Mr Berlusconi’s abbronzato gaffe: using frame analysis to teach the political implications of language in the Italian press.

Elena Minelli

Isabella Stefanutti

University of Bath

Outline

The gaffe and its political context. Schema and Frame analysis. Evidence of framing techniques from

two different texts. Results from in class reading activity. Conclusion.

The gaffe and its political context.

President Obama’s election. Mr Berlusconi’s state visit to Russia. USA-Russia relations. The abbronzato gaffe

Reasons behind the selection of this event and these articles.

This event had international resonance

Italian political parties expressed strong opinions either pro and against Berlusconi

Berlusconi is well known to the students of Italian

It is interesting to see how the students use their schemata of Berlusconi to interpret the texts

Framing/Frame Analysis• Sociocognitive process

• SCHEMATA (Gestalt Psychology)• Process information• Organise information• Make sense of reality

Frame analysis

“To frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make more salient in communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described” (R.M.Etman, 1991, p. 51)

Sources ↔ journalists ↔audience

Text analysis:

Framing Devices (Pan & Kosicki, 1993, “Framing analysis: An

approach to news discourse”, in Political Communication, 10, 55-75)

1. Syntactical Structures

2. Script Structures

3. Thematic Structures

4. Rhetorical Structures

1.Syntactical Structures:

How the news story is structured like an inverted pyramid = information presented in inverted order of importance.

The headline is the lead in the news story, the most powerful framing device

Objectivity: empirical validity, authority, official sources, facts

1.Script Structures:

How the sequence of events and the actors are presented

The 5 WH:

Who, What, When, Where, Why

Capture attention: drama, action, actors, human emotions – climax, anticlimax..

3. Thematic Structures

How hypotheses are tested and supported rationally (hypothesis-testing attributes)

Support the hypothesis: observation of actions or events, explicit propositions, background information

Thematic structure: summarised in the headline, lead and conclusions

Emotional themes can be used and thematic structures can be combined

3. Rhetorical Structures

How rhetorical structures are used in the text:

metaphors, exemplars, catchphrases, depictions, visual images….

Frame analysis:Political discourse

George Lakoff: Moral Politics: how Liberal and Conservative thinks (1966)

Cognitive metaphor of Governance = Family

Conservatives = “strict father model” (government=dominant father)

Liberals = “nurturant parent model” (government=both mother and father)

George Lakoff: Moral Politics: how Liberal and Conservative thinks (1966)

Cognitive metaphor of Governance = Family

Conservatives = “strict father model” (government=dominant father)

Liberals = “nurturant parent model” (government=both mother and father)

For more reading…

George Lakoff “Metaphor and War: The Metaphor System Used to Justify War in the Gulf” (1991, available online)

Cost-benefit analysis metaphor of war: The political “gains” are to be weighed

against acceptable “costs.” When the costs of war exceed the political gains, the war should cease.

Main themes IL GIORNALE

Over reaction of the opposition

Berlusconi’s vital role as a mediator between USA and Russia

• L’Unità

• Berlusconi’s inappropriate language

• His antidemocratic politics – (Lakoff’s patriarcal model)

Family – Mediaset• The responsibility the

government has in Education

Evidence from the class

The class. Classroom activities. Readers of Il Giornale and readers of

L’unità.

ConclusionsFrame analysis in language teaching is relevant

to: Understand how ideologies and key points

are conveyed in different texts

Reflect on how linguistic and textual structures are used in the texts

Conclusions

Reflect on how the students interpret the different texts using their schemata

Introduce cultural and socio/political elements in language classes

THANK YOU