‘Annihilating framing’: How Israeli television framed wounded soldiers during the Second Lebanon War (2006)

This article summarizes the findings of a case study conducted for the purpose of examining Israeli television coverage of wounded soldiers during the Second Lebanon War (2006). The findings indicate that this coverage dwelt on demonstrating the professionalism of the medical corps while blurring the injuries and personal suffering of the wounded soldiers. The theoretical claim made is that such coverage uses what we call annihilating framing. Annihilating framing aims to blur basic components of an object, phenomenon or event in order to exclude it from the public discourse and therefore from the public consciousness.

The article examines the various ways by which political challenges are translated into media challenges and exposes the contribution of political and cultural mechanisms in shaping news frames. It also contributes another level to the research probing the reciprocities maintained between journalism and politicians during wartime.