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- Volume 7, Issue 2, 2014
Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research - Volume 7, Issue 2-3, 2014
Volume 7, Issue 2-3, 2014
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Banal balance, selective identification and factual omissions: The New York Times coverage of the 2014 War in Gaza
By Lee ArtzAbstractThis article employs the lens of media framing to investigate the editorial choices by the New York Times in covering the summer 2014 bombing and invasion of Gaza. Using an extended content analysis of front-page stories published by the New York Times from 8 July when the assault began through 26 August when a semi-stable cease fire was announced, primary explanatory frames, preferred sources and selective evaluations of events are identified. The findings suggest that a ‘both sides’ narrative, selective identification, and legitimation of sources and omissions of significant contextual facts provided readers, with singular diagnoses favouring acceptance and tolerance of Israeli actions with corollary condemnations of Palestinian actions. References from the United Nations and alternative news sources indicate that other evidence and frames would hold Israel guilty of war crimes and encourage increased support for ending the occupation.
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Mediatized solidarity, governmental support and metacommunicational narratives: The War on Gaza in leftist Latin American media
More LessAbstractThis article aims to analyse the media discourses about the War on Gaza, a relevant topic in the case of public media associated with self-proclaimed left governments. The study encompasses three cases of public Latin American media: (1) Granma, the official journal of the Cuban Communist Party; (2) Telesur, a pan-Latin American television network headquartered in Caracas; and (3) Andes, a news agency created by the Ecuadorian government. Three main themes were analysed: (1) the construction of the good/bad narrative tension; (2) the representations of solidarity and governmental positions; and (3) the media discourses on (other) media discourses about the war. The findings indicate that, in the case of public media linked to these kinds of left-wing governments, the narratives regarding the war are in line with the official positions, underlining its readings on the tension between good and bad sides, reporting its statements and using a metacommunicational discourse as part of their argumentative strategy.
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Foreign correspondents in Israel, and the Arab–Israeli conflict and peace process
By Yoel CohenAbstractForeign correspondents play a key role in the construction of foreign images about Israel. The overwhelming quantity of reporting about Israel is carried out by a relatively small number of persons. Reflecting the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict and peace process, there has been a considerable growth in the number of foreign news organizations with representatives in Israel. Drawing on surveys of the foreign press corps by the author, the factors for the news interest are examined. Correspondents’ self-evaluations of their news interest found that War and Terrorism are overwhelmingly the major factors. Culturally proximate factors such as the Holyland, Israel-US ties and Israeli relations with Arab countries while existent have less significance than the military story. These were confirmed by separate questions measuring the frequency of contacts with news sources, where the Army Spokesman and the Foreign Ministry were found to be the major news sources. Structural factors such as military censorship; knowledge levels about Israel/Arab countries and Judaism/Islam; and advanced media technology were found to be lesser factors than the war and terrorism. This led to an overwhelming focus in foreign media coverage of Israel upon the conflict with little coverage of Israeli society itself.
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Visualizing a society on the brink: Gaza and Hebron
More LessAbstractThis article begins with Operation Protective Edge, the Israeli military operation against Gaza during the summer months of 2014. This article examines the Israeli use of language and the emphasis on terror, trauma and victimhood as vehicles upon which to mobilize and justify its multi-narrative, collective punishment of the Palestinian. I will identify how this use of language helps to frame Israel’s actions as democratic by acting in defence, a process articulated throughout previous military operations. Such a process is implicit within the dominant political imaginary that constitutes much of the popular discourse that shapes the Israeli relationship with the Palestinian. Thereafter, I will highlight how a number of documentary photographers have sought to challenge the political visibilities related to the Israeli Palestine conflict by attempting to visualize the ongoing ‘catastrophization of Gaza’ before switching my attention to Hebron and the work of the photography collective, Activestills.
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Rhetorical use of fear in presidential speeches: The War on Terror discourse
Authors: Charalampos Goussios, Neofytos Aspriadis, Zoi Tsirimiagou and Myrsini DoganiAbstractThis article explores the rhetorical use of fear in presidential speeches and its spillover to the media in order to achieve political and public consensus during a crisis situation. Fear is the primal emotion that people face under the recognition of an actual or an imaginary threat or danger. Based on that existential aspect, fear is also recognizable and identifiable rhetorical schema, applicable in the Mass Media/ Press. Strategic Communication uses this schema in its narrations and then diffuses it over in the Mass Media. Analysing that constructed fear we can extrapolate conclusions about the strategic planning of the political actors. In our case, we attempt to come to conclusions about the interconnection of the Rhetoric of Fear and the rhetorical construction of the ‘Rally around the Flag effect’ in the US Press. The analysis focuses on presidential rhetoric in the United States in the aftermath of 9/11 and the construction of the ‘War on Terror’ discourse. Using qualitative content and discourse analysis methodology, this article reveals that the rally around the flag effect has been mobilized rhetorically through the strategic use of fear that had been employed by the media and affected public opinion. The use of fear in President Bush’s rhetoric and its repetition by the governmental political elite influenced the opposition. The consensus of the political elite spilled over to the media and dominated the news, which reproduced the frames and the constructed fear arguments, providing a specific political reality for the public.
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The displacement effect of Internet use among Saudi students
More LessAbstractThis study investigates the time Saudi students spend with different media and whether the time they spend with new mediums will cut into the time spent with other traditional media, particularly television. A time diary survey was administered to a sample of 200 university students to measure the way they spent their time during one 24-hour period. In general, the study has demonstrated that Saudi students shift to the Internet for social and entertainment purposes at the expense of the time they spend on TV viewing. However, there are gender differences in relation to which online activities emerge as the most powerful predictors of television watching.
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Parental mediation of adolescents’ Internet use in Jordan
Authors: Abd El-Reheem A. S. Darweesh and Abd El-Basit A. H. MahmoudAbstractWhile most previous studies on the internet use of Arab adolescants focused on examining the uses, benefits and risks of their online activities, less is known about the effects of parental mediation of adolescent internet use in the Arab world. This study attempts to explore the effects of parental mediation strategies on adolescent internet use and the exposure of Arab adolescants to online risks, as well as examining the influence of demographic variables on these strategies. A survey was conducted of 400 Jordanian preparatory and secondary school students, from 7 to 12 grade. The study revealed that males are more vulnerable to exposure to online risks. The educational level of the mother significantly affects the instructive mediation and exposure to online risks, while the fathers’ educational level has a significant effect on co-use mediation. The study also pointed out that there was no significant effect regarding gender on restrictive and instructive mediation.
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Journalists’ views on the British coverage of Turkey’s EU bid and the clash of civilizations thesis
More LessAbstractTurkey’s bid to join the European Union (EU) and the surrounding discussions in European countries’ national media have been receiving increasing interest since Turkey became an official EU membership candidate in 1999. However, almost all academic work concerning the topic examines only the media coverage. In contrast, this article looks at journalists’ views on the media content about Turkey, and also discusses the clash of civilizations thesis as a frame to understand the media discourse. Twenty-one journalists who work or had worked in various British media outlets participated in semi-structured interview sessions. The data was conceptualized and categorized with the help of qualitative analysis software NVivo. Findings are presented through two main sections: Journalists’ views on the decrease in Turkey–EU relations’ popularity in the British media and the changes in the content; and the clash of civilizations thesis in the context of Turkey’s EU bid. Journalists’ views on the coverage reveal that their approach to Turkey’s EU bid is in line with the general view of the British media. In addition, the findings show that the clash of civilizations paradigm is used as a tool for British politicians and the British media to expose their support for Turkey’s EU bid.
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