High Stakes of Media Messages: Decoding Visual Narratives from the Iraq War in the U.S. and British Presses

摘要

This research analyzes media coverage of the Iraq War from the perspective of the invading forces, the United States and the United Kingdom. The New York Times and The Guardian were chosen to represent news from their respective countries because of their high circulation rates and international prestige for journalistic reporting. The study focuses on how the Iraq War was visually represented after the Iraq invasion of 2003, examining periods in 2006 and 2011. There were significant differences in how The New York Times and The Guardian visually portrayed the war in 2006, especially in terms of Iraqi civilian and Coalition military casualties. However, there were no significant differences in how they represented the war visually in 2011. War is a high-stakes enterprise and how messages are broadcast visually, verbally, and textually influence the audienceu27s perception of the war. With the use of similar and repeated images encouraging support or opposition to military conflict, these messages become more salient for the audience.