Frames, Framing, and Reframing In, and Through The Mass Media: Reflection of Four Protracted Environmental Disputes in the Israeli Press

The mass media is part and parcel of modern life. In recent years environmental conflicts have increasingly become part of the public agenda, and they now gain vast media coverage. While all agree that fully functioning media sectors are essential for expanding and supporting democracy on global, national, and local levels alike, many claim that the media’s interference, by definition, escalates conflicts. Recent studies confirm that many roles can be attributed to media coverage, including some that lead conflicts toward constructive resolutions. The hypothesis of our research is that through frames, the media is both influenced by and influential with regard to the conflict’s dynamics.

This paper presents parts of a research project, aimed at improving the understanding of the framing and re-framing processes of intractable environmental conflicts. It introduces a hybrid typology for analyzing the media framing and re-framing patterns, and discusses the frames used by the media while covering four Israeli case studies. The paper portrays existing patterns of mutual impact between environmental conflicts, their press coverage, and public decision making, and raises several queries related to interventions in the media’s framing processes.