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Information Censorship: a Comparative Analysis of Newspaper Coverage of The INFORMATION CENSORSHIP: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF THE JYLLANDS-POSTEN EDITORIAL CARICATURES IN CROSS-CULTURAL SETTINGS Julie George Thomas, B.A., M.S. Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS August 2010 APPROVED: Brian C. O’Connor, Major Professor F. Mitchell Land, Co-Major Professor Jacqueline Lambiase, Minor Professor Linda Schamber, Program Coordinator, Interdisciplinary Information Science PhD Program Herman L. Totten, Dean of the College of Information James D. Meernik, Acting Dean of the Robert B. Toulouse School of Graduate Studies Thomas, Julie George. Information censorship: A comparative analysis of newspaper coverage of the Jyllands-Posten editorial caricatures in cross-cultural settings. Doctor of Philosophy (Information Science), August 2010, 122 pp., 1 table, 2 illustrations, references, 98 titles. The identification and examination of cultural information strategies and censorship patterns used to propagate the controversial issue of the caricatures in two separate cultural contexts was the aim of this dissertation. It explored discourse used for the coverage of this topic by one newspaper in a restrictive information context and two newspapers in a liberal information context. Message propagation in a restrictive information environment was analyzed using the English daily Kuwait Times from the Middle East; the liberal information environment of the US was analyzed using two major dailies, the New York Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer. The study also concurrently identifies and elaborates on the themes and frames through which discourse was presented exposing the cultural ideologies and premises they represent. The topic was approached with an interdisciplinary position with the support and applicability testing of Chatman’s insider-outsider theory within information science and Noelle-Neumann’s spiral of silence theory and Herman and Chomsky’s propaganda model based in the area of mass communication. The study has also presented a new model of information censorship – circle of information censorship, emphasizing conceptual issues that influence the selection and censorship of information. Copyright 2010 by Julie George Thomas ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Gratitude and acknowledgment is due to many. • For being my guide, for the conversations both casual and intellectual, for valuable time, for being the epitome of peace and patience when obstacles arose and most of all for keeping me from giving up, I thank you Dr. Brian O’Connor. • For the enthusiasm shown in motivating me, for encouragement on not just stopping at this doctoral endeavor, and most of all for inspiration on the topic, Dr. Mitchell Land, I thank you. For guiding this interdisciplinary pursuit, I want to thank the Frank W. Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism. • For valuable hours provided in conversation and guidance, for keeping me focused and instant replies to my numerous e-mails, for being a role-model, Dr. Jacqueline J. Lambiase, I thank you. • For helping me believe that education is precious, for prayer, support and encouragement, to my dearest parents, Pa, Mama, I love you, I thank you. • For helping me with my boys and support during my pregnancy and writing, my sisters Nancy, Ruby and my niece Rachel, love you, thank you. • For all support rendered, dear friends and family, thank you. • For keeping me going back to school semester after semester, even though he knew that meant watching the babies and helping after coming home from work. For giving up the weekend outings that he loves so much. For the times spent at coffee shops rendering precious thoughts and opinions during my writing, for the greatest support I have ever experienced, to the one I vowed the rest of my life, my love, my husband Mathew; I hope I can live out my gratitude for the rest of our lives. For interrupting my study time with cries, toys, his precious books, heart-warming smiles, for running to the printer to bring me my printouts, my baby boy Jude, I love you. For coming into my life to share the joy of the conclusive phase of my doctoral endeavor, my happy baby boy Seth, I love you. • For strength through this educational pursuit, for strength during times of despair, which did cross my path several times in the form of infirmity, Lord Jesus, I thank you. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS ............................................................................................. vi Chapters I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND ...................................................................... 1 Jyllands-Posten and the Cartoons ............................................................... 2 Statement of the Problem .......................................................................... 6 Kuwaiti Exposition ....................................................................................... 8 Kuwaiti Media and Political Environment ................................................ 11 Purpose of the Study................................................................................. 14 Significance of the Study ........................................................................... 15 Limitations of the Study ............................................................................ 16 II. RELEVANT LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................... 18 Freedom of Expression vs. Censorship ..................................................... 18 Three Theoretical Frameworks of the Study ............................................ 21 Information Censorship and Selectiveness ............................................... 32 III. RESEARCH APPROACH: DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS ................................. 36 IV. FINDINGS AND DELIBERATION .............................................................................. 41 Explicatory Critique of the Newspapers ................................................... 43 New York Times News Coverage and Editorials ........................................ 46 Kuwait Times News Coverage and Editorials ............................................ 51 Philadelphia Inquirer News Coverage and Editorials ................................ 60 Visual Description and Interpretation of Editorial Cartoons in the Kuwait Times ......................................................................................................... 69 Cartoon 1: February 4, 2006 ......................................................... 69 Cartoon 2: February 4, 2006 ......................................................... 70 Cartoon 3: February 5, 2006 ......................................................... 71 iv Cartoon 4: February 7, 2006 ......................................................... 72 Cartoon 5: February 8, 2006 ......................................................... 72 Cartoon 6: February 11, 2006 ....................................................... 73 Cartoon 7: February 11, 2006 ....................................................... 74 Cartoon 8: February 12, 2006 ....................................................... 74 Cartoon 9: February 14, 2006 ....................................................... 75 Definition Statements ............................................................................... 76 Hell/Satan/Judgment: Kuwait Times ............................................ 78 Solidarity between the West and Jews: NY Times/Philadelphia Inquirer, Kuwait Times .................................................................. 79 Scriptures/Religion ........................................................................ 79 Nationalism/Multiculturalism ....................................................... 81 Victimology/Non-Assimilation ...................................................... 82 Pencil/Ink-Tip Pen ......................................................................... 82 Defenders of Free Speech/Freedom of Speech ............................ 83 Justification/Motivation for Printing or Censoring: NY Times/Philadelphia Inquirer .......................................................... 85 Islam as Radical ............................................................................. 86 Appeasement/Political Correctness ............................................. 87 Condemning Cartoons/Apologetic ............................................... 88 Clash of Cultures/Culture Wars/East vs. West ............................. 89 Self-Blame/Self-Culture Dissection: Kuwait Times ....................... 91 Democratic/Theocratic ................................................................. 92 Information Censorship Model ................................................................. 93 The Three Theories and This Study: Incompleteness in Applicability ...... 99 V. CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................... 110 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................ 116 v LIST OF TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS Page Tables 4.1 Categorization of articles from the Kuwait Times .......................................................... 102 Figures 4.1 Information censorship model ........................................................................................
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