An Analysis of CNN and Al Jazeera - Research Proposal Example

An analysis of CNN and Al Jazeera Name Lecturer Date Introduction Since the onset of the Internet and the World Wide Web, the general public all over the world has continuously relied on online channels of communication such as media websites for news updates. With this trend promised to continue growing over the next years to come, the media channels have themselves developed international standards to ensure that they offer their audience exclusive news coverage in real time. With increasing audience base throughout the world, multinational media channels like CNN, Aljazeera, BBC, ABC, Dubai News, and Fox News, among others continue to widen their scopes of coverage with the hope of bringing a new edge to journalism, in general, and specifically to news reporting. To this end, all these media houses have their news agenda and news values, which is what sets them entirely apart from each other (Falowes, 1996 p.126). There is a great difference between the presentation styles of the multinational news channels as pertaining to what they consider as most important news. Previous research has shown that there is parity, especially between presentation of news by the western-oriented news channels and their middle-eastern oriented counterparts. This difference can be attributed to their target audiences and their news policies, and to some extent, to the persons of influence who have personal agenda regarding what news is presented and how it is presented. In order to prove this thesis, this paper reports an experiment that was carried out by the author to examine two news websites over a period of two weeks. The two multinational news channels used for this experiment were the Western based Cable News Network and the Middle Eastern based Al Jazeera. Several factors were considered and the following paragraphs document the methodology used as well as the findings and conclusions of the experiment. Methodology I selected CNN and Al Jazeera for comparison during this experiment and used them to do a generic study of the website. I based my research on the top five stories making headlines in the two websites every second day of the week for two weeks between August 25 and September 8. I recorded my observations of the top five news items that occurred in the two websites at the same time. In my observation, I considered the following factors consistently and interchangeably to come up with the record patterns for my analysis: placement of headlines and pictures on the website, News agenda, news values as well as news sources used on the website. Data analysis The two news media had very different content on their home page, especially with the five news content that made top news in Al Jazeera and CNN respectively. The agenda for top five news coverage in the CNN website has revolved around, Syria military strikes, the 2020 Olympic games, Al Assad, Tony Abbot, and the release of the Chinese “Whistle blower”. On the other hand, Al Jazeera’s top five news agenda revolved aroundAssad’s warning to the US, Kerry’s efforts to gain Arab support against Syria, Moscow elections, Philippines rebel attacks and communal violence in India. From this list, it is evident that both e news channels cover international news across national and continental borders. However, closer look at the top-five news reveals that they each focus on completely different angles in order to bring the same news to their audiences. Below is a topical review of the issues in terms of the news agenda, values and culture of the media. News agenda This refers to the items of news that the media outlet chooses to focus on during publication of its news for a particular period of time, such as a day, a week, a month or on any other regular basis (Fowler, 1991, pp.34). Research has shown that the news has a significant effect in shaping the national and international political agenda through agenda setting. According to Hartley (1982), this means that what the media focuses on is likely to be what the public will focus on, and, by extension, what the nation will focus on as well. Therefore, the relevance of the five topics that CNN and Al Jazeera chose to focus on not only affects what the public will consider as most important international news, but also what the governments of various nations will want to address as a matter of urgency. In CNN.com, much prevalence was given to the US military action against the Syrian Government and the headlines read “Saudi Arabia Supports striking of Syria”. The short story went ahead to detail how the US secretary of state mentioned in a press release that they will receive support from Saudi Arabia in order to launch military strike on Syria. With the same breath, the website listed three other headings on the same topic, dubbed “more analysis on Syria” (CNN.com, 2013). The first article was titled, “Will Obama win support for Syria?” and the other two are a humanitarian focus on the refugees of Syria and a video of execution respectively. In comparison, Al Jazeera.com (2013) puts the big image of Assad, the Syrian president on its front page and captions it with the heading, “Assad warns US against attacks on Syria”. This big story is immediately followed by three similar stories with equal valor entitled, “Kerry seeks Arab Support for Syria action”, “Will Syria’s chemical weapons take down Assad – or Obama” and, “Assad: Syria capable of confronting attack.” The top story revealed how the Syrian president issued a stern warning to the US president against attacking his country, denying any alleged attacks on his own people using chemical weapons. At first glance, the two websites are giving their audience the latest developments of the same story and, thus, are designing the political agenda both in the West and the Middle East. However, at a closer look, the stories behind the headlines show that CNN is pro-western, whereas Al Jazeera is pro-Middle-Eastern (Wallis, Baron, 