Decoding American Narratives about Terrorism: Decades of Evolution
Institutional Affiliation
American Public University System
Start Date
January 2026
End Date
January 2026
Proposal Type
Presentation
Proposal Format
On-campus
Proposal Description
This paper builds upon prior research using tools from communication studies: frame analysis, thematic analysis, gatekeeping, etc. to move the research on American Narratives about Terrorism beyond counts of coverage, and word/phrase count research to allow for a large-n statistical study of the qualitative differences in the actual coverage received. The assumption guiding the research is that some kinds of coverage are “better” for violent extremist groups and using these frameworks allows us to test for those differences and the trends in evolution of media coverage. The study looks at trends from 1990-2025 across multi news sources focused on terrorist attacks from all parts of the political spectrum.
Decoding American Narratives about Terrorism: Decades of Evolution
This paper builds upon prior research using tools from communication studies: frame analysis, thematic analysis, gatekeeping, etc. to move the research on American Narratives about Terrorism beyond counts of coverage, and word/phrase count research to allow for a large-n statistical study of the qualitative differences in the actual coverage received. The assumption guiding the research is that some kinds of coverage are “better” for violent extremist groups and using these frameworks allows us to test for those differences and the trends in evolution of media coverage. The study looks at trends from 1990-2025 across multi news sources focused on terrorist attacks from all parts of the political spectrum.