Building Narratives: A Study of Terrorism Framing by Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya TV Networks (original) (raw)

2015, Arab Media & Society Journal

This paper examines the coverage of terrorism by Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya TV networks. It focuses on how the two networks differ or are similar in covering news about terrorism and identifies factors that may influence each network’s news selection processes and the framing of terrorism stories. The paper applied a media framing approach using content analysis to examine several framing devices such as framing types, framing perspective, geographical locations, sources used, perpetrators, victims, episodic versus thematic, and responsibility. It was found that the narrative that ‘the terrorist is Muslim’ prevailed in the news coverage analyzed. Furthermore, contrary to the pattern among Western media, both networks were consistent in at least implying that the majority of terrorism victims are Muslims. In addition, the findings reveal that substantial focus was placed on disseminating and supporting official positions and decisions, and that humanitarian suffering from terrorism is seldom brought to the attention of the public.

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