Given the perspective of news as a significant cultural form, a study examined the symbolic world constructed by American newsmagazines, particularly investigating the dominant media frames (defined as consistent patterns of cognition and selection by which symbol handlers routinely organize discourse) employed by these news organizations. The study analyzed coverage in "Newsweek,""Time," and "U.S. News and World Report" of a series of demonstrations in 1983, sponsored by European peace groups, designed to protest the deployment of American missiles in Europe. Textual analysis of news coverage examined the amount and tone, the attention to anticipated violence, the event orientation of the coverage, and the definition of the peace movement. Results indicated that all three newsmagazines, but especially "Newsweek," devoted much space to the story. Results also indicated that the dominant media frames defined the peace movement as illegitimate, irrational, and ineffectual, and that the issues raised by the demonstrations were ignored because of the coverage's event orientation and because of the attention devoted to the form of the protests. Content analysis showed that within the symbolic world constructed by the newsmagazines, the demonstrations were divorced from their political context. Findings suggest that the American news media defines foreign social movements in ways consistent with American foreign policy and military objectives, and that the hegemonic framing of these movements becomes most evident when they directly challenge American foreign policy. (A table of data is included and extensive notes are attached.) (NKA)