The Norwegian Media Image of the War in Afghanistan

This article analyzes the framing of Norwegian media coverage of the war against terror in Afghanistan with special emphasis of the coverage of the Norwegian military presence in Afghanistan. Two main issues are discussed: 1. How was the start of the war covered in the media in October 2001? 2. In what context was the Norwegian military presence covered? The two newspapers analyzed are Aftenposten and VG. The choice of these two newspapers was made to include Norway’s largest and potentially most influential morning paper (Aftenposten) and its largest tabloid, as well as largest newspaper (VG). Quantitative as well as qualitative methods are used to analyze the coverage. Both Aftenposten’s and VG’s coverage on the first day of the war in Afghanistan are dominated by pro-US framing and the use of Western sources. The pro-US framing is more obvious in Aftenposten than in VG.