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

The Watergate scandal began as a simple burglary — and unraveled into one of the most defining political crises in American history. In this episode of FRAMED, Dr. Julia Hunt unpacks how the narrative around Watergate was constructed, contested, and reframed over time.

Explore how journalists like Woodward and Bernstein became cultural symbols of truth, how the “containment frame” collapsed under public scrutiny, and how the “spiral of scandal” reshaped trust in the presidency and the press. From John Dean’s testimony to Nixon’s final words — “I am not a crook” — to the long national reckoning that followed, this episode traces how framing theory helps us understand not just what happened, but how we came to believe what it meant.

🎧 Listen now — and consider how the frames of Watergate still echo through every political scandal that followed.

In this episode on FRAMED, Dr. Julie Hunt examines how one of the most iconic moments in American history -- the 1963 March on Washington -- was not just a protest, but a masterclass in communication. Behind the speeches and songs was an intentional strategy: to frame the movement through dignity, unity, and moral clarity. This episode explores how images, words, and actions converged to shape a national conscience.

Hosted by Dr. Julie Hunt

Read more at zephaniahcreative.substack.com and go deeper by supporting FRAMED on Patreon at FRAMEDPodcast

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. This episode of Framed examines how media, politics, and Jackie Kennedy’s “Camelot” narrative shaped the way America remembers that day — and how frame analysis helps us see history not just as it happened, but as it was told.

This is my very first episode of Framed. It's a rough cut -- the final polish will come with future episodes as I refine my editing and production.

In this episode, I introduce the series and explore Erving Goffman's ideas of framing -- the ways we interpret the world around us, whether through physical experience (like weather) or sociological events (like politics).

Thank you for being here at the very beginning! Your feedback will help shape the direction of the podcast.

Don't forget to subscribe so you'll catch the more polished episodes coming soon.

Erving Goffman

Framing Analysis

Communication theory

Media framing

Sociology podcast

Political communication

Social psychology

Media literacy

Framed podcast

History and communication

#FramedPodcast

#Communicationtheory

#MediaFraming

#Goffman

#SociologyPodcast

#MediaLiteracy

#PoliticalCommunication

#PodcastLaunch

#HistoryandMedia

#CommunicationMatters

When tragedy strikes, the face are often simple -- but the meaning is anything but.

In this episode of Framed, Dr. Julie Hunt explores how political assassinations are framed in communication. Through the recent case of Charlie Kirk being assassinated, we examine briefly how media, leaders, and everyday people construct very different stories around the same event. Is it a tragedy of violence? A story of martyrdom? A cautionary tale about division?

By looking at how frames shape out understanding, we uncover why communication matters most in moments of crisis.

Subscribe to Framed for weekly explorations of the messages that shape our world.

Support on Patreon for extra content. Link: https://www.patreon.com/c/FramedPodcast