This paper contrasts the immediate representations of Islam on US television and CNN’s online messageboard by focusing on the noun phrases for ‘Islamic’ used in both media fora from September 11 to 16. The study found some notable congruities and differences in the associations made with Islam in each context. It considers these findings in terms of previous research on the representation of Islam and terrorism in ‘Western’ media; the official insistence that ‘we’ are not at war with Islam; and media theories of ‘framing’ and ‘reception’.