Here's a great example of word choice framing.
The Ground Zero Mosque was the leading issue on talk radio and TV network news for a while. Yet it was not an issue until it was called the Ground Zero Mosque.
When the building of an Islamic community center was first announced it didn’t get much news time. It was not meant to be primarily a mosque; there were already two storefront mosques in the neighborhood.
A Lexis-Nexis search shows the first use of the term Ground Zero Mosque was during an interview on the Fox News “O’Reilly Factor” in December. The term doesn’t show up again in the mainstream media for several months following. It was kept alive by political bloggers. FInally in May it became an issue the media couldn’t ignore. In its stories the AP called it an Islamic Center, but in picture cutlines it was referred to as the Ground Zero Mosque, and that makes a much stronger headline than “Islamic Center in the Neighborhood of Ground Zero.” Soon all the media were calling it the Ground Zero Mosque. It conjured up the image of minarets rising in the ashes of the World Trade Center.
But the term is wrong on several counts. It’s not at Ground Zero, and it’s not a mosque, though it will contain one. The building it is replacing is not called the Ground Zero Burlington Coat Factory. There is no Ground Zero Starbucks. There are two churches within half a block of Ground Zero, and they aren’t called Ground Zero St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church or Ground Zero St. Paul’s Chapel.
And there is no part of the federal or state government that has jurisdiction over building in the neighborhood. The city and local community organizations that had to give approval did so. How did this become a nationwide issue that even the President felt compleled to comment on? I think it’s probably because of the term “Ground Zero Mosque”.
But now it has played itself out. On August 16 Michael Calderone, political media writer for YahooNews!, posted an article tracing the history and use of the phrase. By August 19 the AP issued a memo to its writers and affiliates telling them to avoid the phrase.
So the issue is dying down, but it makes a great example of how the right word choice can make news, if it serves someone’s purpose. Word choice framing is powerful.
I think I have something that illustrates your point quite well. A friend of mine posted this on facebook a month or so back, and it led to an interesting discussion.
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First off, I have to point out the use of "They." Who do they mean by "they?" They're purposefully blurring the lines between 18 or so terrorists and a billion and a half Muslims. Because of this type of terminology, many Americans confuse the "war on terror" with a war on Islam itself.
"Where we weep, they rejoice."
Once again, this paints our cultures in an us vs. them light. Us being the "Christian" nation of the united states, versus "them" being, apparently, all of Islam.
"That mosque is a monument to their victory."
I feel like I'm beating a dead horse, but that's like saying that any Christian church is a monument to the guy who shot an abortion doctor's "victory." It's grouping a whole religion in with a few extremists.
And, like you pointed out, they keep calling it a mosque, not an Islamic Center, and acting like it's going to be built in the ruins of the Trade Center itself - not some 2 and a half blocks away.
Commercials like this make me mad, because it's not just an oversimplification of terms, it's deliberate misinformation. It's essentially propaganda.
Thanks for writing about this.
Good observations, JD. It's been interesting to see how this issue has been used. Thanks for the link.
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