Leadership Transitions: The Watkins Collection (4 Items)

attention of elected representatives. The next objective, then,

was to frame the issue in ways that would spur media and public

debate and so focus the attention of legislators in Congress on

this issue.

The more general issue is how you can attract and hold the

attention of influential but somewhat dispersed constituencies

through the use of persuasive communication. Political scien-

tist Malcolm Mitchell described effective framing as “a burning

glass which collects and focuses the diffuse warmth of popu-

lar emotions, concentrating them on a specific issue.”

3

Used

effectively, it evokes specific mental models and so promotes

“right thinking”—that is, “right” in the eyes of those doing the

framing—and discredits or provides counterarguments to pos-

sible ...