arab media representation of the internal palestinian conflict

340 Pages·2017·2.44 MB·English

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ARAB MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF THE INTERNAL PALESTINIAN CONFLICT
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF NEWS REPORTING

A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

By
Sawsan Taha

College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences
Department of Social Science, Media and Communications
Brunel University London

June 2014

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Abstract
During the summer of 2007, the Occupied Palestinian Territories witnessed a serious
domestic conflict as a result of the power struggle between the two leading political parties:
Fatah and Hamas. The conflict left hundreds of Palestinians dead and ultimately led to the
political division between the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and further, to a deep political rift
between the Palestinians themselves that still remains at the time of writing.
This thesis examines how this conflict was represented in the news reports of the two largest
Arab satellite channels, which have different political affiliations: the Aljazeera channel
funded by Qatar, and the Al-Arabiya channel funded by Saudi Arabia. The study sheds
important new light on the political economy of media ownership in the Arab region and its
potential impact on coverage of a key moment in the region’s ongoing struggles in Palestine.
The study therefore raises evidence and disturbing questions about the delimiting effect that
dominant, privately owned satellite news networks have on the maintenance of the public
sphere.
The key findings of this study lie in the outline of the boundaries of the Arab satellite media’s
independence and objectivity, and in illustrating its persistent submission to political
interests. While this is reflected in the two channels’ coverage of ‘Palestine’, it indicated that
these channels’ adherence to high journalistic standards is compromised when the crucial
ideological interests of their sponsors are involved. The notion that these two channels are
working with objective standards of reporting is, however, weakened when it comes to its
coverage of events that involve Qatari and Saudi interests.
Accordingly, Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya presented different versions of the same events of
the Hamas and Fatah conflict that are indicative of their clashing political stances. The
findings show that the reporting of the conflict did not meet the professional journalistic and
ethical requirements of neutrality and value judgements.
Key Words
Arab Satellite Channels, Media Ownership, Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, Palestinian Internal
Conflict, Objectivity, Ideology, Representation, Fatah, Hamas.

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Table of Contents

Abstract iii
Table of Contents iv
List of Tables vi
Acknowledgements vii
Chapter 1 - Introduction 1
Reflective Journalistic Practice 13
Chapter 2 – Literature Review 15
The Role of Media in Conflict Times 15
Arab Media in Context: A Question of Players and Performance 28
Media Players in the Region 34
War on Terror, a Turning Point 35
Media and Objectivity 39
Arab Media a Question of Objectivity 41
Palestine and the Arab Media 59
The Internal Palestinian Conflict 2007 62
Palestine and Media Representations 70
Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya’s Covering of Palestine 75
Chapter 3- Methodology 79
Research Ethical Considerations 81
Analysis and Coding Schemes 84
The Methods 96
Chapter 4 - Interviews Analysis 117
The Participants 117
The Themes 119
Themes Discussion :Group one, Arab media experts 121
Themes Discussion :Group two, Palestinian journalists 130
Conclusion 148
Chapter 5 - Content Anaylsis 150
Key Variables for Analysis 152
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Conclusion 203
Chapter 6 - Critical Discourse Analysis 205
4th of June 2007: the breakdown of the conflict 208
Discussion of the 4th June reports 223
14th of June 2007: Hamas control of Gaza 227
Discussion of the 14th June reports 239
Conclusion 244
Chapter 7- CONCLUSION 245
Findings of the Research Methods 248
DISCUSSION 259
Limitation and Future Studies 268
Appendices 270
Appendix 1 270
Appendix 2 275
Appendix 3 288
Appendix 4 298
Appendix 5 304
Bibliography 311

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Tables
Table 1 Average number of items per day, by network 152
Table 2 Number of news reports for the two rounds 153
Table 3 Frequency of reporting per week per network 153
Table 4 Average length of time of news items in seconds 155
Table 5 Networks reports locations 157
Table 6 Report format, per network 158
Table 7 the first five sources mentioned in a single report, per network 161
Table 7.1 Chi-square tests 162
Table 7.2 Number of Fatah and Hamas sources, per report, per network 163
Table 8 Type of Hamas and Fatah sources 165
Table 9 Chi-square testing of sources by broadcaster 168-169
Table 10 Subject of reports, per network 171
Table 11. Main general themes for the report, per network 173
Table 12. First five themes mentioned in the reports 177
Table 13. Representation frame, per network 180
Table 14 First two tones for reports, per network 183
Table 14.1 Independent test for the representation frame 184
Table 14.2. Results of bias of the report frame, per network 186
Table 15 Summary of the common teams, per network 192
Table 16 Use of lexicons to describe the conflict by network 194
Table 17 Use of lexicons to describe the on-the-ground 198
Table 18 Use of lexicons to describe the violence, per network 200
Table 19 Description of casualties by network 202

