Global News Agenda Analysis - Essay Example

…………………………………………………………………………..xxxxxx ……………………………………………………………………….xxxxx …………………………………………………………………………….xxxx ……………………………………………………………………………xxxxx @2013 Global News Agenda Satellite news as a global news form Al-Jazeera is one of the national interests which are behind the Satellite TV news. It was launched in Qatar back in 1996 with the main aim of bringing in diversity to the Arab who are their assumed audience. Al-Jazeera international was then launched in 2006 with the aim of bringing different news agenda to the west, to focus on the development of world issues and use more indigenous reporters. When they launched the Al-Jazeera international, their assumed audience became the Arabs and the world at large (Cushion and Lewis 2010). The construction of news to their assumed audience however does not reflect the main aim of launching the media house. This is because diversity does not mean constructing news which reflects distant suffering and violence. Al-Jazeera do construct news not to reflect the ideas of people out their but they construct news in a way in which they portray different instances as though they were speaking out of their own views. Construction of its assumed audience Argument against the construction of its assumed audience Though some of the news constructed by Al-Jazeera meets the aims of which the TV was set up of focusing on development of world issues, most of them do not meet this aims as they are constructed not to bring in diversity but to portray the suffering of other people from other countries (Ginneken 1998). Even though, Al-Jazeera is global news form, most of its aims are not met by the construction of its news to its target audience. They seem to have majored most in the so called “Breaking News” which do not form part of diversity or bringing different news agenda to their target audience but are aimed at criticizing some actions by some countries and to shows violence and suffering of other people. A good example of how Al-Jazeera constructs news for its assumed audience includes articles like the following: 1. America’s summit ends in acrimony 2. Israel soldier suspended for gun-butt attack 3. Taliban assault on Afghan Capital ‘over’ 4. Breivik says not guilty over the killings in Norway Looking at these media articles, one will get a negative picture of the individual and the countries depicted. The four articles seem to bring the development of world issues to the door step of the assumed audience and also bring diversity to the Arab News. However, the ‘them’ versus ‘us’ is evident in the four articles, and it may have negative consequences like economic consequences to the assumed target (Malek & Kavoori 2000). The Al-Jazeera international news is watched all over the globe, and this means that these four articles have been watched globally and the individual and countries affected may suffer economically due to withdrawal effect from the other countries. The articles paint a bad picture of the individual and the countries and no one would ever like to be associated with people with a bad image or even invest in a country which has political disability or one with wars(Burton 2010). The satellite TV news is sponsored by Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa. The reasons for his sponsorship are to shore up the Western support in case of any attack. His sponsorship is also a show of his commitment to making Qatar progressive Islamic states that welcome the western investment and to build a global Muslim identity and Tran’s national Islamic imagined community. Judging from the reasons as to why the satellite news were formed, it is evident that the Al-Jazeera the main interest were the Arabs and more so the people of Qatar and that is why the media house reports ‘bad’ things on other countries. In constructing news, media will bring about the difference in the political structure and media taboos between the different Arab countries in Middle East. An example of news constructed to show ‘us’ versus ‘them’ is the reporting by Aljazeera on Syria uprising where they showed a heightened violence in Homs. Though in Middle East, Al-Jazeera is in Qatar. The distant suffering in Homs, Syria is aimed at helping ‘us’ the people of Qatar to determine what to do with the level of suffering in their neighbouring country. The criticism received from Europe on Islamic veils led to protests as reported by Al-Jazeera on 28 January, 2010 is a perfect example of how the construction of news to the target audience is biased and clearly portrays the ‘us’ versus ‘them’. The non-religious interests which are behind satellite TV news include Middle East Broadcasting Corporation, Orbit entertainment TV, Arab Radio and Television entertainment network and London-based pan-Arab daily all which form part of the Saudi Arabia’s ‘Media of pacification’. For the past many years, Saudi Arabia has been building media empire in order or spread its Sunni version of Islam (Wahhabism) and to respond to the perceived threat to the Saudi rules legitimacy and stability like criticism of the political system and challenges to its US alliance. This clearly explains the reasons behind the construction of news by Al-Jazeera. The Saudi Arabian media where Al-Jazeera belongs to aims at keeping its masses at home which indicates that the construction of the news towards the assumed audience is aimed at the benefit of the people of Saudi Arabia (Burton 2010). To them, the assumed audience is the people of the Saudi Arabia, the others are just followers. Al-Jazeera has brought the attitude that those without their own satellite TV station should try to build an agenda of others’ satellite TV stations. For example, Osama bin Laden used Al-Jazeera in the September 2011 where he broadcasted his response to the US. The US then bombarded Afghanistan on 7 October 2001 and this clip was covered live by Al-Jazeera. However, this coverage was interrupted for the media house to show a pre-recorded video footage of bin Laden’s first broadcast response which had been recorded in September 2011. Osama was from Middle East, and Al-Jazeera is from Middle