Al Jazeera's and Fox News TV's Framing of Libya Protests - Example

Al Jazeera's and Fox News TV's Framing of Libya Protests More and more, the public relies heavily on mass media for information in order to arrive at an intelligent and sensible evaluation of issues or headline-grabbing stories. The media's influence is tremendous in shaping people's understanding and perception about foreign or international affairs like the Middle East conflict. Numerous media effects studies have pointed out the impact of mass media in influencing public opinion and mass perception. Along this path, it gives us an idea why considerable efforts are being exerted by media organizations in forming or creating the content of their media coverage. In this regard, this paper then focuses on the framing of the civil unrest and demonstrations in Libya in 24-hour news channels. There are few questions that need to be addressed in our study: 1) how some media organization play its part in conflict coverage? And, 2) how vast the media's influence is in changing or shaping public perception and evaluation of a socio-political issue toward another nation? We will use the lens of two news organizations with differing and contrasting media practice, one from the Arab-owned Al Jazeera and the next, American owned media, Fox News Channel. As several theoretical frameworks may be used in testing our hypothesis, we will limit our study with the use of media framing theory. Media Framing Analysis, where derive The Middle East turmoil from the revolt in Egypt and now in Libya has been strongly followed by the media, and said to represent different media frames. In a weekly news index released by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism dated February 21 to 27 this year, it indicated that mainstream news coverage of the Middle East civil war, particularly the ensuing revolt by demonstrators in Libya, peaked during the said week (Journalism.org, 2011). As the PEJ news index proves, U.S. media is not, after all, paying too little attention to the precarious situation in Libya, or international events in general. A week prior to February 21, news reporting devoted considerably more time to Libyan citizens' demonstrations against Col. Muammar Qaddafi (Journalism.org, 2011). In communications, framing is one popular yet complex process applied in many media studies that its definition has become more varied depending on the disciplines. George Washington University's Robert Entman described framing as “selecting some aspects of a perceived reality and making them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation” (Entman, 1993, p. 52). As such, the implications of media framing have far ranging influence in shaping public opinion on social issues like the Middle East unrest. Indeed, the news media engages in framing as it is best described by Entman with some studies pointing out that this approach is an “essential part” of news reporting (Heldman, 2000). Among these confirmed importance of framing, Lewicki & Gray (2003) said researchers can use the model in defining, interpreting, reinforcing, and resolving conflict. Likewise, the mass media it is said can sometimes amplify conflicts by framing issues. By application, the same can be said about how Al Jazeera and Fox News Channel frame the conflict in Libya. In this regard, does media framing by the news media can lead to destructive escalation of conflict in the Middle East? Entman's Four Functions of Media Framing Analysis It is with his seminal work, “Framing: Toward a Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm,” where Robert Entman suggested his so-called four locations in the communication process. He identified these as follows – 1) Communicator, 2) Text, 3) Receiver, and, 4) Culture. By the definition that Entman gives, communicator may be the mass media or the individual who may make conscious or unconscious framing judgments in determining the message to relay, using the frames as guide in organizing their belief system. Text, on one hand, is the location that contains the frames or the message that will provide the theme of facts or judgments. On the other hand, the receiver is the public or individual who is the recipient of the message or text and is usually guided by frames to arrive at a particular judgment to arrive at a conclusion. Lastly, the culture or the stock of commonly invoked frames or common frames manifested in the discourse and thinking of people in certain social groupings. Analysis: Arabian Uprisings Captured by Two News Channels Using Entman's four functions of framing, we will compare and contrast the Libyan demonstrators report made by Al Jazeera and Fox News Channel. A) Communicators. In this study, our communicators are Al Jazeera and Fox News Channel. Al Jazeera. Based in Doha, Qatar, Al Jazeera was launched in November 2006 as a result of a joint venture between the British Broadcasting Corporation and the Saudi government in an effort to create a non-state-controlled media agency. The Saudi government pulled out after an uncensored talk show criticized executions. The Sheik of Qatar jumped in and offered help to the then beleaguered news outfit, including a headquarter in Qatar and public funding in the same country (Sourcewatch.org, 2011). In those times, the 24-hour news channel has received several setbacks, including the shutting down of its office in Sudan after an investigation of an internal memo of the news media linked it to biased reporting. According to Center for Media and Democracy's Sourcewatch.org, among other allegations, Al Jazeera has been accused by then U.S. President George W. Bush of aggressive reportage, inaccurate, false, wrong reporting, and being a 'mouthpiece' for Iraqi insurgents and for al-Qaeda terrorist group, Osama Bin Laden. The U.S. government claimed these approaches are used as part of its design to be inflammatory. As of 2008, the New York Times reported that the Arab-owned news channel has more than 100 million global subscribers yet remains invisible to no cable distribution in the United States. Today, Al Jazeera offers some competition to more established news brands like CNN and the BBC, particularly in the Arab world. From being a news portal for Middle Eastern news discourses, Al Jazeera has recently been playing up a new role, that of being a catalyst for change. It has been observed that Al Jazeera has become a participant rather than merely an observer of the Arab uprisings in the last several months. Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi has called Al Jazeera as among his nation's “biggest enemies.” At Youtube, Al Jazeera is the third most popular news channel, according to a report by the New York Times (2011). Fox News Channel. Fox News Channel is majority-owned by an American corporation, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. A Saudi Arabian prince, however, owned up to seven (7) percent shareholdings in the popular U.S. news brand, making Prince Alwaleed bin Talal the largest shareholder outside of Murdoch's family. As of 2003, Fox News has over 80 million subscribers since its launch in October 1996. For its brand of reporting, Center for Media and Democracy's Sourcewatch.org profiled Fox News Channel as a cable news channel that attempts to report news themes that are uncovered by its competitors makes this not surprising. According to its website, Fox News Channel said it strive to present news in an unbiased manner, without patronage of ideological or political affiliations to give the public the opportunity to reach its own evaluations about the news. It also referred to itself as an alternative news source for the general pervasiveness of liberal bias in American media reportage. It was also reported that Fox News Channel has been spending US$61 million promoting and advertising its brand since 1997, making it one of the most watched 24-hour news network, ahead of its competitors CNN and MSNBC. Toronto Star's Elizabeth Haggarty reported that a December 2010 study by the WorldPublicOpinion.org at the University of Maryland revealed that watching Fox News is leaving the public viewership less informed and more prone to believing inaccurate reports on the economy, climate change and whether or not U.S. President Barack Obama was born in the United States (TheStar.com, 2010). B) Text. We will look into the different aspect of reporting done by our subject communicators. Both news were obtained from Youtube, a popular sharing site, where both Al Jazeera and Fox News Channel maintain a presence. Use of sound. In the report made by Al Jazeera, the chant of protesters in near jubilation as they try to destroy a made-up green book by Col. Muammar Qaddafi. The protesters chant was captured by amateur video posted on Youtube that Al Jazeera was playing. As such, there is a feel of authenticity and rawness all throughout the report. It is very much different with the way Fox News use sound in its reporting, deciding to completely relying on the voice of its anchor. Use of music. Both Al Jazeera and Fox News did not use any form of music. Music seems to be least of concern for the two media agencies since the reports are heavy on action and rage, hence the power of image is better highlighted than the use of music, which is out of place in such reporting, and could only heighten the feel of artificiality in the story being presented. Voice of Journalist. The voice employed by the Al Jazeera journalist was that of a third person point of view, someone who is only at the background and not a participant. Using the voice- over technique, coupled with the detached tone of voice, Al Jazeera was trying to strike an air of objectivity though there are certain speculative elements being deployed such as the female journalist's reliance on unnamed sources for expert information about the situation in Libya. Fox News, however, relied heavily to the spontaneous manner of speaking by the female anchor, which impresses incoherence to the point of shock and awe. The female journalist is also using her tone to elicit strong reactions from people to feel especially concerned that an anarchy is already shaping up in numerous streets of Libya, changing her tone as the news become more sore. As this approach implies, Fox News is seem interested in making the people feel the experience of someone in shock upon learning of the bad news. The Fox News female anchor is more opinionated than Al Jazeera's approach in straight-forward, direct and tight reporting. Look of screen shots. Both Al Jazeera and Fox New employed or relied heavily in this report to amateur videos culled from a video sharing site, to strike the feel of authenticity. In spite of the similarity in the sources of videos used for the report, Al Jazeera focused on the protesters' more violent aspect of the demonstration, such as people being carried by some rescuers. The Arab-owned media outlet also showed the progression of the unrest from demonstrations that eventually got them to trouble with government. Meanwhile, Fox New used amateur video clips that showed protesters in state of riot with some burning cars and police stations, implying that people are really upset and in rage. Type of Report. There is no expressed notice that showed that both the Al Jazeera and Fox News reports are breaking