A Downing Street guide to framing and media manipulation

Public relations practitioner Mike Hind published a thread on Twitter about media framing following the three letters sent to the European Union. It’s so good that I asked him if I could publish it in full.

The Letwin Amendment passed by Parliament on Saturday stipulated that Parliament would withhold approval of the latest Brexit deal until all legislation to enact it had been passed.

The move triggered the Benn Act forcing Prime Minister Boris Johnston to ask the European Union for a further postponement of Brexit until 31 January.

The Prime Minister sent not one but three letters to the European Union. These included an unsigned copy of the letter from the Benn Act with a cover note explaining the letter was only being sent to comply with Parliament. A separate letter signed by the Prime Minster asked the European Union to ignore the request.

Media framing and manipulation

Mike Hind called this out on Twitter as an example of media framing. He’s a journalist and storyteller. You can follow him @MikeH_PR. Here he picks up the story.

Downing Street wants you to kick off about [Prime Minister Boris Johnston] not signing the letter [asking the European Union for an extension to the Article 50 notice period].

All three letters were shared with the media. Vocal journalists and commentators immediately amplified the message of the Prime Minister’s defiance.

This is a perfect example of Lakoffian framing.

[George Lakoff is a US cognitive linguist renowned for his ideas about the centrality of metaphor to human thinking and behaviour.]

To win the PR air war you need to be first, with a fresh message, no matter the setback you just suffered.

That's how you manipulate the media. By giving them a new story, to distract from the bad story. 

Vote Leave - which is basically now the government - has been very adept at this.

Remember when the Electoral Commission ruled that Vote Leave had broken electoral law? Vote Leave instantly declared the EC as "politically biased".

The story then? Vote Leave accuses Electoral Commission of political bias.

That is what we call framing.

Defiance and not humiliating political failure

The media narrative this weekend has been about Johnson's 'defiance', rather than his humiliating political failure. 

In the age of social media, those adept at framing have millions of people to manipulate. Most of us aren't aware of much comms theory, so we are easily manipulated into amplifying these talking points. 

I’ve been momentarily tempted to post some snarky 'hot takes' on Johnson not signing the extension request and sending a contradictory note. But reality bites when you spot the framing.

Today's story, behind the framing flannel, is that Johnson preferred to die in a ditch than do the thing he has been forced to do.

As ever, well-meaning people will argue the contrary because often the last people to spot skilled manipulation are the skilfully manipulated. 

The reality is that the Benn Act letter has been sent. The other reported letters are legally inconsequential.

Other sources of media literacy and insight

If you're inspired to better understand framing, a good Twitter follow to consider is Dirk Singer (@dirktherabbit) who consistently shines a light on these tactics 

Framing is what the best journalists cut through, to bring you the real story. Which is why Sky News’ Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) is one of my go-to sources for insight, rather than gossip.

I should also recommend The Times’ Jenni Russell (@jennirsl) who also called this out.

If you'd like to journey into the deeper subtleties of framing this essay by dana boyd (@zephoria) is a brilliant introduction.

Postscript: some people are greeting this little explainer of Downing St comms practice as evidence of the dark 'genius' of one Dominic Cummings.

Honestly, it isn't. It's bog standard media manipulation.

This is George Lakoff [@GeorgeLakoff) himself, on a similar theme. You should also follow him.