Articles · Vol. 16 No. 1 (2008): Africa Media Review, Volume 16, n° 1, 2008

1 - Black Hawk Down and the Framing of Somalia: Pop Culture as News and News as Pop Fiction

Vol. 16 · 2008 No. 1 Africa Media Review, Volume 16, n° 1, 2008 AMR

Abstract

Barely one month before leaving office, President George H. W. Bush ordered
28,000 American troops into Somalia. It was the largest American humanitarian
operation in many years. The operation was intended to halt the starvation of
thousands of Somali civilians caught in the crossfire of warring factions
jockeying for power following the collapse of the country’s central government.
In the end, the operation failed. This paper seeks first, to examine the basis and
nature of the framing of this event by American news and entertainment media
during the American adventure in Somalia and in the aftermath of the events of
September 11, 2001, and second, to explore the image of the Somali created in the
American public mind by this framing.

Keywords

Pop Culture Pop Fiction Operation Restore Hope Media Television Framing

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