Applying Framing Theory to Examination of State/Local Government Pension Issues in Public Administration (34 th Annual Teaching Public Administration Conference, Williamsburg, VA, May 17-19, 2011) Richard A. Wandling Political Science Department Eastern Illinois University Charleston, IL 61920 rawandling@eiu.edu
Introduction • State and Local Government Pensions have become prominent part of public conversation – In public administration classes, increased likelihood of coverage of this subject by instructors – From Introduction to Public Administration to upper division courses on topics such as Government Budgeting/Finance and Human Resource Management – Students themselves also likely to have been affected by information on pensions from popular arena of communications
Focus of Conference Paper • Application of Framing Theory to major sources of information on state and local pensions • Presentation also includes prominent examples from media coverage • But key objective is examination of information, analysis and arguments by two key sets of actors in the pensions debate – Pew Center on the States – National Association of State Retirement Administrators (NASRA)
Media and Emergence of an Issue • Consideration of some examples of coverage of state and local pensions • Prominent national-level print media, such as: – New York Times – Washington Post – Wall Street Journal • Some general properties of coverage emerge when considering sources such as these.
Major properties of national media coverage • State/local pensions often portrayed as having one or more of following qualities: – Significant underfunding of pension trust funds that is likely to worsen as state/local governments continue to make difficult decisions, – Pension funds in precarious financial condition with great risk to current and future generations of state and local taxpayers,
Summarizing Media Coverage, continued – Pension obligations that are too costly to be sustained at existing funding and benefit payment levels, – Pensions as negative legacy of fiscally irresponsible decisions by whole generation of state and local officials, and – Victimization of the taxpaying public in certain instances by calculated gaming of pension rules by self-interested government employees who retire to artificially inflated pension values.
Media Coverage, continued • Important to note: Preceding summary not intended as endorsement of assessments— just to introduce media environment facing public, and today’s public administration student • Consider examples of media coverage – See PDF file with excerpted passages from New York Times, Washington Post, etc. – Also see collection of recent headlines from Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun Times
Framing Theory • Framing theory has been used to study variety of communication phenomena, such as: – Popular Culture – Rhetoric of government officials – Political Candidates – Themes in public policy debates • While framing theory/research includes strong focus on media, not limited to media studies – Wide application, and has been used by different science disciplines, including presenter’s home discipline of political science
Defining Framing • Entman (1993; 2007) as a standard definition in this genre of scholarship: “We can define framing as the process of culling a few elements of perceived reality and assembling a narrative that highlights connections among them to promote a particular interpretation. Fully developed frames typically perform four functions: problem definition, causal analysis, moral judgment, and remedy promotion….Framing works to shape and alter audience members’ interpretations and preferences through priming. That is, frames introduce or raise the salience or apparent importance of certain ideas, activating schemas that encourage target audiences to think, feel and decide in a particular way “(2007, 164).
Entman Definition • Elements to consider: – Four Functions of Framing • Problem Definition • Causality • Evaluation • Remedies – Salience – Priming • These all have relevance to framing of pensions issue, from problem definition on through how salient the issue might be in the eye’s of typical public administration student.
Framing Assumptions • Key assumptions and premises of this paper: – Framing is part of political process, in which political elites pursue their interests; this includes organizational actors. – Framing not limited to media, and political elites and organizations participate in framing processes. – Particularly from Graber (2004), it is important to consider context of framing (i.e., historical, economic, political,…_). • Definitely relevant to setting of the pensions issue. – Although framing has consequences, should not assume that specific framing efforts always work; individuals are capable of independent judgment, with information/knowledge particularly important here.
Pew Center on the States • Pew Center has played significant role in communicating strong sense of urgency and crisis relative to state/local government pensions – A reputation for quality contributions to our political system, including the well-received Stateline.org website. • Major organizational player in the pensions debate, primarily through impact of: – Promises with a Price: Public Sector Retirement Benefits (December, 2007)
Pew Center on the States – Trillion Dollar Gap: Underfunded Retirement Systems and the Roads to Reform (February 2010). – Also, updates to above substantial reports, specifically: • Roads to Reform: Changes to Public Sector Retirement Benefits Across the States (November 2010) • The Widening Gap: The Recession’s Impact on State Pension and Retiree Health Care (April 2011) • Overall Trillion Dollar Gap probably Pew’s most significant addition to public, political conversation on pensions, and most widely cited.
Highlighting the Pew Perspective • Definitely a perspective evident--one of state and local pensions in peril, in crisis; with strong and immediate “reform” actions required. • Hard-hitting assessments, as seen in examples of excerpts from report with very eye-catching title ( Trillion Dollar Gap ): • See excerpted passages in supporting PDF file.
Highlighting the Pew Perspective • Average reader directed toward sense that major nation-wide problem exists. – But must be noted that some states fare reasonably well in the report. • The Negative? – “Laggard” states – 21 states with less than 80 percent funding of their long-term pension obligations – Kansas and Illinois particularly problematic • Less than 60 percent funding of long-term liabilities
Highlighting the Pew Perspective • Illinois figures to show an example from Pew of what is wrong with state/local pensions (from Trillion Dollar Gap report): – Figures in thousands • Latest Liability, $40,022,030 • Latest Unfunded liability, $39,946,678 • Annual required contribution, $1, 192,336 • Latest actual contribution, $159,751
Highlighting the Pew Perspective • In reforms survey, Pew not just providing descriptive survey of changes adopted and/or being considered by states – Pew report embraces particular “reform” orientation as seen in following passage from report: “Forcing policy makers to responsibly identify the cost and potential funding sources for benefit increases can help states avoid offering unfunded benefit hikes. State and local governments still can offer or increase benefits, but this additional step ensures that costs will be thoroughly considered in advance. Although such reforms will not reduce existing liabilities, they can keep state policy makers from making the funding situation worse.” (9-10).
Highlighting the Pew Perspective Drawing from two well-known scholars in the pensions debate • (and critics of the present system), Pew even sees the gap as even wider if a “risk free” standard is used in estimating pension trust fund returns: “…there is significant debate among policy makers and experts about what discount rate is most appropriate for states to use when valuing pension liabilities. This is an important issue because, depending on how those liabilities are calculated, states’ total funding shortfall for their long-term pension obligations to public sector retirees could be as much as $1.8 trillion (using assumptions similar to corporate pensions) or $2.4 trillion (using a discount rate based on a 30-year Treasury bond). How states value long-term liabilities going forward will play an important role in defining the scale of their challenges and the actions they will have to take to meet them.” (2) Also, consider evaluative language from a press release announcing the • recently available Widening Gap report (See excerpted passage in supporting PDF file)
The National Association of State Retirement Administrators (NASRA) • Various sources of information are available if wish to consider alternative framing approaches. – For example, – Center for Economic and Policy Research – National Institute on Retirement Security – Even the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which has issued various investigative reports on state/local government pension funding, investments and benefit payments. • Focus here is on a major contributor to modern state/local pensions debate: NASRA
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