This checklist could help you to identify narratives, discourses and frames journalists (usually) unconsciously use while doing a journalism job. Do not take it as a manual or exhausting list of to do and not to dos – it is more about food for thoughts when gathering, selecting, processing and reproducing whatever information we get into contact with.
Who is the author of the information, and what audience is assumed? From what perspective is information given? Does it include the view of ‘reported’ groups? How much space is given to those groups? And what are the expectations of the audience?
Who are the people in the story? Does it present some as heroes or as villains?
They frame the information. E.g. when speaking about migrants, if we quote police officers, security analysts or government ministries, we will frame the situation differently than we would if we invited comments from sociologists, social workers, political scientists, development workers, human rights experts – or refugees themselves.
How are people depicted? Are they labelled in any collective way? And what about the ‘colouration’ or tone of language?
And how does it influence the meaning and impact of a story? And what about the synonyms selected?
In video stories, the frame includes the images as well as the words. Written articles will often be accompanied by pictures. Charts, drawings and photographs can all significantly change the impact of a story, and cast things in a different light.
Is not the information episodic or thematic? Does it present a story in isolation? Or, in contrast, does it aim to include the wider context? Thematic coverage gives the audience a sense of the scale of the problem, and its wider causes.
What social, political, power, religious, economic or other factors lie behind the story? Who has the power in the story and who is powerless – on an individual, institutional, regional, and global level?
We can frame the whole narrative in a way that directs the audience to a certain way of thinking about the issue. For example, does the information talk about winners and losers? Does it talk about revealing injustice, or protecting national security? Does it talk about economic measures and impacts, or does it emphasise the value of human life?
Which questions are omitted by the author of the information? Which important facts are not mentioned? Which characters should have been included in the story but are not?