Subordinate Frames: Testing the Political Effects of Color and Music in Television News

Abstract

Contemporary television news programs routinely add colorful title animations and dramatic music to otherwise substantive issue coverage. These market-driven aesthetic choices—principally deployed as psychological advertising techniques—may provoke emotions, guide public opinion, influence issue salience, or affect political outcomes. This thesis explores the possibility of subordinate frames in news media, defined as (1) innately non-rhetorical aesthetic devices that are (2) emotionally stimulative and (3) enlisted to serve apolitical primary goals (e.g., audience engagement) while also producing secondary political effects. Three randomized control trial experiments (N = 847) utilizing a video-driven survey instrument demonstrate that thematically congruent variations in background music and title graphics in otherwise neutral media coverage of homelessness vary the audience’s emotional response and influence attitudes about the topic. Additionally, I observe small shifts in voter support for housing policy proposals when the video includes sad music or red title graphics. Cumulatively, these findings encourage further investigation of subordinate frames used in television news media, campaign media, social media, and algorithm-driven online news platforms.