The News Media,the Conservative Echo Chamber,and the Battle over ACORN: How Two Academics Fought in the Framing Wars

Abstract

This paper examines the evolution of a major national political controversy, how the media handled it, and how the authors participated in it. The controversy involved the community organizing group ACORN, which conservatives generally, and the Republican Party in particular, sought to demonize and weaken, before, during, and after the 2008 Presidential election, in order to undermine ACORN's voter registration efforts, help elect GOP candidates, and, after the election, delegitimize President Barack Obama and his liberal policy agenda. Interested in how the mainstream media, as well as the conservative echo chamber (TV and radio talk shows, blogs and websites, publications, and think tanks), reported and created a “controversy,” the authors conducted a rigorous content analysis of media coverage of the ACORN, examining how the controversy got on the public agenda and, once there, how mainstream media “framed” the story in ways that reflected the conservative perspective. By the time the report was released in September 2009, the story had reached a peak and become a highly visible topic of national political debate. As a result, the authors became embroiled in the controversy — interviewed by media reporters, invited to discuss their report on TV and radio talk shows, and criticized by conservative publications and bloggers. The article reviews the controversy, the report's key findings, and how the authors negotiated their first-hand engagement in this “framing war.”