FRAMING USEFULNESS: An Examination of Journalistic Coverage of the Personal Computer from 1982-1984

What were the reasons why the personal computer revolution of the 1980s was so successful and pervasive in America? Although there were doubtlessly many important factors, such as advertisements and socialization within peer groups, that led to the personal computer becoming a standard part of the typical American household, the intricate relationship between mediated forms of discourse and public perception during that time period has yet to be investigated in all its aspects. In particular, although much work has been done in examining the coverage of major events by mass media (Deluca & Peeples, 2002; Katz & Dayan, 1994; Kumar, 2001), no one has done a systematic analysis of how mass media in general and newspapers in particular examined the introduction of the personal computer. In this article I summarize the results of a larger study in order to answer the question of what kind of frame of reference newspapers created for their presumed readers during the crucial introductory years of 1982-1984. I examine themes prevalent in newspaper reporting about personal computers during that time period and extrapolate the kinds of frames being made available to the readers of those newspapers and how newspapers "prepared" the consumer for the introduction of the personal computer.