Cover not available
Part of
Journalism and Translation in the Era of Convergence
Edited by Lucile Davier and Kyle Conway
[Benjamins Translation Library 146] 2019
► pp. 107–132

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

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.

Keywords: HuffPost, globalization, international news coverage, Istanbul attack, Islamist terrorism, framing mechanisms, comparative analysis
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
Published online: 24 April 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.146.05rou
References

Primary texts

AFP (Agence France Presse)
2017 “Un attentat dans une discothèque d’Istanbul fait 39 morts [A terror attack in an Istanbul nightclub claims 39 lives].” [URL], January 1 2017 [URL]
Al-Jaradat, Assem
2017 “Mousalsal turki yatanaba ʾ bi ḥawādeṯ al-qatil. Baba nowīl al-qātil wa nādil yaġtāl al-safīr al-roūsi [A Turkish soap opera predicted the attacks: A killer Santa Claus and a waiter gunning down a Russian ambassador].” [URL], January 1 2017 [URL]
Berthelier, Anthony
2017 “Le terroriste de l’attentat d’Istanbul serait originaire d’Asie centrale [Alleged Istanbul attacker from central Asia].” [URL], January 5 2017 [URL]
Genc, Kaya
2017 “Under a Blanket of Snow, Terror-Stricken Istanbul Finally Breathes.” [URL], January 11 2017 [URL]
HuffPost and AFP (Agence France Presse)
2017a “Attentat en Turquie: le club ‘Reina’, haut lieu de la vie nocturne à Istanbul [Attack in Turkey: The ‘Reina’ club, centre of Istanbul’s nightlife].” [URL], January 1 2017 [URL]
2017b “Qui sont les étrangers tués dans l’attentat [Who are the foreigners killed in the attack?]?” [URL], January 1 2017 [URL]
2017c “Trois Français blessés dans l’attentat contre une discothèque à Istanbul [Three French people injured in the attack against Istanbul nightclub].” [URL], January 1 2017 [URL]
2017d “En Turquie, la chasse à l’homme se poursuit dans le flou total après l’attentat d’Istanbul [In Turkey, uncertain manhunt continues after Istanbul attack].” [URL], January 2 2017 [URL]
2017e “En Turquie, l’assaillant de l’attentat d’Istanbul est toujours en fuite [In Turkey, Istanbul attacker still on the run].” [URL], January 3 2017 [URL]
2017f “Les autorités turques annoncent avoir identifié l’auteur de l’attentat du Nouvel An [Turkish authorities announce they have identified New Year’s Eve’s attacker].” [URL], January 4 2017 [URL]
HuffPost Arabic
2017a “Baddala malābisihi wa haraba bil zou ḥām. Haḏa mā naʿrifouhou ʿan al-qātil ‘baba nowīl’ al-laḏi iqtaḥama malha layli fi Istanbul [He changed his clothes and fled by hiding in the crowd. This is what we know so far about the Santa Claus killer who attacked a nightclub in Istanbul].” [URL], January 1 2017 [URL]
2017b “Bil fīdyō šāhd laḥaẓāt iṭlāq al-nār ʿala ašhar malha layli fi Istanbul [Watch shooting of most famous nightclub in Istanbul].” [URL], January 1 2017 [URL]
2017c “ʿanāṣir dāʿeš yaḥtafiloūn bi ‘al-wousoūl al-mazʿoūm’ li mounafiḏ houjoūm Istanbul ʾila al-raqa al-soūriya [Prominent elements celebrate the ‘alleged access’ of the Istanbul attack port to the Syrian capital].” [URL], January 4 2017 [URL]
2017d “Saḥīfa turkiya: ‘al-šayẖ yousef’ houwa man aʿta al-ʾawamer bitanfīḏ al-ʾiʿtidāʾ ʿala al-malha al-layli bi Istanbul [Turkish newspaper: “Sheikh Yusuf” is the one who gave orders to carry out the attack on the nightclub in Istanbul].” [URL]. January 4 2017 [URL]
HuffPost Tunisia
2017 “Une présentatrice libanaise répond aux critiques contre les victimes de l’attentat de Turquie [Lebanese anchor responds to criticism of victims of Turkish attack].” [URL], January 4 2017 [URL]
Jazem, Douaa
2017a “ḏahabā maʿan wa ʿādat waḥdaha.. risāla mouʾaṯira min šāba li ẖatībiha ḍaḥiyat malha Istanbul [They went together, and she came back alone. A moving message from a young woman to her fiancé, the victim of Istanbul nightclub attack].” [URL], January 2 2017 [URL]
2017b “Kayfa istatāʿa al-qātil ʾisābat 104 ʾašẖās fi 7 daqāʾiq.. ʿāzif fi malha Istanbul yaḥki [How the killer managed to hit 104 people in 7 minutes. A player in the Istanbul club explains].” [URL], January 3 2017 [URL]
Laïch, Ismaïl
2017a “Jennifer Lopez wa zawjat Sarkozi wa raʾīs sābiq kādou ʾan yakoūnou bayn qatla Istanbul[…] Mā la taʿrifouhou ʿan al-malha al-layli [Jennifer Lopez, Sarkozy’s wife, and former president were almost among the dead in Istanbul. What remains unknown about the nightclub].” [URL]. January 1 2017 [URL]
Laïsh, Ismaïl
2017b “ʾāẖir al-taḥariyāt: al-moutaham al-ʾawal bi hojudoūm Istanbul roubama kān al-šarīk al-ṯanawi.. fa man yakoūn al-šarīk al-raʿīsi? [The latest investigation: First person accused in Istanbul attack may have been secondary partner. Who was main shooter?].” [URL], January 5 2017 [URL]
Papenfuss, Mary
2017 “Videos Capture Moment Gunman Opens Fire at Istanbul Nightclub.” [URL], January 1 2017 [URL]
Reuters
2016 “Gunman Kills at least 39 in Attack on Istanbul Nightclub.” [URL], December 31 2016 [URL]
Tarawa, Younis
2017 “Naja min tafjīr Istanbul 2016 wa qoutil bi rasās baba nowīl fi al-yaoum al-ʾawal min 2017.. haḏihi qousatahou [He survived the Istanbul bombings of 2016 and was shot dead by Santa Claus on the first day of 2017. This is his story]”. [URL], January 1 2017 [URL]
Yayla, Ahmet S., and Anne Speckhard
2017 “The ISIS Istanbul Reina Night Club Attack: A Lesson in What Happens When One Invites Cannibals to Dinner.” [URL], January 2 2017 [URL]
Yorulmaz, Ilgin
2017 “The Istanbul Nightclub Attack Finally United: A Divided Country.” [URL], January 5 2017 [URL]
Zakariya, Hiba
2017 “Fi 33 soūra.. šāhed houjoūm raʾs alsana ʿala malha layli bi-Istanbul.. naffaḏahou baba nowīl [In 33 photographs: Look at the attack that took place in a nightclub in Istanbul[…] perpetrated by Santa Claus].” [URL], January 1 2017 [URL]

