Research Shows How Media Framing, Community Affiliation Can Affect Terrorism Beliefs

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.-Membership in a religious community can have a significant impact on how people form opinions about media coverage of Islam and terrorism, according to the results of a recent study.

Rob Wicks, associate professor of communication at the University of Arkansas, watched more than over 100 hours of video clips as part of his study, "Message Framing and Cognitive Response to Islam and Terrorism: A Comparison between Christians, Jews and Muslims" He will present the paper in August at the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) in Toronto.

This is the first phase of a project designed to learn how people construct opinions about Islam, the Middle East and terrorism. Wicks hoped to gain an understanding of the relationship between messages presented in the media and what people come to believe about these topics.

"Itís important that the media present accurate depictions and portrayals because people are forming attitudes, emotions and beliefs about an unfamiliar culture they may not fully understand," he said.

Wicks was assisted by graduate students Boubacar Souley, Le'Wanna Heard, Yi-Chun Lin, Aaran Mattson, Christina Munter and Ta-Neisha Verley.

Wicks and his six associates evaluated news, information and documentary programming dealing with Islam and terrorism in the Middle East. The team selected six clips that seemed to represent thematic frames to stimulate thought and discourse among focus group members. The clips included an HBO special about the World Trade Center attacks; "The Five Pillars of Islam" on "60 Minutes;" "Nigeria and Western Attitudes Toward Islam" on "PBS Frontline;" two clips on the meaning of Jihad - one from the History Channel and one from "Nightline;" and one on the ruling family in Saudi Arabia from "60 Minutes"

To study the cognitive responses of Muslims, Christians and Jews to terrorism, Wicks conducted focus groups with members of the three religious faiths. The participants were asked to watch and then discuss video clips dealing with issues related to Islam, the Middle East and terrorism.

Two focus groups were conducted in the fall of 2002 with members of a Presbyterian Christian church and a Muslim mosque. A third focus group was conducted in the winter of 2003 with members of a Jewish congregation. Transcripts of the discussions were analyzed using a software program to identify the tone of the discussion.

One aspect of Wicksí paper looks at how framing can influence public perception of events and people. The basis of framing theory is that the media focuses attention on certain events and then places them within a field of meaning. Frames enable people to evaluate, interpret and convey information based on shared conceptual constructs.

How a message is framed can also influence the success of a television station or program, Wicks pointed out. In this day of cable and satellite access, broadcast media has to compete for audience members, using different techniques, such as more dramatic, exciting coverage, to attract them.

"The media needs the audience in order to make money, so techniques are being used to get the audience," Wicks said. "It may come at the detriment of the information going to the audience"

Message framing with respect to the Middle East is important because many Americans depend on the media for information about this part of the world. In the introduction to his paper, Wicks reports that prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks, only about 10 percent of worldwide attacks on the U.S. had been initiated in the Middle East, while 85 percent had been initiated in Latin America. Despite those numbers, many Americans associate the Middle East with anti-American fanaticism and terrorist activity.

The members of the Christian focus group primarily discussed the clips in the context of geo-political ideology and journalism history. The personal stakes were not as high for them as for the Jewish and Muslim groups, according to Wicks. While the members expressed deep concern about issues relating to Islam, the Middle East and terrorism, they did not perceive an immediate or imminent threat to their community or religion. They concluded that the media had done a competent, if not exemplary, job in communicating information about the topics.

The Jewish participants expressed the viewpoint that Israel had a right to exist and must remain strong and independent. At the same time, however, they were concerned that Middle Eastern turbulence made Israel and Judaism somewhat vulnerable. They were compassionate for the Palestinian cause but were not sure how the issue could be resolved. The Jewish focus group members felt the media may deliberately manipulate information to accentuate emotionality.

Members of the Muslim focus group felt that the media not only frame Islam in a negative light, but also potentially contribute to stereotyping that might have a direct impact on them. They also acknowledged that the political system and social conventions in the United States had provided a base of support for their religion and individuality. They expressed satisfaction that the media, President Bush and others had attempted to portray their religion fairly, but they thought that media framing of Islam is often stereotypical, leading to misperceptions about religion and Middle East culture.

The religious groups in the study represented "communities," Wicks pointed out. Within these communities, interpersonal interaction seemed to contribute to the differences, indicating that the media is only part of the equation when it comes to understanding how people construct knowledge about the world.

Wicksí paper is the second in a two-part series. He presented the first paper, "Message Framing and Measuring Emotional Response to Islam and Terrorism," at the AEJMC meeting in Kansas City in August 2003.

"I hope to expand the inquiry to include media content analysis, national survey research and focus groups at locales around the country," Wicks said.

He is also working on a content analysis of CNN, Fox News and Al Jazeera to discern differences in framing strategies during the War with Iraq in 2003.