The militarism of local television: The routine framing of the Persian Gulf war

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Abstract
This study examines how the practices of television newswork add up to coherent “frames of reference”; toward the Persian Gulf War, supporting administration policy and creating an “illusion of triumph.”; We consider it especially important to look for these patterns in local television with its community ties and need for audience appeal. Using interviews with newsworkers and close analysis of coverage, we examine the way one local television station covered the war, with a special focus on how dissent was portrayed in January of 1991. We link coverage to the media routines of television newswork, showing how they act as coherent frames supportive of Gulf policy. The conflict frame placed anti‐war protest in opposition to patriotism. The control frame relied on law enforcement and dealt with protest as a threat to social order. The consensual frame ultimately supported a legitimately controversial policy by connecting it to patriotism and “the troops.”;

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