East (Dutton and Sune 2011). The interruption of the bombardment of Afghanistan by the US is an indication of how agenda building is done by the media house towards those who do not own their own satellite TV station. It also indicates that the media house constructs news to protect its assumed target who is the people of Middle East in this case (Cusimano 2010). The Middle East is protected more than the other people. The media use its superiority in the market to construct news to its assumed audience. For example, the UK media reported on the US led collation 2003 invasion of Iraq. The UK media, the main broadcaster in the UK and it are trusted by 71% in offering informative, accurate, balanced and interesting news coverage (Kamalipour and Snow 2004). The national press largely uncritically reported war using information from Pentagon War machine, and the main aim was to lead to a divided nation-anti war protests, sell their papers as more customers would purchase more of the papers to read the headlined news and to show the patriotism of their troops. With this article, the media constructed the news towards its assumed audience in a way which would give their country a positive image and also earn them income through increased revenues. The Iraqi media also reported on the same issue the US led collation 2003 invasion of Iraq. The Iraqi media are tightly controlled with only two daily news papers which include the government mouthpiece- Al-Thawra (The revolution) and Al-Jumhuriya (The republic). The media are also sycophantic and the people of Iraqi are forbidden from watching anything else apart from the state TV (Kamalipour and Snow 2004). There are limited numbers of foreign journalists in the country. the people of Iraqi have a song to Saddam where they call him victorious, beloved , and they believe that he is the dawn of their nation and that Saddam lights their days. With the limited number of foreign journalists and with people being prevented from viewing other TV stations means that the country is in control of what the assumed audience watch and get to know of the local and global news (Magee 2002). The way news in Iraqi is constructed clearly shows how the media and the country aim at protecting its image and their own people. They thus create the idea of ‘us’ versus ‘them’ in their broadcasting. The Pan-Arab media also reported on the same case of US led collation 2003 invasion of Iraq. This media framed the conflicts as an invasion of Iraq and often depicted civilian causalities, destruction of Iraq. The main reason behind this was an outrage over death of Iraqi civilians is a consensus builder (an audience builder) in the region which is split over political and economic treatment of people (Kamalipour and Snow 2004). Most Arab journalists had no embed access to collation troops, and the fact that US military was targeting Al-Jazeera is another reason behind the report by this media. It also reported that because of the market pressures which existed as Al-Jazeera competed with Al Arabiva, Abu Dhabi TV and LBC. The article reported by the media was therefore aimed at building an audience for the media simply because people like propaganda and will be attracted to the news. The Al-Jazeera Effect Al-Jazeera’s comprehensive, graphic on the ground covers the western as an armed intervention in the Muslim countries which then raises negative sentiments against the western power in the Muslim world and also creates pressure on Muslim government to act against policy of the specific western nation (Burton 2010). For example, Al-Jazeera has been criticized for showing pictures of UK and US POWs. The media have been channelling propaganda to demoralize the US by showing a picture of dead US soldiers and live POWs. The propaganda was also channelled towards other Arabs via Abu Dhabi TV where the Iraqi media downplayed the extent of the death of the foreign Arab ‘martyrs’ in Iraq. The move by Al-Jazeera is a way of contracting news suited for its assumed audience and with this propaganda; the media are assured of increased revenue from the number of increased audience (Kamalipour and Snow 2004). It is therefore true to say that the way Al-Jazeera as a media form constructs news to its audience is done with selfish motive- to paint a good picture of ‘us’ and a bad one for ‘them’. Argument for the construction of its assumed audience Some of the articles presented by Al-Jazeera are in line with the motives behind the launch of the company, and the news is not presented with any selfishness or ill motive. These articles are aimed at informing the assumed target on the development on issues and happening across the globe. An article like “Historic transition in Libya must not forget survivors of sexual violence” does not have any selfishness in it. This article is meant for the good of the people of Libya. All the news constructed by the media to its assumed audience is aimed at wooing in more audience- as an audience builder. However, the way media construct their assumed audience may not be termed as a selfish way, but a competitive way of the media to survive in the market which is characterized by a large number of global news forms (Carroll 2010). It can be said that the media only look for the catchy topics and news which will highly attract a large number of the audience for their market competitiveness purposes. Since media has highly influence on the public, any catchy article will be of use to them. With the increased number of spectators, the media is able to grow in terms of numbers and market size (Burton 2010). In conclusion, it is evident that the way media constructs its assumed audience is aimed at achieving its goals and objectives and is done with some hidden motive behind it. It is therefore clear that the media constructs news to its assumed client in a way which creates a feeling of ‘us’ versus ‘them’ portraying and giving a bad picture of others and a good picture for themselves. 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Freedom of Connection, Freedom of Expression: The Changing Legal and Regulatory Ecology Shaping the Internet. UNESCO Read More