[The Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative (MESPI) is pleased to present the PRAR Bouquet, a curated selection from our Peer-Reviewed Article Reviews that highlights knowledge production around a specific theme or topic. This bouquet series uses MESPI’s Peer-Reviewed Articles Reviews to analyze and provide insight into trends in academia.]
This is the second of three bouquets of articles on the topic "media" in academic journal articles from 2017 and 2018 in the field of Middle East studies. This bouquet follows one on “Social Media in the Region,” and precedes another on “Private and Activist Media.” Interestingly, in researching a potential bouquet topic, we noted that of all articles on media (in/and the Middle East) published in over 130 journals during 2017 and 2018, twenty-three percent were focused on social media, with thirty-five percent of those articles on social media taking Egypt as a primary case study.
Local Media Framing of Egyptian Monetary Policy: Insights from the 2016 Flotation of the Pound
By: Engy Azzam
Published in Arab Media & Society (Issue 25)
Abstract: On November 3, 2016, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced the free flotation of the Egyptian pound in an attempt to stabilize the economy. Following this announcement, the CBE issued a series of press releases addressing the matter, and the flotation was widely covered by local media. This research content analyzes 605 articles from three websites (national, private, and partisan), along with the CBE press releases published from November 2016 until July 2017. It was found that the privately owned El Watan news website provided the most positive and optimistic views regarding the flotation of the pound, followed by state-owned Al Ahram and the partisanAl Wafd. The frames mentioned in the press releases of the CBE were reflected in the media coverage for these three news websites, however they were not constant, in terms of duration or longevity.
The Turkish Media Structure in Judicial and Political Context: An Illustration of Values and Status Negotiation
By: Roxane Farmanfarmaian, Ali Sonay, Murat Akser
Published in Middle East Critique (Volume 27, Issue 2)
Abstract: Turkey has been undergoing a transition in governance over decades, most recently in the sociopolitical transformation from Kemalist laicism to Islamic-dominated politics. The shifts have been uneven, with government frequently overtaken by military control, and then returned to some form of democratic functioning, with associated changes in the laws reflecting greater or lesser tolerance for multi-party politics, public religious practice, and EU-inspired civic liberties. Throughout, the experience has engaged a tension between Western influences and Islamic norms as interpreted through processes of modernization and economic liberalization. The media’s role as a conveyor of cultural imaginaries and national identities has led it to play an important part in this trajectory. Yet, although its autonomy has varied depending on those in power—at times being a tool entirely controlled by government, at others operating with few fetters—the laws and regulations surrounding the media have varied much less, suggesting the legal structure defining Turkish media reflects in general terms the public’s view of its position and role in society. This is despite the fact that the media laws in Turkey have not been holistically forged, nor rigorously updated to accommodate technological change. What is suggested here is that the media’s status as a strategic circulator of ideas within social relations and as an ideological bellwether of public values, has been translated into the legal corpus, creating a uniquely Turkish interpretation of the media’s agency, and instrumentality, which we suggest is made comprehensible through Values and Status Negotiation Theory (VSN).
Local Media in Turkey: The Growth of Islamic Networks in Konya’s Radio Landscape
By: Ali Sonay
Published in Middle East Critique (Volume 27, Issue 2)
Abstract: Since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002, the greater visibility of religion and the emergence of a conservative middle class have reconfigured the boundaries of what is thinkable and sayable in Turkey, particularly in the media. Despite its importance to media consumers, academic analysts have marginalized radio compared with television and the press. Yet increasing commercialization and local concentration have affected mainstream music radio and reshaped religious broadcasting. This article focuses on local radio in the periphery. How does the radio landscape in Central Anatolia, a region reflecting the conservative bourgeoisie’s new dominance, mirror and link to the dominance of the AKP? Fieldwork conducted in Konya, one of the Anatolian ‘Tigers’ and a centre of AKP support, provides the empirical data for this case study.
