The Frame Reflection Interview (FRI) is a new research technique which could help journalists better report on global issues that effect local populations.
It has been designed and tested by former journalist, UTS academic and Centre for Media Transition research fellow Dr Chrisanthi Giotis in her own reporting in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It has also been used by the Australian Financial Review foreign correspondent, Emma Connors, in her preparation for reporting from Indonesia.
It was a great thing...[It gave me] 2-3 solid leads and a much better understanding of how Indonesians view their country.
Doing the interviews strengthened my resolve to come to grips with the complexity and strive to report it
This FRI is type of interview adapted from work done on intractable policy controversies and helps discover new perspectives on common and controversial media topics. It engages local multicultural communities for their expertise and helps discover new storylines while creating new relationships of trust.
In April 2020 The Frame Reflection Interview was presented as part of a First Draft webinar series on Covering Coronavirus titled: ‘How to include global voices in your reporting story’. Around 30 participants from around the world took part in the online course. It is also available as a resource on the First Draft YouTube channel.
Who is the Frame Reflection Interview technique for?
The tool is not just for foreign correspondents. We invite news organisations to support their journalists to engage in this best-practice, to run ‘Frame Reflection Interviews’.
Complex public policy issues such as climate change impact global, national and local communities in different ways and at different scales.
Journalists are key professionals who can help foster the creation of a shared ongoing narrative however this has become more challenging in a fragmented media landscape and in the context of the rise of hyperpartisan media and mis- and disinformation.
Journalists and news organisations can improve their reporting by consciously striving to provide a greater variety of storylines when reporting on global topics. New storylines can be generated by asking disenfranchised communities what they think the issues are, and different ways the stories can be reported.
Audiences today are usually media literate and content saturated. This gives us the opportunity to treat community members with respect and seek out their perspective on how stories are being reported. They can be prompted with specific examples of mainstream media and asked to comment on their own media consumption. Some of these community members may end up being contacts for future stories but this is not the main point of the exercise. The key resource being sought from these community members are ideas which might generate new and varied storylines to add to a richer understanding of these global stories.
If you are interested in signing up to use this tool, email chrisanthi.giotis@uts.edu.au