analyse-cadre du gouvernement a recu, marginalement, plus d’attention que celle de la coalition, l’emphase principale de la television nationale etait sur l’evaluation des aspects strategiques de la crise. L’evaluation par tous les acteurs politiques etait fort negative.