| This study investigated the construction of Saudi Arabia's social reality before and after September 11, 2001 by television news organizations US mainstream television news organizations of ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox and in relation to U.S. government officials' news framing of international news stories. Because of the intensity of symbols that marked the coverage of Saudi Arabia---specifically, after the attacks of September 11, 2001---were intense, although did not amount to war, the media congruency construction frame was developed. This frame categorizes the intensity of symbols and relates them to a type of political relationship (normal, dispute, conflict, or war) between the United States and a foreign, country, which ultimately identified U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia as in conflict. The study revealed three findings: (a) similarities among U.S. mainstream news organizations in constructing news stories about Saudi Arabia in a conflictive outlook; (b) similarities in covering the variables of this study; and (c) a relationship between the U.S. government and those news organizations. The findings concluded that the U.S. mainstream news organizations constructed Saudi Arabia along the lines of U.S. political economic and cultural ideologies, as well as U.S. interest and national security promoted by U.S. government officials. These news organizations constructed a conflictive social reality of Saudi Arabia to pressure Saudi Arabia in complying with the fulfillment of U.S. interests regarding the war on international terrorism. |
