The Diversity Frame 2
Abstract
A content analysis of U.S. newspaper editorials (N = 158) examined framing of Supreme Court
rulings on affirmative action at the University of Michigan. Results showed that Remedial Action
and No Preferential Treatment, frames dominating affirmative action discourse in mass media
from the 1960s through the mid-1990s, were overshadowed in 2003 by Diversity, a frame
asserting that a blend of racially and ethnically different people serves to strengthen
organizations and society. Logistic regression analysis indicated that Dedman and Doig’s (2003)
Newsroom Diversity Index, the ratio of the proportion of minorities professionally employed by
the newspaper to the proportion of minorities living in its market, was positively associated with
choosing the diversity frame and negatively associated with choosing the no preferential
treatment frame. Failure to respond to the American Society of Newspaper Editors’ 2003
Newsroom Employment Survey predicted use of the no preferential treatment frame.
Implications for framing and affirmative action are discussed.
KEY WORDS: Framing, affirmative action, diversity, Newspaper Diversity Index