BY THE ASSOCIATION F R EDUCATION IN JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION

in reviewing this manuscript. We also appreciate the useful suggestions from anonymous reviewers from Journalism and Communication Monographs and the Minorities and Communication Division of AEJMC. at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on May 10, 2016jmo.sagepub.comDownloaded from This study employs a framing analysis of media explanations regard-ing public support for President Clinton during the 1998 coverage of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. An analysis of broadcast, newspaper, and magazine stories during the scandal reveals that media coverage of support for the President focused exclusively on African Americans. Five discursive frames were used to explain African American sup-port: morality, political pragmatism, distrust of the criminal justice system, forgivenesshedemption, and Clinton’s rapport with African Americans. Although these frames construct blackness using a variety of characteristics seldom found in the media, they also construct th