A support withdrawn: 'Spain's 9/11' and Australian newspaper framing

Abstract

This study represents an attempt to redress the neglect of academic research into coverage of the Madrid train bombings through a content analysis of major Australian newspapers in the immediate aftermath (12-21 March 2004). It quantifies a sudden and significant shift in representation from a 'support for Spain' news frame following the bombings to a 'criticism of Spain' frame following the Spanish national election result only three days later. Australian newspapers made support for a terrorised Spain conditional on a politics of representation marked by the 'war on terror' as a master frame, and served to reflect the political interests and sponsored interpretation of government sources. The moral implications of this withdrawal of support for the Spanish cannot be under-estimated, for it suggests that Australian newspapers were prepared to contribute to an 'erosion' of compassion for recent victims of terrorism