News & Insights

Antonia Scatton: US framing expert shares thoughts

Last Saturday, the Institute attended a workshop in Brighton with a visiting expert on framing and narratives in politics from the US, Antonia Scatton. Antonia has worked with and advised a wide variety of political party committees and advocacy groups from the Centre for American Progress to the  state Democratic Parties in Arizona, Minnesota, Virginia, Idaho and Florida.  Drawing from her experiences over the last thirty years, Antonia guided us through the process of framing a debate, and highlighted some of the risks associated with it, from allowing others to seize control of the narrative to shutting down parts of the debate.

Although the American experience differs slightly from that in Britain, there was much food for thought for the diligent public engagement specialist. For consultors particularly, where the narrative in which you conduct your consultation is important and can have major consequences on how it is regarded by both your consultees and other interested parties, warnings about being careful when handling how your issue is framed by both yourself and others should hit home particularly hard.

Rhion Jones and Elizabeth Gammell subsequently met with Antonia this week to explore the extent to which framing and scoping a debate are relevant in both the American political context and our consultative structures. One of the major points of concern in recent years has been the ‘dumbing down’ of political debate, and it was interesting to hear thoughts from America where, if anything the problem is even worse than it has been traditionally considered over here.

Rhion comments:-

“We frequently hear complaints that this or that consultation proceeds upon an assumption that consultees find hard to accept. This was the continuous message when consultations sought views about different ways of applying austerity budgets to public services. Where Antonia’s work is of interest is in developing themes and ideas of wider public education that  can challenge conventional orthodoxies and, literally widen the scope of debate.”

“This applies particularly to the Climate emergency debate. Framing the question(s) is at the heart of the challenge for those thinking of whether or not to organise a Citizens Assembly or some other form of public engagement and consultation. Institute Fellow, Davy Jones, with years of experience in the Green movement thinks that Antonia Scatton’s ideas can help people think seriously about the type of dialogue we should be having. We will need to focus on this at the Consultation Institute.”

The Institute would welcome any thoughts or comments on framing and setting the narrative, and is keen to meet with any organisations who would like to discuss these issues further.

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