Talking about NSA Wiretapping and Guantanamo: A Systematic Examination the Language used by Different Networks to Report Post-9/11 Policy Dilemmas Concerning Rights

Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, American leaders confronted difficult dilemmas involving civil liberties in the context of terrorism. Previous scholarship has made clear that exposure to threatening information may result in significant decreases in the public's willingness to support expansive civil liberties guarantees, yet relatively few researchers have systematically examined the content of information transmitted to the public during these debates. This study employs a computerized content analysis to investigate differences in broadcast media coverage following the reporting of significant post-9/11 security/rights dilemmas. The analysis focuses on two key periods: the reporting of President Bush's authorization of warrantless NSA wiretapping in late 2005 and the coverage of President Obama's 2009 proposal to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Findings suggest that broadcast sources diverged significantly in the amount of threatening information conveyed to the public during the reporting of key security/rights dilemmas.