Drawing upon media framing theory and the concept of cognitive scripts, this article provides a new interpretation of the context in which the famous World War II photograph ‘Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima’ appeared. This interpretation is based primarily on an examination of American newspaper and newsreel coverage from the Pacific island battles prior to Iwo Jima. The coverage – especially the pictorial coverage – often followed a three-step sequence that showed US forces proceeding from a landing to a series of skirmishes, then culminating with a flag-raising image. This created a predictable cognitive script. That script, combined with other framing devices found in the news coverage (such as metaphors and catchphrases), conveyed the misleading message that the Allies’ final victory over Japan was imminent in early 1945. The Iwo Jima photo drove home that message more emphatically than anything else. This circumstance had profound implications for government policy at the time and, in retrospect, it illustrates the potency of media framing – particularly in times of crisis or war.

借助媒体框架理论和认知脚本的概念，本文提供了对上下文的新诠释，其中出现了著名的第二次世界大战照片“硫磺岛上的升旗”。这种解释主要基于对硫磺岛战争前太平洋岛屿之战中美国报纸和新闻媒体报道的考察。报道（尤其是图片报道）通常遵循三个步骤，显示美军从着陆到一系列小规模的冲突，最后以升起国旗的图像告终。这创建了可预测的认知脚本。该脚本与新闻报道中发现的其他框架设备（例如隐喻和流行语）相结合，传达了一种误导性信息，即盟国对日本的最终胜利即将于1945年初出现。硫磺岛（Iwo Jima）的照片比其他任何东西都更加强调了这一信息。这种情况对当时的政府政策产生了深远的影响，回想起来，它说明了媒体框架的潜力，尤其是在危机或战争时期。