Masters Thesis

Framing Islam: an analysis of U.S. ethnic and mainstream coverage of the Fort Hood shooting

Domestic terrorism has been linked to Islam and Muslims since 9/11. This framing analysis study examines how the New York Times and various U.S. Arab and Muslim print agencies constructed news coverage of the shooting massacre at the Fort Hood Military base, a U.S. Army post in Killeen, Texas, on November 5, 2009. The work considered dominant news frames. The findings underscore the need for an informed press and accurate representations of Islam and Muslim subjects in coverage of terror stories. The results show that mainstream newspapers embraced a mostly episodic frame in covering the Fort Hood story that placed the Muslim gunman, U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, outside the norm. The shooting is framed as an attack on the nation. Ethnic media adopted a thematic approach to coverage but reinforced many common stereotypes by adopting a defensive stance. The attack is framed as system failure and the product of an unjust war.

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