In 1981, Ronald Reagan stepped onto the inaugural platform and told Americans that “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

That single frame — simple, optimistic, and deeply ideological — reshaped the nation’s conversation for decades. In this episode of Framed, we explore how Reagan’s rhetoric redefined the relationship between government, markets, and morality.

From “Morning in America” to the rise of the modern conservative movement, this is the story of how communication reframed confidence, faith, and power in American life.

FRAMED Episode 7: The Reagan Revolution — Part I.
“Communication is History.”

🎧 Available on Spotify and YouTube
📺 Extended version exclusively on Patreon

In this episode of FRAMED, Dr. Julie Hunt explores how the Pentagon Papers and the Watergate era reshaped the relationship between the press and power.
When Daniel Ellsberg leaked the top-secret study of America’s war in Vietnam, the act didn’t just expose government deception — it transformed journalism itself.

Dr. Hunt traces the emergence of an adversarial press, the growing tension between national security and public accountability, and the rise of investigative reporting as a democratic duty.
Using framing theory, she unpacks how the press, the White House, and the courts all competed to define the meaning of truth — and how those frames still shape media and politics today.

(Approx. 30 minutes — includes scholarly insights from Goffman, Entman, and Reese on frame dynamics and media trust.)

🔗 Read more essays at ZephaniahCreative.substack.com
💡 Support deeper dives at Patreon.com/FramedPodcast

Pentagon Papers, Daniel Ellsberg, Vietnam War, New York Times vs United States, Watergate, Nixon, press freedom, investigative journalism, adversarial press, media ethics, leaks and whistleblowers, framing theory, Erving Goffman, Robert Entman, Stephen Reese, government transparency, Cold War media, public trust, democracy and the press, media accountability

In this episode of FRAMED, Dr. Julie Hunt unpacks the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident—the event that propelled America deep into the Vietnam War.
What really happened in the Gulf? How did political necessity, Cold War fear, and media framing transform an ambiguous naval skirmish into congressional approval for full-scale war?

Using Erving Goffman’s framing theory and Robert Entman’s concept of selective salience, this episode explores:

• The Johnson Administration’s narrative of “unprovoked aggression”

• How the press adopted and reinforced official frames

• The slow erosion of public trust as later revelations surfaced

• The reframing of Vietnam through protest, memory, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

🎧 Listen as communication theory meets history—revealing how words, symbols, and power can ignite a war.

• Spotify: FramedPodcast1 on Spotify

• Patreon: patreon.com/c/FramedPodcast

• Substack: zephaniahcreative.substack.com

🔗 Connect with FRAMED

Gulf of Tonkin, Vietnam War, Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert McNamara, Cold War, Framing Theory, Erving Goffman, Robert Entman, Frame Erosion, Media Studies, Spiral of Scandal, Communication Theory, Vietnam Protests, History Podcast, Political Communication, FRAMED Podcast, Julie Hunt