CONSTRUCTION OF THE TRUTH AND DESTRUCTION OF A MILLION LITTLE PIECES Framing in the editorial response to the James Frey case

A recent case in the United States has called into question the value that we, societally speaking, place on truth. This research attempts to understand how an audience of reasonable persons-opinion and editorial writers-reacted to and subsequently framed truth in the James Frey case. The editorial pages provide a place with which to begin public discussion of key issues, whether political, social, or moral. The qualitative, framing analysis examines editorials and opinion pieces with the purpose of providing an understanding of the news frame surrounding "truth." Findings indicate that editorial and opinion writers strongly supported truth as a bedrock for a functional society. However, while editorial and opinion writers clearly acknowledged the contributions of other societal institutions to ushering in the "Age of Truthiness," they were negligent in considering the contributions of their own institution.