The death of bin Laden: How Russian and U.S. media frame counterterrorism

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Public Relations Review

Publication Date

1-1-2014

Abstract

This study explored how Russian and U.S. newspapers covered the death of Osama bin Laden in 2011 through the lens of framing theory. Results reflect significant disparity in how media in different countries covered the same event, suggesting that terrorism events were framed as national concerns rather than global issues, thus potentially limiting governments and the media from building a shared understanding with international audiences. The findings also indicate that more robust media relations efforts are needed to counter simplistic media counterterrorism frames. Finally, the study identified new frames for counterterrorism including secrecy and humanizing terrorists. These new frames suggest the need to expand the framing literature to provide a better understanding of how the media cover counterterrorism, which may impact the U.S. government's public diplomacy and counterterrorism efforts. © 2014 Elsevier Inc.

ISSN

0363-8111

Publisher

Elsevier Ltd

Volume

40

Issue

3

First Page

429

Last Page

439

Disciplines

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Keywords

Counterterrorism, Crisis communication, Framing, Public diplomacy

Scopus ID

84902297333

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

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