Terrorism as a Context of Coverage before the Iraq War

Abstract

This article examines terrorism as a context in the major newsmagazines’ coverage of Iraq in the prewar period. Contexts and associated issues help create news frames, which can affect judgments of events and policies. This investigation relies on the issues of Time and Newsweek published in September 2002 and from the first issue of January 2003 through the March 24, 2003, issue and includes analysis of the issues’ cover art, graphics within news stories, and Iraq and terrorism stories. During this period, newsmagazines frequently juxtaposed terrorism and Iraq and used graphics that linked Iraq to terrorism and terrorists.

Keywords

news media framing graphics Iraq terrorism September 11 newsmagazines

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