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Acknowledgements
It is a pleasure to thank those who made this thesis possible, from my supervisors to my family and
friend. I could not have done it without you.
First and foremost, I owe a debt of profound gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Sarah Niblock, thank you
for your unwavering guidance and support in providing me with invaluable insight, advice and
direction. And for guiding me on the path I followed since our first meeting. I am deeply indebted for
your willingness to take over my supervision in the second year of the PhD, for engaging so
thoroughly with my data, and for providing me with hope, strength, encouragement and the benefit of
your wisdom.
I would like to acknowledge the academic and technical support of the Department of Social
Sciences, Media and Communications at Brunel University that made this research possible.
‘…I come from there and I have memories. Born as mortals, I have a mother and a house with many
windows; I have brothers, friends, and a prison cell with a cold window. Mine is the wave, snatched
by sea-gulls, I have my own view, and an extra blade of grass. I learnt all the words worthy of the
court of blood so that I could break the rule. I learnt all the words and broke them up to make a single
word: Homeland… to Palestine I dedicate this work.
This thesis would not have been possible without the support and encouragement of my family. To
my dearest mother ‘Khadijah’, thank you for being there always, during my ups and downs. A sincere
expression of gratitude goes to you, your kind blessings and prayers have been overly generous and
warm-hearted, to which I am deeply indebted. To the most wonderful father ‘Mohammad’ your
unflagging and unconditional love, your endless support and guidance and your cheerful attitude to
life were like no other. Father: I hope that when I say ‘I miss you so much and I love you’, you know I
mean it with profound sincerity and veracity. I wish you were here to see this achievement comes
true… so to both of you I dedicate this thesis. To my sisters Enas, Samar and my brother Ammar your
positive spirit, enthusiasm and support have made the tough years of the PhD possible. Also, a very
special thanks to my friends, a simple thank you would not pay tribute for being incredibly supportive
in the most stressful times. My appreciation is beyond expression.

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Author's declaration
This is to certify that I am responsible for the work submitted in this thesis, that the original work is my
own except as specified in acknowledgments or in footnotes, and that neither the thesis nor the
original work contained therein has been submitted to this or any other institution for a degree.
……………………………………………. (Signed)
……………………………………………. (Date)

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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION

Since the early nineties the world has witnessed a tremendous number of agonising
news stories from the Middle East, a region undergoing constant war and chaos;
from the first Gulf War in 1991, to the invasion of Iraq, the ongoing Palestinian–
Israeli conflict, the Palestinian internal power struggle, and the Arab revolutions in
various parts of the Middle East and North Africa. The conflicts have been at the
forefront of international and regional news outlet coverage. Waves of protest
erupted in many parts of major Arab countries, forcing out the rulers of Egypt, Libya,
Tunisia and Yemen; while the tragedies in Syria and Iraq and the Islamic State
continue to grab attention (Reese, 2013). Meanwhile, in the Gulf region, Arabs are
caught between the rising influence of Iran and Shi’a–Sunni sectarianism, while at
the same time enjoying economic vibrancy driven by high oil prices and domestic
investment (Telhami, 2008). Despite all this, Palestine remains centre stage in
global concerns (Noueihed and Warren, 2012).
The Arab region is now living in an era of ‘news wars’, essentially developed and
transformed by the end of the Cold War, the triumph of neo-liberalism, and the
growth of globalisation. The act of war itself is undergoing vital transformation;
increasingly being advanced by what one might call ‘information war’ (Webster,
2003). Whether these conflicts are to be defined as ‘simulacra’, ‘information warfare’
(Webster, 2003) or ‘spectacle’ (Kellner, 2004), examining the mediation or indeed
the mediatisation (Cottle, 2006) of conflict is assumed to be central to the way we
process and assimilate war, its ‘justifications, conduct, reconstruction and even
remembrance’ (Hoskins and O’Loughlin, 2010, p.3); media presentation of conflict
has become as significant as the conflict itself. In this milieu, the media play a
primary role both in the conduct and the instigation of war (Webster, 2003).

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It is therefore crucial to provide an overview of the major political and media players
in the region. Therefore, this thesis will offer a contextual orientation for the two main
media players in the Arab world: the Al-Jazeera news channel, and the Al-Arabiya
news channel, by identifying their wider socio-political significance and implications
within Arab society. It is also important for this research to offer a brief overview of
the current political situation in the Arab world, including the tension between Shi’a
and Sunni, and the daily confrontation between Islamists and the authorities that
threaten to destabilise the region. At the same time, foreign intervention in these
conflicts shows no sign of abating, which is not surprising considering the
international nature of politics in the Arab world (Khatib, 2013). From the days of
European mandates in the region, the establishment of the state of Israel, and
subsequent Arab–Israeli wars, the Palestinian intifada and the second Gulf War, the
Arab world has been host to a series of foreign interventions, both political and
military (Khatib, 2013).
The great majority of academic studies (El-Nawawy and Iskandar, 2002; Philo and
Berry, 2004; Rugh, 2004; Wolfsfeld et al., 2005; Zayani, 2005; Lynch, 2006; Fahmy
and Johnson, 2007b; Sakr, 2007; Powers, 2009) that have examined the relationship
between media and conflict in the region have focused on the role of international
media to a much greater extent than that of regional or local media. Apart from a
few exceptions, little deals directly with generalising the role of Arab news media in
internal political conflicts. The reasons behind this are varied, some related to the
academic field itself, and others related to the complicated nature of the media’s role
in internal political conflicts. This shortcoming could be explained by the fact that only
relatively recently was the importance of regional and local media in violent conflict
taken into account; typical of new fields of research is a lack of systematic empirical
material to work with.
the majority of these studies related to Palestine since 1948 have also focused on
the Palestinian–Israeli conflict, which has been dominated by international academic
research (such as Nir and Roeh, 1992; First, 1998; 2004; Dunsky, 2001; Zelizer et
al., 2002; Enderlin, 2003; Qaymari, 2003; Lowstedt and Madhoun, 2003; Mandelzis,
2003; Dor, 2004; Korn, 2004; Everton, 2005; Alimi, 2007; Rinnawi, 2007; Wolfsfeld et
al., 2008; Philo and Berry, 2011; Barkho, 2006, among others). Whilst the study is
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