US national identity, political elites, and a patriotic press following September 11

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D. C. on September 11, 2001, U. S. government and military leaders often articulated distinctly pro-American themes in their public communications. We argue that this national identity discourse was at the heart of the U. S. government's attempt to unite the American public and to mobilize support for the ensuing "war on terrorism." With this perspective, we content analyzed Time and Newsweek newsmagazines for the five weeks following September 11 to identify potential communication strategies employed by government and military leaders to promote a sense of U. S. national identity. Findings suggest ( a) that government and military officials consistently emphasized American core values and themes of U. S. strength and power while simultaneously demonizing the "enemy," and (b) that journalists closely paralleled these nationalist themes in their language.