Visualizing Cross-Media Coverage: Picturing War Across Platforms During the U.S.-Led Invasion of Iraq

Abstract

The journalistic practice of convergence—media outlets sharing similar content across platforms—has sometimes been criticized as leading to homogenization of the news. Yet few studies have attempted to determine how much content is duplicated among convergence partners or, more generally, among print, broadcast, and online outlets. This study adds to our understanding of content differences among media platforms by comparing visual coverage of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in print, on television, and on the Internet. The data from 1,822 war-related images show that these media platforms generally differed significantly in their visual coverage of the 2003 invasion. This study, grounded in Shoemaker and Reese's hierarchy of influences on media content, suggests that differences were largely driven by separate platform routines and norms. In the few cases where content converged in a visual monologue, extramedia influences, such as government action, seem likely to have influenced image selection.

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