Secondary texts

Appadurai, Arjun
1990 “Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy.” Theory, Culture & Society 7 (2): 295–310. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1996 Modernity at Large Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Barber, Benjamin
1992 “Jihad vs. McWorld.” The Atlantic Monthly, March 1992 Accessed October 10, 2018. [URL]
Conway, Kyle
2011 Everyone Says No: Public Service Broadcasting and the Failure of Translation. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.Google Scholar
2015 “What Is the Role of Culture in News Translation? A Materialist Approach.” Perspectives 23 (4): 521–35.Google Scholar
Davier, Lucile
2017 Les enjeux de la traduction dans les agences de presse [The challenges of translation in news agencies]. Lille: Presses universitaires du Septentrion. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dayan, Daniel
2006 “Avant-propos. Le ralenti d’une explosion. Les performances du 11 septembre [Foreword: Slow motion explosion: The Performances of 9/11].” In La terreur spectacle, ed. by Daniel Dayan, 7–10. Louvain-la-Neuve: De Boeck Supérieur.Google Scholar
Entman, Robert M.
1991 “Framing U.S. Coverage of International News: Contrasts in Narratives of the KAL and Iran Air Incidents.” Journal of Communication 41: 6–27. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Floreal, Marie-Laure, and Alain Rabatel
2011 “Media Representations of Death and the Issues Involved in the Construction of the Event.” Questions de communication 20: 7–18.Google Scholar
Fukuyama, Francis
1992 The End of History. New York: Avon.Google Scholar
Giddens, Anthony
1996 “On Globalization.” Excerpts from a keynote address at the UNRISD Conference on Globalization and Citizenship. [URL]
Grabowicz, Paul
2003 “Weblogs Bring Journalists Into a Larger Community.” Neiman Reports 57: 74–75.Google Scholar
Hanitzsch, Thomas, Folker Hanusch, Claudia Mellado, Maria Anikina, Rosa Berganza, Incilay Cangoz, Mihai Coman, Basyouni Hamada, María Elena Hernández, Christopher D. Karadjov, Sonia Virginia Moreira, Peter G. Mwesige, Patrick Lee Plaisance, Zvi Reich, Josef Seethaler, Elizabeth A. Skewes, Dani Vardiansyah Noor, and Edgar Kee Wang Yuen
2011 “Mapping Journalism Cultures across Nations: A Comparative Study of 18 Countries.” Journalism Studies 12: 273–93. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hanitzsch, Thomas
2007 “Deconstructing Journalism Culture: Toward a Universal Theory.” Communication Theory 17: 367–85. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Harvey, David
1989 The Condition of Postmodernity. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Larrondo, Ainara, Ivar John Erdal, Pere Masip, Hilde Van den Bulck
2016 “Newsroom Convergence: A Comparative Study of European Public Service Broadcasting Organizations in Scotland, Spain, Norway, and Flemish Belgium.” In The Routledge Companion to Digital Journalism Studies, ed. by Bob Franklin, and Scott Eldridge II: 556–66. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lutz, James, and Brenda Lutz
2013 Global Terrorism, 3rd ed. New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
MacLeod, Scot
2015 “Huffington’s World.” [URL], winter 2015 Accessed October 10, 2018. [URL]
Morley, David
2008 “La réception des travaux sur la réception: Retour sur ‘Le public de Nationwide’ [The reception of reception studies: Revisiting ‘The Nationwide Audience’].” In Cultural Studies: Anthologie, ed. by Hervé Glevarec, Eric Macé, and Eric Maigret, 31–46. Paris: Armand Colin.Google Scholar
Nelson, Thomas E., Rosalee A. Clawson, and Zoe M. Oxley
1997 “Media Framing of a Civil Liberties Conflict and its Effect on Tolerance.” American Political Science Review 91: 567–83. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Neuman, W. Russell, Marion R. Just, and Ann N. Crigler
