News Framing in a Time of Terror A Study of the Media Coverage of the Copenhagen Shootings Hanne Jørndrup August 2016 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312095116_News_Framing_in_a_Time_of_Terror_A_Study_of_the_Media_Coverage_of_the_Copenhagen_Shootings how the framing of the shooting as a “terror attack” transformed the news coverage into a “news media” media event, abandoning the journalistic norm of criti-cal approach while the media instead became the scene of national mourning.
On the one hand, they focused on one of the core elements in journalism – the gathering of facts. This connects to a basic ideal of journalism as an essential institution in a democratic society – with the duty to inform the public about important events. On the other hand, journalists neglected another core virtue in journalism – that of being a critical opponent to the establishment, the government and its institutions. This ideal also demands journalists to separate facts from opinion and emotion.; how the coverage on September 11 quickly shifted from the standard ideas of how to report in a balanced and objective manner within the sphere of legitimate controversy to reporting within the sphere of consensus where a value-based "we" was considered under siege by evil forces. Authorities such as the police, the firre brigade and the US president were national heroes, and journalists did not make any effort to balance their views with those of Osama bin Laden or any others. On the contrary, the terrorists and their actions were reported within the sphere of deviance and demonised as the very antithesis of the national or Western "we" .