This article discusses the effect of media on the American people's rising fear of crime despite a gradual fall in crime statistics in the U.S. The article employs Gerbners cultivation theory, the agenda-setting theory and the social construction of reality to present the accumulative agenda effect model that explains how the U.S. public's perception of crime can surpass actual crime statistics through constant media exposure of crime news.

This study identifies the dominant frames presented in opinion articles published from 20 August to 17 September 2013 on the alternative website – antiwar.com – and the mainstream website – cnn.com; this timeframe includes articles published a week before and a week after the US administration’s decision to attack and withdraw from Syria. The article employs qualitative content analysis and Entman’s framing theory to code the data and extract the themes and dominant frames present in a total of 87 opinion articles. The study concludes that cnn.com provided frames that presented Bashar al-Assad as a ‘brutal villain’ who uses chemical weapons on his own people, while providing frames that stress Barack Obama’s incompetency in carrying out a strategic plan and highlight the negative consequences of a strike. However, antiwar.com articles are more resonant and consistent than cnn.com articles, and provide frames that encourage readers to protest against engaging in another war, reminding them of the failures of similar past wars such as the Iraq War and its negative consequences, as well as stressing the major players that benefited from a military intervention.

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