1990). This is because, while CNN focuses on the degree to which the US is gaining support on its bid to strike Syria, Al Jazeera focuses on the disappointments and hesitancy of Obama in his speech after he admitted that he could not pursue his earlier threat. The story on Al Jazeera reported that Obama issued a second press conference in which he withdrew his threat of issuing a direct Military attack on Syria and said that he would first consult with his congress. Secondly, the agenda for the CNN news is observed to cut across continents as it highlights news about Japan’s Tokyo 2020 Olympics, US military strikes, Syria’s retaliation intentions, China’s media issues and Australia’s elections. Al Jazeera, on the other hand, focuses entirely on Middle Eastern News as its headlines only cover stories from Syria, Moscow, India and Philippines. Moreover, is noteworthy that for both news websites, no mention of events happening in Africa were made, and this can be tied to the fact that there are currently no ongoing political elections marred with violence and genocide. News values News values refer to the factors that a news media considers as the fundamental determiners of newsworthiness of “news”, including the significance and consequence of a report, as well as its source. Analysis of the two media outlets reveal that each has a set of values within which they operate to produce the news they publish to their consumers. Although researcher like Gatlung and Ruge(1965) argue that news values are significantly consistent throughout the major media outlets in the world, palpable evidence shows major differences between the values held in CNN and those held in Al Jazeera. Despite their differences, both Al Jazeera and CNN were determined to offer two things, interesting and captivating news, and relevant news. This is why both of them premiered the Syria v US conflict of interest as the top news for several days in a row. Another similarity in the values of news adopted by both CNN and Al Jazeera is their use of frequency, negativity, personalization and reference to elite nations (Galtung and Ruge, 1965). Specifically considered though, CNN seems to place reference to elite nations as its number one priority, whereas, Al Jazeera considers negativity as its number one priority. This is evidence in the fact that all of the top stories in CNN were related to the USA, Australia, China or Russia, which are all elite nations by economic and political standards. These countries are also notably tied directly to the US in terms of political alignment either extremely negatively or extremely negatively. For example, it is now in the public domain that the refusal by Russia to extradite the US whistleblower Edward Snowden severed the relationship between the two governments. CNN was quick to report how Obama cancelled his meeting with the Russian president, Putin, after the latter refused to acknowledge that Snowden was illegally in Russia. CNN journalists as well as other western-oriented media outlets like Reuters, USA today, BBC and ABC news went on analyzing how this singular event could cause consternations and national insecurity, as well as political rivalry between the two countries. By contrast, Al Jazeera’s negativity is seen in most of its publication as they focus on war, terror, regional tension and violent political elections (Al Jazeera, 2013). Rather than consider what the latest occurrence in Syria means for the US ties with Syria, for example, Al Jazeera focused on the effect of the attack that Syria allegedly made against its own people. In the report, they quoted the US intelligence reports which noted that 1,429 people had died during the attack. They further contrasted this to the reports released by the human rights watch that claimed only 502 people had died as a result of the attack, with thousands others suffering severe to mild poisoning from a nerve gas. Conclusions From the above analysis of the two media giants, it is evident that huge differences exist between the western media and the Middle-Eastern media. At a personal level, one would argue that these differences are the causes of bias that is portrayed by the media houses in their news. However, looking at the evidence objectively, one realizes that the media does not portray biases, but rather, polarization that is caused by pressures from both internal and external sources. For example, it is justified to argue that CNN is aware of its leading role in giving news to the American and the European content. With this in mind, it is also correct to assume that the major audience for CNN is Americans and Europeans and thus, their interest will be its interests. CNN therefore reports news that portrays it as a channel that is ineptly in favor of the American and European policies by quoting the US president, secretary of state and other influential people in the US government. Al Jazeera does the exact opposite. Its news makes it appear indirectly in favor of the Middle East, though, like CNN, it claims to be independent of any political or cultural affiliation. Where CNN quotes President Obama’s imminent attack on Syria, Al Jazeera quotes President Assad’s intention to retaliate the attacks in case Obama should make good his threats. Where CNN reports Obama’s cancellation of his meeting with Putin, Al Jazeera reports Putin’s unwavering refusal to deport the US whistleblower. References Falowes, James. 1996. Breaking the News. NY: Pantheon. Fowler, Roger. 1991. Language in the News, Discourse and ideologies in the press. London: Rutledge. Galtung, J. and Ruge, M. Holmboe. 1965: The Structure of Foreign News. The Presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus Crises in Four Norwegian Newspapers, Journal of Peace Research, vol. 2, pp. 64-91 Hartley, John. 1982. Understanding News. London: Methuen. Wallis, Rodger; Baron, Stanley. 1990. The known world of broadcasting news: international news and the electronic media. London: Methuen. Read More