1992 Common Knowledge: News and the Construction of Political Meaning. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Noblet, Arnaud, and Rayya Roumanos
2015 “Le discours positionnel du Huffington Post: permanence et mobilité d’une narration stratégique [The positional discourse of the Huffington Post: A narrative strategically mobile yet invariable].” Ação Midiática: Estudos em Comunicação, Sociedade e Cultura 10: 65–80.Google Scholar
Orengo, Alberto
2005 “Localising News: Translation and the ‘Global-national’ Dichotomy.” Language and Intercultural Communication 5 (2): 168–87. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Polgreen, Lydia
2017 “Letter From The Editor: HuffPost’s New Chapter.” [URL]. Accessed October 10, 2018. [URL]
Robertson, Roland
1995 “Glocalization: Time-Space and Homogeneity-Heterogeneity.” In Global Modernities, ed. by Mike Featherstone, Scott Lash, and Roland Robertson, 25–44. London: Sage Publications. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Roumanos, Rayya, and Arnaud Noblet
2016 “Journalisme participatif: de l’injonction normative à la récupération marchande de la conversation [Participatory journalism: A normative warning against the co-optation of dialogue by the market].” Paper presented at the 3rd JADN Conference, Lyon, France, July 11–12, 2016.
2015 “Converser pour informer ou comment le Huffington Post redéfinit le journalisme et ses publics [Discussing to inform, or how the HuffPost redefines journalism and its audiences].” Paper presented at the 5th international conference “Médias et espaces publics,” Lyon, France, June 18–19, 2015.
Sakr, Naomi
2003 “Freedom of Expression, Accountability and Development in the Arab Region.” Journal of Human Development 4: 29–46. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Scheufele, Dietram A.
1999 “Framing as a Theory of Media Effects.” Journal of Communication 49: 103–22. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Scholte, Jan Aart
2005 Globalization: A Critical Introduction, 2nd ed. London: Palgrave. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2008 “Defining Globalisation.” World Economy 31: 1471–502.Google Scholar
Sklair, Leslie
2001 The Transnational Capitalist Class. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Schudson, Michael
1978 Discovering the News: A Social History of American Newspapers. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Wallerstein, Emmanuel
1991 “The National and the Universal: Can there be such a Thing as World Culture?” In Culture, Globalization and the World System, ed. by Anthony D. King, 91–105. London: MacMillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Weaver, David H.
1998 The Global Journalist: News People Around the World. New Jersey: Hampton Press.Google Scholar
Yesil, Bilge
2014 “Press Censorship in Turkey: Networks of State Power, Commercial Pressures, and Self-Censorship.” Communication, Culture & Critique 7: 154–73. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zelizer, Barbie
2005 “The Culture of Journalism.” In Mass Media and Society, ed. by James Curran, and Michael Gurevitch, 198–214. Hodder Arnold: New York.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 3 other publications

Davier, Lucile
2022. Translating News. In The Cambridge Handbook of Translation, ► pp. 401 ff. DOI logo
Valdeón, Roberto A.
2020. Journalistic translation research goes global: theoretical and methodological considerations five years on. Perspectives 28:3 ► pp. 325 ff. DOI logo
Zanettin, Federico
2021. News Media Translation, DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 22 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.