All is Flux: A Hybrid Media Approach to Macro-Analysis of the Turkish Media
By: Aslı Tunç
Published in Middle East Critique (Volume 27, Issue 2)
Abstract: Since 2002, when the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power, the media in Turkey have undergone significant transformation. Drawing on the historical background of Turkish media and including the coup attempt on July 15, 2016, this article focuses on the changing role of newspapers and television channels, as well as the journalism profession. In-depth interviews lead the way to an analysis of the media sector’s function at the intersection between clientelism, authoritarian tendencies, and capitalist market rules. The concept of ‘hybridity’ used for this study offers a theoretical framework for discussing how Turkey fits into the model of competitive authoritarianism and Andrew Chadwick’s hybridity media framework.
Social Media in Turkey as a Space for Political Battles: AKTrolls and other Politically motivated trolling
By: Erkan Saka
Published in Middle East Critique (Volume 27, Issue 2)
Abstract: This article focuses on AKTrolls, defined as pro-government political trolls in Turkey, while attempting to draw implications about political trolling in the country in general. It examines their methods and effects, and it interrogates whether (and how) Turkish authorities have attempted to shape or counter politically motivated social media content production through trolling after the Gezi Park Protests that took place in 2013. My findings are based on an ethnographic study that included participant observation and in-depth interviews in a setting that is under-studied and about which reliable sources are difficult to find. The study demonstrates political trolling activity in Turkey is more decentralized and less institutionalized than generally thought, and is based more on ad hoc decisions by a larger public. However, I argue here that AKTrolls do have impact on reducing discourses on social media that are critical of the government, by engaging in surveillance, among other practices.
Understanding ‘New Turkey’ Through Women’s Eyes: Gender Politics in Turkish Daytime Talk Shows
By: Yeşim Burul, Hande Eslen-Ziya
Published in Middle East Critique (Volume 27, Issue 2)
Abstract: Following the AKP’s second election victory in 2007, significant changes to the party programme and strategy evolved into the ‘New Turkey,’ a new, more abstractly defined discursive and operational space. This both redefined democratic practices and generated a backlash to gender equality and the status of women. As media is a powerful hegemonic tool, where political actors compete for influence, analysis of television daytime talk shows reflects similar gender role-making processes within Turkish society. We study one of the most popular shows in Turkey, hosted by Seda Sayan through ‘discursive governance’ and in which political actor discourses influence the public agenda through active sense-making, a process in which the media plays a critical disseminating and legitimating role, particularly in restrictive political settings. We argue that the show (now no longer broadcast) was a locus of discursive governance. Identity and habitus in the ‘New Turkey’ discourse strategically were projected in such shows, rendering formal policy change to affect behavioral shifts unnecessary. Seda Sayan’s show thus expressed a conservative and gendered public normative narrative, one that the AKP government has developed into a dominant normative order.
Representation of Terror and Ethnic Conflict in the Turkish Press: An Analysis of the Peace Process in Turkey
By: Ayse Seda Yuksel-Pecen
Published in Middle East Critique (Volume 27, Issue 2)
Abstract: This article explores the representation of the Kurdish issue in Turkey’s media. It does so by focusing on four newspapers that are representative of different ideological stances and economic relations with the Turkish government. The time period is during two key events: the Kobanî protests in 2014 and the elections in 2015. The research findings indicate that the media’s framing of the armed conflict between the Turkish state and the PKK is a contested discursive site; one determined not only by ideological affiliation but also by the relative politico-economic autonomy of the media institutions from the central political power.
Institutional journalism in a revolutionary crisis: the press as an aide to the Muslim Brotherhood 2011–2012
By: Liad Porat, Alonit Berenson
Published in Middle Eastern Studies (Volume 54, Issue 2)
Abstract: This article is based on the hypothesis that the Egyptian institutional media played an active role in the Egyptian ‘Arab Spring’ revolution in 2011 and analyzes how Egypt's official newspapers constructed and presented a moderate and positive image of the Muslim Brotherhood (hereinafter the Brotherhood) despite the fact that they had labeled the Brotherhood ‘the outlawed movement’ a year earlier. In order to examine whether their attitudes changed after the downfall of the Mubarak regime, a critical discourse analysis of newspaper texts has been made of the news columns written throughout 2011 of two of the most popular Egyptian newspapers – al-Ahram (n = 115) and al-Gumhuriyya (n = 94) both of which identify with the Egyptian government's official policy. In addition, an analysis made of three of the Brotherhood's publications (n = 72) (N = 281) revealed that the Brotherhood exploited the printed media not only to replace the regime but also to gain control of its narrative. Ultimately, by controlling the shaping of public opinion, the media contributed to the drawing of a parallel between the motivation that formed the basis of the mass protest and the Brotherhood's agenda.
