Arab Media Representations of Online Social Platforms - Research Proposal Example

Name: Tutor Course: Date: ARAB MEDIA REPRESENTATIONS OF ONLINE SOCIAL PLATFORMS: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS A RESEARCH PROPOSAL SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE COMPLETION OF DOCTORATE OF PHILOSOPHY IN LINGUISTICS. CHAPTER ONE 1.1 Introduction Social media through the internet has had a great impact to the society in terms of lifestyle, expression and ways of communication. The advances in information technology have transformed the way of communication and also influenced the media industry in terms of how they convey their messages. Through online platforms, social media has introduced new patterns of communication, developed new interaction patterns and created wider forms of expression by different parties. Over time, the significant of online social platforms has been increasing rapidly while and the role they play in the society has transformed the social and political processes. According to Alsultany, The media in the Arab countries have embraced social media to convey their message in different aspects of the society, social media has been used as an instrument of approach to power, public mobilization and social change because it has the power to bring new dynamics. In the Arab countries, social media has played a key role in transforming the various nations, a movement described as the Arab spring (Bebawi). This study aims at establishing, through a discourse analysis how the Arab media have been represented on online social platforms the challenges the media faces and the role which is played in order to change the social and political lifestyle of the Arab world. This has been done through examining the social relationship between the media and the online platforms which seem to have been overstated and presented in different ways by the media Journalists. In order to achieve this, a discourse analysis was embraced so as to examine a set of selected media information. CHAPTER TWO 2.1 Literature Review 2.1.1 The Arab Uprising The beginning of 2011 saw a series of events that surrounded North Africa and the Middle East which led to the Arab uprisings; these events were witnessed in different Arab states due to the regimes that were in power. Mohammed Bouaziz, a Tunisian who had been suppressed by the ongoing crisis opted to set fire to himself as an act of defiance, these scenes of self-immolation captured by passersby were posted on YouTube as well as the mass protests that accompanied his funeral, the clips circulated in Tunisia and beyond thus communicating to the World of the ongoing crisis (Castells). The existence of social media including YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and online bloggers played an important role in passing the message of the war and conflict that were going on during that time. The enormous representation of these scenes bypassed the message which was being communicated by the state controlled national media since both images and mass defiance were being aired across the social media. These uprisings did not only lead to historical moments but also portrayed the different ways in which media and communication have been compromised. The media and communications in the Arab world convey more than just images and ideas which are received in a global setup, they have also entered into the daily new social media nd become part of the social ability and a representative of modernity. The new social media has helped in creating a more social inclusive and wider participation in different forms of political and social lifestyle. The use of social media across different Arab countries has led to the rise of an independent and more vibrant social media that is less compromised by the states. 2.1.2 Media Communication on the Arab Protests The modern social media has played a key role in the recent uprisings that have affected the Arab states. The power of the new social media to communicate and enhance protests and revolution has helped to counter the state intimidation and violence in order pursue social change is evident in the recent events that have faced the Arab nation, Egypt is an example of a successful social media protest that eventually led to a democratic change (Hoechsmann and Poyntz). Social media has often been viewed to be acting as a watchdog for the state controlled national media through alerting the international media over the growing opposition and events by providing raw images in a wider dissemination. The news broadcasters have also personally obtained and relied on online sources to obtain more news which the state may be reluctant to give. Some international news media such as Al Jazeera have distributed scenes and reports concerning various uprisings which can easily be found on YouTube and they are sent back into the concerned countries. The newspapers and broadcasters of various media have got online platforms where they send links of their social sites in order to find further information regarding given news; these links contain live-streaming images of the activities taking place in the areas of conflict (Jones and Salter). 2.1.3 Media Contagion Social media has opened up the normal media broadcasting, the waves of uprisings have been spackled up though social media. Contemporary communication that has led the spread of the various uprisings in the Arab regions have been brought about majorly by social media, whenever images of political decent and harsh protests spread on the global platforms via social media, different regions get incited to pursue the same course in other to solve their plight. This has become a major challenge in terms of trans-nationalization of global protests, the various ways of demonstration when spread on these social media which could have been reported differently by the normal media makes it to be contagious. Changes in the communication tactics which are done by creatively adapting a similar means of communication as that one used by activists, so as to have media control shows the contagious aspect of the social media hence making it difficult to control such protests (Sakr). 2.2 Research Objectives This study aims at establishing by means of a discourse the online social media representations of the Arab media. The study seeks to disclose the relationship between the media and the social platforms and the challenges brought about by the relationship between the two including how the media and the social media complement each other. 2.3 Research Questions In order to achieve the above objectives, the research seeks to answer the following questions. 1. How have the online social platforms represented the Arab media? 2. What are the effects of online social platforms representations of the Arab media on the stability of the region? 3. What impact does the online social media representation have on the Arab Media? 