Subject + verb
Journalists make a crucial framing decision in every story. They select the subject and then choose a verb to highlight what the subject did. It doesn't seem complicated, but, as two Twitter users pointed out, it informs how citizens ingest the news, particularly when the story is about congressional politics.
Many citizens don't closely follow what's happening in Congress, because it rarely creates an immediate impact on their day-to-day lives. Instead, news consumers pick up headlines in their daily news feed. As Congress becomes more polarized, the journalistic framing of these issues becomes increasingly consequential.
NPR's critics were specifically addressing abortion legislation, where a majority of Americans support maintaining the protections articulated in the Roe v. Wade decision.
Did the Senate Democrats fail to pass an abortion rights bill? Or did Senate Republicans block the bill? Both statements are true, although, as you'll see below, there's a wrinkle with making the Republicans the actor in the story, and his name is Sen. Joe Manchin.
In the wake of two mass shootings in the past two weeks, this same critique can be applied to the description of congressional efforts (or lack of) to regulate guns. Have Democrats failed