Two Stories for Two Nations: Public Diplomacy in the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict
By: Moran Yarchi
Published in Studies in Conflict & Terrorism (Volume 41, Issue 9)
Abstract: A substantial part of asymmetric conflicts is the “image war” that takes place in the foreign media. This study examines the circumstances that explain the degree to which political actors successfully promote their preferred frames regarding the conflict in which they are involved to the foreign press. The study examines Israel and the Palestinians’ ability to promote their messages in various events over the last decade. Seven factors were examined, divided into three groups: focal event factors, political context factors, and message context factors. Separate examination of each predictor, followed by analysis of their shared effect, reveals that most factors have an impact on how successful political actors are at promoting their preferred frames to the foreign press. Our findings suggests that the media place greater emphasis on focal event factors when covering conflicts, and that events have a greater impact than cultural assumptions in terms of how foreign media frame news stories.
Podcasting Public Service in the Arab World:Rupture and Continuity
By: Jamel Zran, Moez Ben Messaoud
Published in Global Media Journal (Volume 16, Issue 30)
Abstract: A large proportion of the media around the world, especially those related to radio and television, belong to the state. In principle at least, there are three different terms to talk about these types of media: • The public media that draws on the treasury to present programming that is in the interest of the general population. They do not support any political party, not even the party in power. • National media owned by the state and using the treasury money are also controlled directly by the state. • Government media that is owned by the ruling party and uses the treasury money, are also controlled by the ruling party. These three models coexist already in the Arab world since independence. This phenomenon almost removed the clear distinction that existed in principle between the government media and the public media. After the Arab Spring in 2011, however, this distinction remains important. The public broadcaster model was based on a principle that is still justified for most of the world and that the private media alone cannot guarantee the pluralism of broadcasting. The problem, however, is that the government media have also largely failed. In several countries, the arrival of private media has pushed governments to exercise editorial control of the public media. The discussion of media regulation is aimed primarily at ensuring that the media financed by the Public treasury exercise their profession with the full independence of the government of the day to which they are entitled, rather than aiming to restrict the freedom of the media that already enjoy full editorial independence. In the Arab world, there have been some attempts to recover and modernize the ideal model of public media, as for example the case of Tunisia, Morocco and Jordan. This study aims to search if the Arab podcasting meet the recognized standards and the requirements of the concept of public service?
The Bureaucratic Broadcasting Governing Structure and Content Diversity: The Case of the Egyptian National Television System
By: Rasha Allam N
Published in Global Media Journal (Volume 16, Issue 30)
Abstract: Media regulations become quite essential due to the rapid technological innovations appearing at unprecedented pace leading to change in the media marketplace. These changes bring along change in the framework that governs this media. Although the research on media management has been of great concern since the 1960s, it has recently gained the attention of media scholars and political economists. The main reason is the increased awareness of the scholars about the impact and the importance of media management on the media performance and on society. According to one of the recent research, media market mechanisms and dynamics has a measurable impact on the quality and the type of media that reaches the public. Because it is difficult to stop or prevent audience from being exposed to different sources of information, it is difficult as well to stick to a state run broadcasting system within an era characterized by deregulation, satellite broadcasting, technological development and the Internet. Therefore it is important to maintain at least one medium that promotes the notion of social capital and national identity. Yet, this kind of broadcasting requires regulation and independence in order to be sustainable amidst the fierce competition. As the Egyptian media is in a transitional period that requires changes to cope within the new media landscape, this study will analyze the deficiencies of the state owned Egyptian media organizational structure and the ways it affects media content. And measure the relative importance of the derived organizational principles to be applied in the Egyptian media system to ensure independency.
