Security as a generic framing of conflicts: The Western Sahara conflict in the Spanish and French press (2014-2019)

This article has a twofold objective. Theoretically, it aims to develop the argument that the 'security' framing has replaced the 'conflict' framing in the media coverage of wars. Empirically, it aims to substantiate this idea by by applying it to a hitherto unexplored case study, the conflict in Western Sahara. This conflict's coverage has been examined focusing on four daily newspapers of great national circulation in their respective countries and with divergent ideological stances, i.e. El Mundo, El Pais (Spain), Le Figaro and Le Monde (France). The purpose is to demonstrate how the security framing is used as a generic framing regardless of the ideological position of each media outlet.