Transnational Media Coverage of the ISIS Threat: A Global Perspective?

Authors

  • Xu Zhang The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
  • Lea Hellmueller "Texas Tech University"

Keywords:

global journalism, transnational media, ISIS, CNN, Al Jazeera English, content analysis

Abstract

This study examines elements of what has been defined as global journalism and compares online news stories of Al Jazeera English and CNN regarding the ISIS threat. The empirical inquiry presents the similarities and differences in transnational news outlets’ coverage of a global crisis. The results of a quantitative content analysis (N = 320) suggest that different transnational news outlets share some features in their news coverage of a global challenge but still differ significantly. CNN mostly cites governmental official sources, whereas Al Jazeera English relies more on information from other news media. In addition, CNN mainly adopts a geopolitics frame focusing on the strategies of dealing with ISIS, whereas Al Jazeera English uses the dominant frame of existential threat. Results further indicate that elements of global journalism do not go beyond human rights issues.. 

Author Biographies

Xu Zhang, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Xu Zhang, M.A. (2015) currently is a first-year Ph.D. student in the College of Communication and Information, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His concentration is on journalism and electronic media. He got his Masters in mass communication in College of Media and Communication, Texas Tech University in August 2015. Before came to the United States, he got his Bachelor's in journalism at Inner Mongolia University, China. He had also worked in media-related industries as part-time or intern for 2 years. 

Lea Hellmueller, "Texas Tech University"

Lea Hellmueller, Ph.D. (2012) is Assistant Professor of Journalism at Texas Tech University. She is also an affiliate of the Institute of Hispanic and International Communication and part of the Graduate Faculty at Texas Tech University. Prior to her current position she was postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas – Austin (2013), visiting researcher at the University of Santiago (Chile, June 2013) and Fulbright student and Swiss NSF scholar at the Missouri School of Journalism (2010-2012). She is the Co-PI of the 28-country study, Journalistic Role Performance Around the Globe (journalisticperformance.org), author of the Washington, DC Media Corps in the 21st Century: The Source-Correspondent Relationship (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) and one of the editors of the new forthcoming book on Journalistic Role Performance  (with Claudia Mellado and Wolfgang Donsbach). Her work, mostly focusing on journalism’s professional roles and performances in a digital and transnational news environment, has also appeared in academic journals such as Journalism Studies, Journalism Practice, Communication & Society, Communication Research Trends as well as in book chapters published in German and English. Prior to joining academia, Dr. Hellmueller has worked as a journalist in Switzerland, South Africa and the United States.  

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Published

2016-01-29

Issue

Vol. 10 (2016)

Section

Articles

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