2.4 Justification Previous studies in this field focused on the role in which social media have played in bringing positive change and countering the states media. From the historical and socio-cultural perspective, online social media has not only had a positive income towards revolution and being a representative of the media but also contributed negatively to the manner in which information is spread and received by the social media platform. This negative and insightful representation has been the major cause of the Arab uprisings. It is therefore necessary to examine how to control the social media impact on the public and also determine in what manner has the state media failed to the extent of the social media taking control and having a bigger impact in people’s decision making. To some extent the social media may be exaggerated, it seems to be serving the interest of some corporate actors so as to advance nationalistic ideologies, this is a matter that has been taken for granted thus raising the need to examine the online media in a more critical manner. CHAPTER THREE 3.1 Methodology 3.1.1 Research design This discursive research will focus on the interpretation and deduction of the way in which meaning is constructed in a given context. A discourse analyst cannot be neutral since he or she will examine aspects in a social, cultural and historical perspective. The research will take a position in relation to the field of study which will influence the results presented. Analysis of the texts will involve choice of specific texts and making a decision on how they will be analyzed so as to achieve specific effects. The research will look at the surface elements of the various texts to be analyzed, their date of publication and the sites of publication. The heading of various articles will be weighed since they give the preferred sites of reading for the articles that are related to the research. 3.1.2 Study population and Sampling Media texts used for sampling will be more on purposive rather than the random sampling. This will entail the articles that are reporting about the Arab media and its representation of the online social media. Most of these articles were published during the period of the Arab uprisings, the focus will majorly be on the political context and particularly the role in which the media and the social media have played in bringing about political change. In order to select the texts and article containing the relevant information, the research will employ techniques such as computer searching where the key words will be used; these include media, social media, Arab appraisal, social change and the combination of these. In the unit of analysis, 6 items will be used which include new reports that are published in the online edition in different newspaper versions. These articles should contain news that is reliable and undistorted in order to ensure that it is not biased. The research will examine empirical data and hence the need to determine how the data will be examined so as to be able to answer the research questions. 3.1.3 Data Analysis method Discourse analysis methodology which is used in the collection and analysis of the selected media texts so as to achieve the objectives of the study will be employed. This will entail the study of diverse sources of information that includes both the spoken and the written information that is in relation to the topic of study. According to Phillips and Jorgensen (2002, p.1), discourse analysis is the analysis of the patterns of which people’s utterances follow while partaking in different domains of life. The analysis will reveal something about the way social action is shaped through a discourse, in relation to the research, media texts and what is perceived as discursive truths may be having certain effects on the perception and action of the recipients. In this context, discourse analysis aims at revealing the manner in which communication is channeled by the authors of various media in order to achieve their intended objective. The research will focus on the micro and macro perspectives, micro analyses debates and discussions which reveal the socio-psychological characteristics of the author or the journalists while macro focuses on the ideologies by examining the surface of the author’s views. 3.1.4 Quality assurance of the research In order to assure quality of the study, the research seeks to examine data from reliable sources, this includes newspapers and magazines and the links to these sources that are approved. Only known sites and media channels will be examined and the data studies should be current publications that do not date back past 5 years. To ensure there is no biasness in the data collected, there will be random selection of the sources or data; this will entail both the private and public sources and those that belong to individual opinions. The data obtained will be strictly confined and handled by the researcher; the information contained will not be shared to interested parties since it may compromise the research in general. The data will be stored under locked sites in the computer to limit its access to only the authorized personnel. 3.2 Study Period The collection and analysis of data for the research will take a maximum period of 3 years. During this period, relevant data will be collected and the authenticity of the data examined. Necessary changes mill be made so as to suit the objectives of the study. The data will then be analyzed in order for inference to be made from it. 3.3 Summary This discourse analysis sees to examine all the aspects in the proposal in order to meet the objectives of the research. Various sources of data will be examined to ensure only the appropriate and reliable sources are picked to improve the quality of the research. The aspects of the proposal will be conducted in an adequate time frame so as to ensure the research is conducted within the stipulated period of time. References Alsultany, Evelyn. Arabs And Muslims In The Media. New York: New York University Press, 2012. Print. Amara, Mahfoud. Sport, Politics And Society In The Arab World. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. Print. Bebawi, Saba, and Diana Bossio. Social Media And The Politics Of Reportage. Print. Bebawi, Saba. Social Media And The Politics Of Reportage. Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. Print. Castells, Manuel. Networks Of Outrage And Hope. Cambridge: Polity, 2012. Print. Hoechsmann, Michael, and Stuart R Poyntz. Media Literacies. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. Print. Howard, Philip N, and Muzammil M Hussain. Democracy's Fourth Wave?. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Print. Jones, Janet, and Lee Salter. Digital Journalism. Los Angeles: SAGE, 2012. Print. Mårtensson, Ulrika et al. Fundamentalism In The Modern World. London: I.B. Tauris, 2011. Print. Mellor, Noha et al. Arab Media. Hoboken: Wiley, 2013. Print. Mellor, Noha. Arab Media. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2011. Print. Sakr, Naomi. Transformations In Egyptian Journalism. London: I.B. Tauris & Co., 2013. Print. Read More