Communication and International Relations

As President Bush address the nation after the capture of Saddam Hussein, Jeff Gump of Jacksonville, Fla., raises his arms into the air in a victory gesture outside CNN studios on Dec. 14, 2003, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

In an American Behavioral Scientist article, “Framing the Iraq War: Perspectives from the American, U.K., Czech, German, South African, and Al-Jazeera News”, authors Christian Kolmer and Holli A. Semetko investigate the framing of the Iraq war in TV news in different countries.

Kolmer and Semetko conducted a content analysis of TV news stories about the Iraq war appearing in March and April 2003, looking for both similarities and differences across the international coverage. In the United States, news from ABC, NBC and CBS were analyzed. In total, from all the media outlets, 54,223 statements and 33,429 images were analyzed and the results were gathered based on three measures: 1) share of statements about the military, 2) tone or balance ratio of statements about Allies (U.S. and U.K.) and Iraq , and 3) amount and percentage share of media coverage on Allies in each country.

Key findings for the U.S. media include: 1) The U.S. media focused heavily on military action, 2) U.S. media evaluated Iraqis more negatively, and 3) devoted less coverage to third parties compared to other countries’ broadcasts.

In addition, after the defeat of Saddam, U.S. media coverage of the United States was highly favorable. This study provides a glimpse into how different countries report TV news and frame events for home audiences.

In case of the U.S., based on this research, the media’s main focus is keeping our national identity salient by focusing more favorably on our actions.

Media as National Citizen

Countries View the Iraq War Differently