The Politicization of Arab Gulf Media Outlets in the Gulf Crisis: A Content Analysis
By: Ali Alshabnan
Published in Global Media Journal (Volume 16, Issue 30)
Abstract: This research focused on the politicization of specific Gulf media outlets brought on by the current crisis between Qatar and its neighbors. The analysis looked at Al-Jazeera on the Qatari side and Al-Arabiya and Sky News Arabia on the Saudi/ UAE side. 25 total content samples were researched to provide the analysis and conclusion offered by this paper.
US-Turkey Relations in the Light of Turkey’s Freedom of Press
By: Bora Erdem
Published in Global Media Journal (Volume 16, Issue 30)
Abstract: This paper probes effects of deterioration of media freedom in Turkey on bilateral relations between Ankara and Washington. The U.S.-Turkey ties are going through turbulent times and tested by a number of thorny issues. This study claims that the lack of press freedom in Turkey and absence of alternative voices in media prevents maintenance of a healthy dialogue, mutual understanding between two allies and limits effective cooperation in diplomacy, trade, international and regional relations. The rise of anti-Americanism, Turkey’s hostage policy and its coup-related accusations against Washington get only worse with lack of media freedom.
Turkey’s Democratic Breakdown and Press Freedom
By: Bora Erdem
Published in Global Media Journal (Volume 16, Issue 30)
Abstract: This essay aims to explore the progress and setbacks regarding press freedom in Turkey in line with Ankara’s decade-long efforts for EU accession, and EU standards in particular during Justice and Development Party (AKP) administration over the past decade. Its central theme is to analyze the major components of media system and how press freedom faced obstruction and challenges in Turkey’s everevolving and changing political domain beset by periodic crises and direct and indirect interference from non-governmental actors, bureaucratic power sources and outside elements. The scope of the study spans several decades, but mostly focuses on the past few years. It examines the cases of journalists who faced prison sentences and different forms of legal investigations in Turkey over their journalistic works and how they brought their cases to the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) when all options for legal remedy at domestic legal channels have been rendered near impossible. Press freedom in Turkey according to European standards, therefore, happens to be the main theme of the study to offer a comparative analysis regarding entrenched problems in Turkey’s legal system and how the ECtHR involved in cases regarding media freedom. It delves into details of specific cases that were taken by the Strasbourg-based court, which has recently been overwhelmed by tens of thousands of applications from Turkey in the aftermath of a failed coup in 2016. Taken in a broader historical perspective and context, the study aims to provide a background to the problems that have dogged Turkey in terms of media freedom from the EU prism. Given that more than 100 journalists languish in Turkey’s prisons and around 160 media outlets have been shut down in the post-coup crackdown, the issue appears to be currently relevant to today’s politics.According to New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Turkey is the top jailer of journalists in the world. As a methodological framework, the essay will provide a narrative, descriptive history of the media and government relations. It will also offer content analysis and historical assessment to make a compelling case.
Attack When the World Is Not Watching? US News and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
By: Ruben Durante, Ekaterina Zhuravskaya
Published in Journal of Political Economy (Volume 126, Issue 3)
Abstract: Politicians may strategically time unpopular measures to coincide with newsworthy events that distract the media and the public. We test this hypothesis in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We find that Israeli attacks are more likely to occur when US news on the following day is dominated by important predictable events. Strategic timing applies to attacks that bear risk of civilian casualties and are not too costly to postpone. Content analysis suggests that Israel’s strategy aims at minimizing next-day coverage, which is especially charged with negative emotional content. Palestinian attacks do not appear to be timed to US news.
The Qatari Crisis and Al Jazeera’s Coverage of the War in Yemen
By: Gamal Gasim
Published in Arab Media & Society (Issue 25)
Abstract: This study examines the coverage of the Yemeni crisis, before and after the outbreak of the Gulf crisis, by Al-Jazeera English news websites. It aims to identify any existing variation in Al-Jazeera’s news coverage with respect to the Yemeni crisis, thus examining the degree to which Al-Jazeera maintains its independence from Qatari influence in its coverage of events in Yemen. The study begins by first mapping both the Yemeni War and the Qatari crisis, followed by a discussion of data collection and analysis. Data were collected from the Al-Jazeera English official website. Because the Qatari crisis has been of considerably shorter duration than the Yemeni war, data were collected over two phases to ensure rigorous comparison of the content for both events. Based on the obtained results, negative news coverage of the war in Yemen increased significantly after the start of the Qatari crisis with respect to the role of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen’s current war. However, overall coverage of the Yemeni war has increased tremendously over the same period.
