Issue familiarity and framing effects of online campaign coverage: Event perception, issue attitudes, and the 2004 presidential election in Taiwan

This study tests how two distinguishable frames identified from Mainland Chinese online coverage of Taiwan's 2004 presidential election campaign influenced U.S. and Chinese audiences' event perception and attitudes toward Mainland-Taiwan relations. Employing a 2x2x3 between-subjects experiment, this study highlights the moderating effect of issue familiarity. Findings show a significant impact of framing intensity on the event perception of those who may not be familiar with the topic, in addition to a significant influence exerted by frame type on event perception. The roles of familiarity and other factors involved in framing effects on issue attitudes are also discussed from a comparative perspective.