"A Comparative Analysis of the Framing of Terrorism in Online News Under the George W. Bush and Barack H. Obama Administrations: from Clash to Dialogue?"

Zachary Paul Devereaux

doi:10.21810/strm.v4i1.54

Abstract

Abstract: The significant and reciprocal link between Terrorism and News Media reportage was identified in the 1990s by the convergence of security and media studies (Picard, 1993). Working in the tradition of content analysis early studies examined the way Terrorism was framed in major news accounts with implications for the Huntington-Fukuyama hypothesis (Nacos, 2002). However these early studies mainly pre-dated both the War on Terror and the rise of the Internet as a major (political) news source. This paper reinvigorates this early framing research on Terrorism by examining key frames over time in online news media via software-assisted media mapping. Key frames identified in the 1990s are examined in the online news environment under the George W. Bush administration (2005) and the current Barak Hussein Obama administration (2009). The resulting news mapping allows for a comparative analysis of the way frames, such as "insurgent" have changed (if at all) over time in the most significant stories freely available online. The comparison contributes to understanding of the potential for a shift from the rhetoric of a "clash of civilizations" towards discourse networks of the "dignity of difference" by rendering visible shifts in frames associated with Terrorism that arguably are necessary for the advancement of the new paradigm.

Highlights

Stream is interested in publishing articles and book reviews by Canadian graduate students in communication studies and related fields
The need to study online developments related to media and terrorism through the lens of previous research is compelling: “Most comprehensive studies about political violence/terrorism and media/communication were conducted and published before the Internet’s breakthrough as a widely used medium of communication...” (Nacos 2002, p. 28)
Griset & Mahan may be more relevant in the post 9-11 era when they argue that anti-capitalist violence is labeled as terrorism (Griset & Mahan, 2003, p. 134)

Summary

Introduction

Stream is interested in publishing articles and book reviews by Canadian graduate students in communication studies and related fields. Papers should fit into one of the three proposed “streams,” but we invite contributors to challenge their conceptions of these subjects with interdisciplinary approaches to these subject areas We hope that this student initiative will become a space for graduate students to publish new work and expand upon new ideas, contributing to a thriving graduate intellectual culture. Journal articles are immediately freely available to the public, released under a Creative Commons Attribution– Noncommercial–No derivative works licence. They may be reproduced and distributed freely for noncommercial uses if the author is identified and nothing is changed. The need to study online developments related to media and terrorism through the lens of previous research is compelling: “Most comprehensive studies about political violence/terrorism and media/communication were conducted and published before the Internet’s breakthrough as a widely used medium of communication...” (Nacos 2002, p. 28)

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