Empowering the activist: Using framing devices on activist organizations’ web sites

The researchers analyzed activist organization web sites to determine the framing techniques employed in their public relations messages. The macro framework for this study was based on the work of sociologists David Snow and Robert Benford, who focus on how social activist organizations frame their messages. At the micro level, the researchers examined the web sites for the presence or absence of five devices identified by Gamson and Modigliani (American Journal of Sociology 1989;95:1–37) as commonly used when framing issues.The findings suggest that public relations practitioners working for activist groups are not making use of most of these message-framing devices in their issue-related messages on their web sites. Based on Gamson and Modigliani’s work, it would seem that practitioners incorporating these devices would only add to the persuasive power of their messages.