Section 2 — The Framework
8 key phrases
Session 8 Key Phrases: How does this connect to everything else?
Use these phrases to place any news story within a wider context — linking it to history, economics, patterns of power, and the longer story that explains why it is happening now.
This is part of a broader pattern...contextualizing statement
Use when: connecting an individual event to a wider trend or recurring phenomenon
Moves the analysis from the specific to the systemic — signals that you are not treating this story as isolated but as part of something larger and more significant.
"This is part of a broader pattern of media consolidation — over the past decade, six corporations have acquired more than 200 local news outlets across the country."
This story connects to...analytical link
Use when: explicitly drawing a connection between the story being discussed and another story, trend, or issue
A direct, clear bridge phrase — useful in discussion, writing, and analysis. Makes the connection explicit rather than leaving it implied.
"This story connects to the broader debate about housing policy — the same government that cut planning regulations in 2019 is now claiming the housing shortage is unsolvable."
To understand this, we need to go back to...historical framing
Use when: introducing essential historical background that explains the current situation
Signals that the current event cannot be understood without historical context — and that you are going to provide it. One of the most important phrases for deep analysis.
"To understand this, we need to go back to the 1994 structural adjustment program — the economic conditions it created are directly responsible for the instability we are seeing today."
This is not an isolated incident.analytical statement
Use when: rejecting the framing of an event as unique or exceptional, and insisting on its place within a pattern
A powerful phrase that challenges news media's tendency to present events as sudden and unprecedented. Demands that the reader look for the pattern beneath the incident.
"This is not an isolated incident — it is the fourteenth death in police custody in this city in five years, and each time the same response has followed: an inquiry, a report, and no consequences."
The context here is...contextualizing introduction
Use when: pausing to provide essential background before or after presenting a fact or claim
A clean, flexible phrase for introducing context in speaking or writing. Signals that what follows will reframe or deepen the meaning of what has just been said.
"The context here is important — this announcement comes just three weeks before a national election, which changes how we should read the government's stated motivations."
This echoes what happened when...historical parallel
Use when: drawing a parallel between the current situation and a historical precedent
"Echoes" is a careful word — it suggests similarity without claiming identity. Ideal for historical comparisons where the situations are analogous but not identical.
"This echoes what happened when the same industry lobbied against safety regulations in the 1980s — the playbook is almost identical: fund doubt, delay legislation, and blame the consumer."
This is part of a longer story.narrative framing
Use when: insisting that today's headline is not the beginning of something new, but a chapter in an ongoing story
Challenges the news media's fixation on novelty — the idea that only new things are newsworthy. Many of the most important stories have been developing for years or decades.
"This is part of a longer story about water rights in the region — one that began in the 1970s with irrigation agreements that were always designed to favor wealthier landowners."
Following the money leads us to...investigative idiom
Use when: tracing financial connections that explain why an event has happened or who benefits from it
Derived from the Watergate-era journalism maxim "follow the money" — one of the most powerful tools in investigative reporting. Financial connections often reveal the true causes of political events.
"Following the money leads us to a network of lobbying organizations, all funded by the same three donors, who have been quietly shaping energy policy for fifteen years."