Abstract

The present study reviews the foci, symbols and interpretations that the European media use to formulate and spread the political message about the “clash of civilizations”. This means observing how this cultural clash is articulated in political discourse and how this is then reflected in the leading European media. To carry out this study, we compared the frames found in several significant political discourses (Bush, Ahmadinejad, Sarkozy, Gül) and those encountered in the coverage of these same discourses in the following European newspapers: The Guardian, Le Monde, Frankfürter Allemaigne. Through this specific case, the research also explores what is the process of the frame elaboration and which conditions make political discourse more effective and attractive for the media to assimilate them.

Key words: Framing, clash of civilizations debate, conflict coverage, political discourse, media discourse, political communication, international communication.