Interrogating news sources in the Global War on Terror: Kenyan and US journalism's coverage of the 2013 Westgate Mall attack

This study examines how the journalism fields in Kenya and the United States constructed narratives of the 2013 Westgate Mall attack through their news-sourcing practices. Drawing on field theory and j. Siguru Wahutu’s concepts of national and cosmopolitan subfields, the study analyzes how patterns of source selection reflected different journalistic orientations and relationships to the event. A content analysis of 233 articles from leading Kenyan and US news organizations reveals both convergence and divergence in source selection. The Kenyan journalism field relied overwhelmingly on domestic sources (84%), combining state officials (65%) with substantial victim testimony (30%) to frame terrorism as both a security crisis and a collective tragedy. In contrast, the US journalism field prioritized US officials (55%) and experts (20%), while citing Kenyan sources primarily in official roles (40%) that supported the broader “War on Terror” narrative. Despite these differences, both fields ultimately reinforced state-centered interpretations by marginalizing non-elite perspectives and creating a “hierarchy of voice” that sustains dominant war on terror narratives.