Study Questions 5: Tu Feb 18, Media and the Gulf War(s)

1. According to Hallin and Gitlin, what were the main themes of Gulf War coverage on the national networks? What kinds of things did television news stress?

2, How did local news coverage differ from national news coverage? How does the focus of war cover change from per-war to during the war?

3. How does a fascination with military hardware and technology shape coverage?

4. What do Hallin and Gitlin mean by a "religious" role played by journalists?

5. What is the "Vietnam syndrome" and how did it shape both government policy and news coverage, according to Shohat?

6. How does building coverage around personalities limit political analysis of the war?

7 How did long-standing colonial narratives shape war coverage?

8 How is the nation as family analogy used to shape emotions about the war?

9, Using the kind of narrative analysis found in these three articles, analyze current coverage of the situation surrounding Iraq:

What are some of the main stories being told about the current Iraq "crisis"?

What kind of "human interest" stories? what kind of military stories? What kind of political stories?

What kind of antiwar stories are told? How are they visualized? What themes are stressed?

What seems similar to the storytelling that surrounding the first Gulf War? What seems different about the coverage?

What kinds of graphic images are used to shape coverage?

How do various networks label the situation, and what political implications does each such label suggest?