Patriotic journalism: An appeal to emotion and cognition

<jats:p> Patriotic behavior in the journalistic coverage of conflicts is usually related to the coverage of wars and terrorist attacks. Such behavior is characterized in the literature by various practices which deviate from the objective or neutral model of journalism and which are more closely related to the ‘our news’ or ‘our war’ mode of coverage. This study suggests an analytical framework that classifies the indicators of patriotic journalistic coverage in two categories: appealing to public emotions, and appealing to public cognition. This framework is tested in the analysis of two related events: the killing of a terrorist by a state, and the revenge action carried out by a terrorist organization. Both types of patriotic indicator were found in both events. While the authors’ findings enhance the view that journalists take sides in national conflicts, they undermine the assertion that journalists use different practices of patriotic coverage depending on whether ‘their side’ is the aggressor or the victim in the conflict. </jats:p>