None dare call it torture: Indexing and the limits of press independence in the Abu Ghraib scandal

被引:160
作者
Bennett, W. Lance [1 ]
Lawrence, Regina G.
Livingston, Steven
机构
[1] Univ Washington, Dept Polit Sci, Seattle, WA 98195 USA
[2] Univ Washington, Dept Commun, Seattle, WA 98195 USA
[3] Portland State Univ, Hatfield Sch Govt, Dept Polit Sci, Portland, OR 97207 USA
[4] George Washington Univ, Elliot Sch Int Affairs, Washington, DC 20052 USA
关键词
D O I
10.1111/j.1460-2466.2006.00296.x
中图分类号
G2 [信息与知识传播];
学科分类号
05 ; 0503 ;
摘要
This paper considers the extent to which leading news organizations use independent documentation to build interpretations of events that challenge official framing. The data presented in this study show that despite available evidence and sources to support a counterframing of the Abu Ghraib prison story in terms of a policy of torture, the leading national news organizations did not produce a frame that strongly challenged the Bush administration's claim that Abu Ghraib was an isolated case of appalling abuse perpetrated by low-level soldiers. The press struggled briefly, and in limited fashion with the question of whether events at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere reflected an administration policy of torture, but "abuse" was by far the predominant news frame. The case of Abu Ghraib offers a critical test of agreement and differences among theories of event-driven news, cascading activation, and indexing. Although all the 3 models were implicated in this case, the data, drawn from a content analysis of the Washington Post, CBS Evening News, and a sample of national newspapers, fit most closely with the predictions of the indexing model.
引用
收藏
页码:467 / 485
页数:19
相关论文
共 55 条
[1]   When news norms collide, follow the lead: New evidence for press independence [J].
Althaus, SL .
POLITICAL COMMUNICATION, 2003, 20 (04) :381-414
[2]  
[Anonymous], 2004, REP INT COMM RED CRO
[3]  
[Anonymous], NEW YORK TIMES 1213
[4]  
[Anonymous], FREEING PRESSES 1 AM
[5]  
[Anonymous], NEW YORK REV BO 1007
[6]  
[Anonymous], 2004, Chain of Command, The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib
[7]  
[Anonymous], WASHINGTON POST 0421
[8]   TOWARD A THEORY OF PRESS-STATE RELATIONS IN THE UNITED-STATES [J].
BENNETT, WL .
JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION, 1990, 40 (02) :103-125
[9]   A semi-independent press: Government control and journalistic autonomy in the political construction of news [J].
Bennett, WL ;
Livingston, S .
POLITICAL COMMUNICATION, 2003, 20 (04) :359-362
[10]   NEWS ICONS AND THE MAINSTREAMING OF SOCIAL-CHANGE [J].
BENNETT, WL ;
LAWRENCE, RG .
JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION, 1995, 45 (03) :20-39