State Control Over Film Production in Egypt
By: Chihab El Khachab
Published in Arab Media & Society (Issue 23)
Abstract: This essay is part of an ethnographic study of Egyptian film production conducted between August 2013 and September 2015. The study is centered on participant observation within two main film companies, New Century Film Production and Al-Batrik Art Production, in addition to interviews conducted with key actors in the industry as well as all workers involved in two film projects, Décor (dir. Ahmad Abdalla, New Century, 2014) and Poisonous Roses (dir. Ahmad Fawzi Saleh, Al-Batrik, in postproduction). All interviews cited below have been conducted as part of this ethnographic study, which was aimed at examining the use of new media technologies by Egyptian filmmakers.
The Arab Spring in Israeli Media and Emergent Conceptions of Citizenship
By: Dana Caplan & Gal Levy
Published in Arab Media & Society (Issue 24)
Abstract: This article returns to 2011 and the beginning of the Arab Spring in order to ask how the Israeli middle class came to draw similarities between their conditions and those of the Arab citizens who had risen against authoritarian rule. This question is also about the movement of ideas through the media and their incorporation into a dominant culture, or what Raymond Williams saw as the emergent elements of culture. Specifically, it examines the way the conception of citizenship traverses national boundaries. Whereas most studies of citizenship in this context focus on the imaginary of citizenship of the Other, and on 'Western' perceptions of citizens of the 'South,' we inverse our outlook. By offering a textual analysis of Israeli media coverage of the uprisings, we seek to shed new light on the cultural conceptions of citizenship in Israeli society.
Al-Jazeera’s relationship with Qatar before and after Arab Spring: Effective public diplomacy or blatant propaganda?
By: Zainab Abdul-Nabi
Published in Arab Media & Society (Issue 24)
Abstract: Since its foundation in 1996 until the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011, the Qatar-based and funded channel, Al-Jazeera, was considered by many media and politics scholars as a major element of a “pan-Arab public diplomacy” and even a “virtual state.” The main reasons behind Al-Jazeera’s success as an effective public diplomacy tool before the Arab Spring can be attributed to its popularity, credibility, critical coverage, and relative independence from Qatar’s politics. However, after 2011, Al-Jazeera, especially the Arabic channel, has “degenerated to a propagandistic agent” serving Qatar’s policy and agenda. Based on scholarly work and interviews conducted by the author, this article argues that the dramatic change in Qatar’s foreign policy from a neutral mediator to an aggressive militarily interventionist during the Arab uprisings, has been followed by a similar shift in Al-Jazeera’s editorial policy. More specifically, Al-Jazeera’s “dual standard coverage” of the uprisings in Bahrain and Syria has been entirely consistent with Qatar’s propaganda, interests, and politics at the time.
Islamizing the Palestinian–Israeli conflict: the case of the Muslim Brotherhood
By: Noha Mellor
Published in British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (Volume 44, Issue 4)
Abstract: The Arab capitulation in the Six Day War was posited to stimulate the so-called Islamic resurgence in the region since the 1970s, which several scholars see as a sign of Islamic resistance to the Western cultural presence within the Arab world. This article argues that Islamizing the conflict began well before the 1967 defeat, and that the hegemony of the Islamist discourse has been made possible owing to its penetration into mainstream political and media discourses. It is also argued that by ‘religionizing’ the Palestinian–Israeli conflict, Islamists provide a new narrative to reshape and reframe the perception of this conflict as being religious rather than political in nature. The article takes the Muslim Brotherhood as a topical case study, demonstrating how its print and digital media highlighted the Islamization of the conflict with Israel and providing frequent references to the 1967 defeat as evidence of God’s wrath meted out on Arab rulers, not only for abandoning the Islamic State project, but also for oppressing Islamist movements.
