Remembering Our Shared Past

Visually Framing the Iraq War on U.S. News Websites

Bibliographic Data

ID12449752
AuthorsCarol B Schwalbe (Arizona State University, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume12
Issue1
Pages264-289
Publication date2006-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Computer-Mediated Communication (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1083-6101 • E-ISSN: 1083-6101
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1083-6101.2006.00325.x
OpenAlexW2026666571
LanguageEN
Citations received39
References cited62

This exploratory study analyzes how United States news websites visually portray ongoing (contemporaneous) events and examines their potential role in shaping collective memory by commemorating past (resurrected) events through anniversary retrospectives. A content analysis of 526 images on the home pages of 26 mainstream news sites indicates that during the first five weeks of the Iraq War, the visual emphasis shifted from the official U.S. war machine to the more personal face of those touched by war, both Americans and Iraqis, as photojournalists traveled with the troops to Baghdad. The five main frames that emerged reinforced the patriotic, government-friendly war narrative: conflict, conquest, rescue, victory, and control. By the first, second, and third anniversaries of the war, the visual coverage of hostilities had dropped dramatically. This article discusses some of the reasons why online news sites did not feature many anniversary commemorations of the Iraq War

Art · Framing (construction · Literature · Mainstream · Media studies · Narrative · Photography · Photojournalism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Victory · Visual arts · History · Law · Media Studies and Communication · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Rhetoric and Communication Studies

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