ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the framing contest between the Barack Obama team and its opponents over the dropped plans issue, and then turns to a sample of news coverage to assess the extent to which those frames, promoting or quelling a controversy, were presented. Coverage on cable news networks associated with partisan leanings followed patterns of privileging the frames of the president or his opponents, in line with their ideological brands. The analysis suggests the important role hostile partisan news sources can play in promulgating a controversy surrounding the president, forcing politicians and mainstream objective news sources to react accordingly. The chapter expresses that how friendly partisan outlets can facilitate presidential frame refraction in ways that benefit the White House, but also how the conditional nature of presidential framing resilience can result in limits to supportive coverage, even in these sympathetic news sources.
