Terror, Law, and Torture

Abstract

One of the major international events at the end of 2006 was the execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The rushed execution sparked a controversy around the world and provided national media with an opportunity to frame the event in ways that resonate with their local audiences. This study focuses on the framing of the execution in the elite newspapers in the United States. Using a content analysis methodology, the study examines the news framing of the event in the US press. Of particular interest is the distributive and procedural justice frames used to describe Saddam's execution. In addition to dominant justice framing, the study also identifies the signature matrix of the coverage and the main interpretive packages comprising it.