Watch the pivot foot

Here’s the No. 5 story from the Fair ‘n’ Balanced homepage Wednesday night to help explain why attitude change is often the wrong place to look for media effects — because who needs attitude change when you’re in charge of the tollbooth through which “objective” information itself is transmitted?

News agencies seem to agree that hostile foreign actors shouldn’t be clowning around in US elections, so the issue itself isn’t in question. Indeed, the event is more salient at CNN (which — imagine — is also covering the Federal Reserve, Near Eastern political violence and other stuff that doesn’t make the Fox top ten) than at Fox, and it gets thorough play at the AP. But see if there’s a bit of a difference in the information you get from the headlines:

Iranian hackers tried but failed to interest Biden’s campaign in stolen Trump info, FBI says (AP)

Iranian hackers sent stolen Trump campaign information to people associated with Biden campaign (CNN)

Somehow, these don’t seem to add up to “sharing.” You’re learning about the same event, but you’re learning different things about it. Here’s a bit from the texts:

The agencies noted that there is currently no information indicating if recipients replied to the messages. (Fox)

There is no indication that Biden’s staff ever replied, the statement says. (CNN)

You can see it happening in any busy newsroom: Hey, “if” and “that” mean the same thing (right?), and “if” is only half the length, and presto! Except — think of the if/whether distinction — they really aren’t built to transmit the same kind of information.

Another bit of data is somewhat less subtle. CNN and the AP include comments from both the Trump and Harris campaigns. Fox includes a comment from Trump himself — like the poor influencers who took Russia’s money without knowing it, he’s certainly an aggrieved party here — but waives the routine of balancing. As it might with a cop story, that doesn’t mean there’s no rule, but it does suggest that there are rules about applying the rule.

And that’s the beauty of the framing/agenda-setting process. Given different maps through what looks like an identical thicket, you can end up in some strikingly different places.