Many images, one world: An analysis of photographic framing and photojournalists' attitudes of war and terrorism

A study on the cross-national transfer of images portraying the September 11 attacks and the war in Afghanistan was conducted. Results of a content analysis of English and Arabic transnational newspapers show the dominant photographs in both newspapers did not differ. Findings suggest both newspapers conformed to the journalistic standards of newsworthiness by consistently allowing the accompanying image of the top story to be covered in the most prominent manner. Results also show while the news coverage of the English newspaper emphasized guilt in the September 11 attacks by showing visual messages that humanized the victims, it de-emphasized the bombing of Afghanistan by showing visual messages that focused least on the victims and more on aid, patriotism arsenal and weaponry, thus framing the Afghan war in a technical frame. On a similar level, the news coverage of the Arabic newspaper emphasized guilt in the Afghan war by showing visual messages that humanized the victims. It de-emphasized the September 11 attacks by showing visual messages that focused least on the victims and more on material destruction and planes crashing into the buildings, thus also framing the terrorist attacks in a more technical frame. The vast majority of photographs analyzed were from the three main Western news agencies, suggesting framing differences identified do not reflect patterns of information flow but patterns of information use.; To compliment the findings, results of a web-based survey of visual professionals associated with the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) reveal the majority of visual journalists support the use of graphic imagery. Respondents however reported the context of news, influenced photoselection of graphic imagery. The lack of necessary access to photograph the war in Afghanistan was noted. Further, personal experiences and background characteristics had minimal effect on news practitioners' perceptions of the visual coverage.