In my observation, I considered the following factors consistently and interchangeably to come up with the record patterns for my analysis: placement of headlines and pictures on the website, News agenda, news values as well as news sources used on the website. Data analysis The two news media had very different content on their home page, especially with the five news content that made top news in Al Jazeera and CNN respectively. The agenda for top five news coverage in the CNN website has revolved around, Syria military strikes, the 2020 Olympic games, Al Assad, Tony Abbot, and the release of the Chinese “Whistle blower”.

On the other hand, Al Jazeera’s top five news agenda revolved aroundAssad’s warning to the US, Kerry’s efforts to gain Arab support against Syria, Moscow elections, Philippines rebel attacks and communal violence in India. From this list, it is evident that both e news channels cover international news across national and continental borders. However, closer look at the top-five news reveals that they each focus on completely different angles in order to bring the same news to their audiences.

Below is a topical review of the issues in terms of the news agenda, values and culture of the media. News agenda This refers to the items of news that the media outlet chooses to focus on during publication of its news for a particular period of time, such as a day, a week, a month or on any other regular basis (Fowler, 1991, pp.34). Research has shown that the news has a significant effect in shaping the national and international political agenda through agenda setting. According to Hartley (1982), this means that what the media focuses on is likely to be what the public will focus on, and, by extension, what the nation will focus on as well.

Therefore, the relevance of the five topics that CNN and Al Jazeera chose to focus on not only affects what the public will consider as most important international news, but also what the governments of various nations will want to address as a matter of urgency. In CNN.com, much prevalence was given to the US military action against the Syrian Government and the headlines read “Saudi Arabia Supports striking of Syria”. The short story went ahead to detail how the US secretary of state mentioned in a press release that they will receive support from Saudi Arabia in order to launch military strike on Syria.

With the same breath, the website listed three other headings on the same topic, dubbed “more analysis on Syria” (CNN.com, 2013). The first article was titled, “Will Obama win support for Syria?” and the other two are a humanitarian focus on the refugees of Syria and a video of execution respectively. In comparison, Al Jazeera.com (2013) puts the big image of Assad, the Syrian president on its front page and captions it with the heading, “Assad warns US against attacks on Syria”.

This big story is immediately followed by three similar stories with equal valor entitled, “Kerry seeks Arab Support for Syria action”, “Will Syria’s chemical weapons take down Assad – or Obama” and, “Assad: Syria capable of confronting attack.” The top story revealed how the Syrian president issued a stern warning to the US president against attacking his country, denying any alleged attacks on his own people using chemical weapons. At first glance, the two websites are giving their audience the latest developments of the same story and, thus, are designing the political agenda both in the West and the Middle East.

However, at a closer look, the stories behind the headlines show that CNN is pro-western, whereas Al Jazeera is pro-Middle-Eastern (Wallis, Baron, 1990). This is because, while CNN focuses on the degree to which the US is gaining support on its bid to strike Syria, Al Jazeera focuses on the disappointments and hesitancy of Obama in his speech after he admitted that he could not pursue his earlier threat. The story on Al Jazeera reported that Obama issued a second press conference in which he withdrew his threat of issuing a direct Military attack on Syria and said that he would first consult with his congress.

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