Foreign News on US Media: A Longitudinal Analysis of News Coverage of Israel
By: Amnon Cavari, Moran Yarchi, Shira Pindyck
Published in Israel Studies (Volume 22, Issue 1)
Abstract: Israel is covered extensively by the American press. Several studies have examined US news coverage during specific events, yet a systematic analysis of the nature of this coverage is still lacking. This article provides an in-depth investigation of the coverage of Israel from 1981 to 2013 in three leading newspapers in the United States. Using computer-based content analysis of 56,490 news articles, we examine how the intensity of the coverage and the specific topics discussed vary over time. Our empirical findings demonstrate a relative decline in coverage of Israel, and confirm existing theories about media coverage of foreign events—mainly that coverage increases during periods of tumult, especially instances of armed conflict resulting in military action, and decreases during periods of heightened peace talks.
Visualizing Democracy, Difference, and Judaism in Israeli Posters, 1948–1978
By: Inbal Ben-Asher Gitler
Published in Israel Studies (Volume 22, Issue 3)
Abstract: Israeli posters created during the first three decades of statehood express ideas central to constructing national identity. The article argues that posters produced by the state and its official agencies show the complex relationship between democracy and Judaism, as well as gender and ethnic difference. Democracy was represented by manifestations of modernity, progress, gender equality, and ethnic difference; religious symbols and narratives represented Judaism. These elements were visually integrated in posters, and express the complexities of Israeli democracy, as well as changing attitudes towards difference and Judaism. The article demonstrates that designers enlisted sophisticated means of both abstract and figurative artistic devices to mediate these ideas, making a significant contribution to the construction of Israeli visual culture.
American Policy and Proliferation of Media as Causes of a New Type of Coup after the Cold War? Evidence from Turkey
By: Ömer Aslan, Hakan Kiyici
Published in Middle East Critique (Volume 26, Issue 2)
Abstract: Several cases of coups d’état in the post-Cold War period suggest that, in some coup-prone countries, the classical way of taking over governments by armies may have given way to new coup mechanisms. However, students of military politics have yet to study in sufficient depth the nature and reasons for new type(s) of coups. Taking its cue from these cases, this article studies the deviant single case of the February 28th coup process in Turkey in 1997, which entirely diverged from the old textbook coup method the Turkish military had excelled at executing during the Cold War. In seeking to explore the conditions under which the Turkish army chose to follow a new coup playbook, this article focuses on two factors: the distinct American position that vetoed a hard coup and the end of the state’s monopoly on TV broadcasting.
L-Makhzan al-’Akbari: Resistance, Remembrance and Remediation in Morocco
By: Miriyam Aouragh
Published in Middle East Critique (Volume 26, Issue 3)
Abstract: Morocco was prompted by the sense of making and witnessing history that began as the backdrop to the mass uprisings across the region in 2011 and continued well into 2012. At several moments the country at large burst into a mosaic of rebellion. As expected, the state intervened with media propaganda, smear campaigns and intimidation to pre-empt the growing impact of the activists and as such to erase this revolutionary episode effectively from Morocco’s collective memory. This article examines the practices and implications of the remediation of past experiences of struggles and brings the memories of past resistance together with experiences of present struggles. This article takes particular interest in the intersection between 20Feb activists’ political projects and the growing array of digital politics and allows us to understand better the impact of digital media in times of revolution.
Israel Dispatch
By: Rebecca L. Stein
Published in Middle East Report (Volume 47, Issue 283)
Abstract: Among the numerous ideological affinities and governing styles shared by President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a commitment to the rhetoric of “fake news.” [1] In the last year, Netanyahu has increasingly borrowed this Trumpian formulation in an attempt to quell dissent and undercut critical Israeli and international media scrutiny. Netanyahu is not unique in this regard. Over the course of the last year, authoritarian regimes across the globe—including Syria, Russia and Malaysia—have adopted the fake news script to silence detractors and critics, frequently in response to the charge of human rights violations.