news. However, it is truly so since both media outlets did not showed any reporters live on the scene of the demonstrations and chaos. For Al Jazeera, it only made use of the voice of its female journalist, while the Fox News report on the demonstration is presented at the studio by an anchor who is seen live. Texts written on the screen. At the Al Jazeera video report, a graphic text below the video screen showed that: “Libya Protests: Scores killed in 'day of rage'” which changed to “At least 14 people killed in clashes.” Similarly, Fox News also placed the text of its news title below the video screen, but compared to Al Jazeera which is cleaner and lean, the former used a news marquee just below where it placed the graphic text title of the report. At both media organizations, the graphic text title was written just beside the logo of their companies. Words used. Al Jazeera's and Fox News Channel's use of words are framed very differently. Al Jazeera carefully wrote the script for its presentation of the news, emphasizing that the unrest may at times be jubilant, but the pervasive feeling is that of rage. There is also an inherent propensity from the news channel to speculate and rely on outside sources other than its own. Meanwhile, Fox News female anchor keep on repeating connotative words such as “not good” and “so bad”. Fox also allow its anchors to use informal words in reporting, such as the use of words like as “folks,” “you can see it for yourself,” and the like. Information Used. Both Al Jazeera and Fox News highlighted the use of amateur videos, while may project authenticity of feel, is somewhat less reliable than when there are first-hand, eyewitness account by a journalist live on the place. At Al Jazeera, footages used showed different forms of protest actions: a) burning of the green book by Col. Qaddafi; b) protesters in marching mode; and, c) the burning of trash bins. All three footages showed that the demonstrators are manifesting strong defiance against the Libyan strongman whose iron-fisted rule already reached more than 40 years. By showing the burning of an effigy of Qaddafi's green book, Al Jazeera was strongly commenting on Qaddafi's once strong kingdom now breaking down to pieces. Fox New, meanwhile, had carefully selected the footages to show how bad going to worst Libya's condition had become. Not surprisingly, it highlighted chaos, anarchy and mob rule attempting to destroy Qaddafi's unstoppable 40-year rule of Libya. From out of these materials used, both Al Jazeera and Fox News are implying that going out in the streets and breaking down Qaddafi's stronghold was justified for someone who unjustly ruled the nation for more than 40 years. From the look of it, the media could play a crucial role in igniting both protesters' desire to get the freedom they deemed they deserve, and hatred at the same time from pro-Qaddafi forces. C) Receiver. Based on the different elements available or obtained and then applied in their news reportage, Al Jazeera appeared to be more speculative in nature by not relying on eyewitness accounts. Fox News, while shying to be speculative, allow itself to give some dose of ideology. If it do so, it could have not relied on information obtained from unnamed source, a method that slightly diminishes a journalist's integrity and reputation. The receiver's perception or appreciation of a news report might also be affected or influenced by stereotyping or bias. No matter journalists say they will try to deliver fair and balanced reporting, bias may still come in the way. D) Culture. Through the media frames used, viewers watching coverage made by Al Jazeera and Fox News may have processed the news differently depending on their geographic location. One possible scenario is that the international viewers outside Middle East may have learned to associate 9/11 twin tower attacks and terrorism with Middle Eastern nations. The perception then of these audience out of mass media exposure may be employed in forming a judgment or evaluation about the issues in Libya. As the American public get extensive exposure from the pervasive coverage on the war on terror, that may have an impact in the way viewers will construct their view of the matter. Studies have shown that even unconsciously or unintentionally, stereotyping come in the way of news presentation and sometimes can be very difficult to abandon (Major & Coleman, 2008 as cited in Reuben, 2009). Whereas sometimes, conscious slanted media coverage is sometime driven by outside sources like advertisers, companies, government, politicians, and the like. On why journalists retain these stereotypes to keep their employment secure. In sum, certain news framing approaches are shared by Al Jazeera and Fox News, but differs depending as to whom the two news organizations address its news reports. The strong differences among the two reports occur in terms of the presentation of the news. And based on the Entman four locations of communications model, the two media outfit may be the same in terms of ownership structure, each with Middle Eastern shareholdings at the company, sources of news video clips, and the like. References Al Jazeera. (2001). SourceWatch.org. 20 March. Available from: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Al_Jazeera Brewer, P., Graf, J., Wilnat, L. (2003). Priming or Framing: Media Influence on Attitudes toward Foreign Countries. Gazette: The International Journal for Communication Studies 65 (6) p. 493- 508. Campbell, M. (2011). Al Jazeera Enrages Dictators, Wins Global Viewers With Coverage of Unrest. Bloomberg. 25th February. 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