Thesis Project- Framing of Greste's Case .Pdf
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THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO School of Global Affairs and Public Policy Department of Journalism and Mass Communication Master of Arts NEWS FRAMING OF PETER GRESTE’S IMPRISONMENT IN EGYPT A Comparative Content Analysis of Australian and Egyptian Media Coverage of Al Jazeera Correspondent Greste’s “Marriott Cell” Case Presented By: Sara Shawky Supervised By: Dr. Amani Ismail ABSTRACT This research aims to examine how Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste imprisonment was portrayed in both the Australian and the Egyptian media. In light of the framing theory and Gatekeeping Theory, a quantitative content analysis was conducted to examine a total number of 69 news articles of the most visited news websites in each country. A non-probability purposive sampling technique was utilized to select 35 Australian news stories from news.com.au, and 34 Egyptian news articles from each of Egypt Independent and Ahram Online websites. The duration under study is a seven-month period that witnessed the journalist’s sentencing to seven years of prison on June 23rd, 2014, until reporting his release on February 2nd, 2015. Through analyzing these articles, the research concluded that both countries’ media were similar in: the overall portrayal of Greste through reporting on the case, the portrayal of the unfair processing of the case, and the portrayal of the consequences of this case on restricting media freedom in Egypt. However, Egyptian media showed some partiality in reporting on the evidence, portraying the criticism of the Egyptian authorities –whether the President or the judiciary- and portraying the violations against human rights in Egypt. Therefore, the framing of Greste’s case in Egyptian, versus Australian news articles, confirms that the media in Egypt are relatively restricted. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS: List of Tables .............................................................................................................................................................. 5 Chapter 1: Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 6 Statement of the Problem and Its Significance ............................................................................................ 8 Chapter 2: Background on Greste's Case: .................................................................................................... 10 2.1 A Glance at Al Jazeera Journalists' Case ............................................................................................... 10 2.1.1 Arresting the Journalists ......................................................................................................................... 10 2.1.2 Describing the Trials ................................................................................................................................ 12 2.1.3 The Sentences .............................................................................................................................................. 13 2.1.4 International Pressure and Egyptian President Interference to Resolve the Issue ...... 13 2.1.5 Greste's Release from Jail ....................................................................................................................... 14 2.2 Describing the Political Life Under the New Government ........................................................... 15 Chapter 3: Literature Review: .......................................................................................................................... 17 3.1 Challenges to Objective International Reporting on Political Issues ...................................... 17 3.2 Governments' Violations agaist Media Workers and Human Rights ..................................... 20 3.3 The Intention Behind Harrasing Media Workers ............................................................................. 24 3.4 Global Efforts to Restrict Governments' Violations ........................................................................ 25 Chapter 4: Theoretical Framework: ............................................................................................................... 27 4.1 The Framing Theory ..................................................................................................................................... 27 4.1.1 The Framing Effects .................................................................................................................................. 28 4.1.2 The Effects of Framing on Public Opinion ....................................................................................... 28 4.1.3 Framing in Political News ...................................................................................................................... 29 4.2 The Gatekeeping Theory ............................................................................................................................ 30 4.2.1 Overview of Gatekeeping ........................................................................................................................ 30 4.2.2 Historical Background on the Emergence of Gatekeeping Theory ........................................ 31 Research Questions ............................................................................................................................................... 32 3 Chapter 5: Methodology: ..................................................................................................................................... 33 5.1 Defining the Population Parameters ..................................................................................................... 33 5.1.1 Defining the Population .......................................................................................................................... 33 5.1.2 Defining the Time Period of Study ...................................................................................................... 35 5.2 Selecting the Sample ..................................................................................................................................... 36 5.3 Defining Unit of Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 37 5.4 Intercoder Reliability ................................................................................................................................... 37 Chapter 6: Results .................................................................................................................................................. 39 6.1 Findings of RQ1: ............................................................................................................................................. 39 6.1.1 Portrayal of Greste Throughout the Events ................................................................................... 39 6.1.2 Portrayal of the Significant Events of the Case Developments ............................................... 46 6.1.3 Portrayal of the Egyptian Authorities in Dealing with the Case ............................................. 52 6.1.4 Portrayal of the State of Media Freedom and Human Rights Protection ............................ 57 6.1.5 Analyses of the Overall Theme, Balance and Tone of the Articles ......................................... 61 Summary of RQ1 Findings: ................................................................................................................................ 75 6.2 Findings of RQ2 ............................................................................................................................................. 97 Chapter 7: Discussion and Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 101 7.1 The Similarities Between Both Countries' News Coverage ....................................................... 102 7.2 The Differences Between Both Countries' News Coverage ....................................................... 104 Limitations and Recommendations ............................................................................................................ 106 Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................................... 107 Appendix ................................................................................................................................................................. 117 I. Code Book ........................................................................................................................................................... 117 II. Coding Scheme ................................................................................................................................................ 119 III. Additional Charts .......................................................................................................................................... 123 IV. Intercoder Reliability Calculation Chart ............................................................................................. 124 4 LIST OF TABLES: Table 1: Frames Used in the Articles to Describe Greste ...................................................................... 77 Table 2: The Dominating Frame Describing Greste ................................................................................ 78 Table 3: Portrayal