US Print Media Framing of Nuclear Ambiguity: Israel vs. Iran

Abstract

This research work aims at studying the “Nuclear Ambiguity” by evaluating the coverage of Israeli and Iranian nuclear issue in the US print media. The main objective of the study was to examine the news stories and editorial treatment of the above mentioned issue with reference to the foreign policies of the related countries. Content analysis was employed to study the two newspapers; The New York Times and The Washington Post. The data was collected by using census approach and the whole population was considered as sample from the time period of January, 2014 to December, 2015. The theoretical framework of the study comprised of Agenda setting and Framing theory that explain how media can “play up” or “play down” any issue. To determine the significance of the research hypothesis, statistical test chi square was applied and results approved all the hypotheses. The study concluded that US print media followed their national policies and played up the issue of nuclear ambiguity in case of Iran’s nuclear program, while played down the Israel’s nuclear program because Israel is a vital ally of American.