Echoes from below? Talking democracy in Baʿthist Iraq
By: Achim Rohde
Published in Middle Eastern Studies (Volume 53, Issue 4)
Abstract: Drawing on Iraqi print media published during the late 1980s and 1990s, this study contributes to the historiography of Baʿthist Iraq by offering a fresh reading into open sources that have long been used by scholars. It focuses on issues like democratization, freedom and the rule of law and how they were articulated in Iraqi print media. This discourse functioned as a strategic tool of communication to reproduce and stabilize the existing order. By moving beyond mechanisms of bureaucratic control, repression or cooptation, the study highlights a neglected element of the former regime's techniques of governance. The evidence presented in this study suggests that the Iraqi Ba'thist regime aimed to demobilize a target audience it suspected of harbouring oppositional feelings and pro-democracy ideas that went beyond what Saddam Hussein was willing to consider. It did so by installing, simulating or tolerating spaces of contestation that helped to ease the ‘cognitive dissonance’ Iraqis sensed between an official discourse of a people united in love for its leader, and the daily experience of brutal repression and deteriorating living conditions.
A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Factors Influencing News Coverage: Studying the Impact of State Interests on News Portrayal
By: Abdel Aziz FMd
Published in Global Media Journal (Volume 15, Issue 28)
Abstract: Purpose: To explore the factors related to journalism, which have significant influence on news coverage. Methods: The research has incorporated a cross sectional as well as quantitative approach, which focused on a variety of news content including newspaper media, television, and the internet. The data have been gathered from 47 journalists (Males and Females) from the Egyptian Journalists Federation. Results: The government encouragement for biasness and organizational factors (r=0.612) have been found positively associated and appears as an influential factor for the news coverage. Personal morals of the journalists have been found associated with the medium of advertisement (r=0.715) and organizational factors (r=0.395). Conclusion: The interest of State in portraying the news plays a major role in its coverage. There is a need to raise the awareness of public about particular events as the audiences are affected by the news what journalists produces.
UK Media Coverage of Iraq War: A Content Analysis of Tony Blair Position in the Guardian Newspaper 2003-2007
By: Parisa Abbasian
Published in Global Media Journal (Volume 15, Issue 29)
Abstract: Iraq war was one of the most important armed conflicts in 21st century which led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom ,caused death of hundreds of thousands civilians and militaries and cost trillion of dollars to the global economy. The present study have focused on the media reflections in war time and aims to examine how Tony Blair, the British prime minister is represented in The Guardian newspaper during Iraq invasion and content analysis is the research method that is used in this regard. The Guardian news stories which examined in this research, were about the role and the policies of Tony Blair in 2003 Iraq invasion from the start of the war until his resignation of UK primer ship in 2007. The findings of the study revealed some facts about the way that the Guardian newspaper represented Blair’s involvement in Iraq; firstly the dominance of the news value of prominence and the news element of who showed that The Guardian news stories have focused on Blair’s role and his policies in Iraq war and also all the remarkable events and individuals that were involved in this war. Secondly, the researcher observed the negative adjectives were dominant in The Guardian news stories about Blair and he has been portrayed negatively to the public opinion by this paper, in fact as a war criminal.
A note on Kemalizm in the Hebrew press of Palestine
By: Jacob M. Landau
Published in Middle Eastern Studies (Volume 54, Issue 4)
Abstract: The paper will attempt to examine the reactions of the Hebrew press to the Kemalist reforms and their importance for world civilization in general and Turkey's progress in particular. The newspapers wrote approvingly about the process of decision-making by the Kemalists who weighed carefully all options and then carried out all decisions firmly. The press emphasized what it considered Turkey's liberation from an Asiatic civilization and a theocratic regime via the establishment of a secular republic open to Europe and the West. The newspapers praised highly Turkey's drive towards modernization in its political, social and economic development. They were highly appreciative of the language reform and the purification of Turkish from Arabic and Persian loanwords – a process similar to what was going on then in modern Hebrew in Palestine. Some commended the well-organized introduction of the Latin script, an issue which was being debated then in Palestine (but with different results). They also praised the equalization in the status of women in Turkey.