When frames collide: ‘Ethnic war’ and ‘genocide’

Abstract

This article examines the problem of how to interpret competing, clashing or contradictory news frames in coverage of war and conflict, focusing on the reporting of the 1992–1995 Bosnian war. ‘Ethnic war’ and ‘genocide’ featured as competing news frames in news coverage of Bosnia and several subsequent conflicts, and are often understood to be contradictory in terms of their implied explanations, moral evaluations and policy prescriptions. The author questions the assumptions that many journalists and academics have made about these frames and the relationship between them. He asks how we can make sense of clashing or contradictory scholarly analyses of these competing frames and considers a number of broader issues for framing analysis: the significance of historical context for understanding the meaning of particular framing devices, the importance of quantification in framing analysis and the role of influential sources in prompting journalists to adopt particular frames.