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In:Journalism and Translation in the Era of Convergence
Edited by Lucile Davier and Kyle Conway
[Benjamins Translation Library 146] 2019
► pp. 107–132

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Chapter 5
Framing terrorism in the U.S., French, and Arabic editions of HuffPost

 | Université Bordeaux Montaigne
 | Université Lumière Lyon 2
Published online: 24 April 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.146.05rou
Abstract
News about the terrorist attack that shook Istanbul on 1 January 2017 spread like wildfire on old, new, and social media. HuffPost was quick to cover this developing story in all of its eighteen international editions. This chapter explores the professional routines and the journalistic rhetoric of three major editions of HuffPost – U.S., French, and Arabic – to evaluate the similarities and differences in their respective narratives about Islamist terrorism. It relies on semi-directed interviews and comparative content analysis of a trilingual corpus of forty full articles related to the Istanbul attack, to examine synergies and assess how each edition, depending on its social grounding, frames terrorism. Despite their shared brand affiliation, their conceptualization of terrorism is not unified. Not only do their editorial agendas differ, but so do their sources, their work routines, and the precautionary measures they take when disclosing sensitive or unverifiable information.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Research questions
  • 3.Globalizing the narrative
  • 4.Uniformity versus distinction
  • 5.Framing the Istanbul New Year’s Eve attack
    • 5.1Stage 1: Reporting on unpredictable breaking news
    • 5.2Stage 2: Constructing meanings
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (62)
References
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