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Framing the Prophet Framing the Prophet A content analysis of online coverage of the ”Innocence of Muslims” controversy Helene Maria Fiane Teigen Master thesis in Nordic Media Department of Media and Communication UNIVERSITY OF OSLO Spring 2014 I II © Helene Maria Fiane Teigen 2014 Framing the Prophet – A content analysis of online coverage of the ”Innocence of Muslims” controversy Helene Maria Fiane Teigen http://www.duo.uio.no Print: Reprosentralen, University of Oslo III IV Abstract This thesis is about the Innocence of Muslims controversy that took place in the autumn of 2012. A film trailer about the Islamic Prophet Mohammed was uploaded on the video-sharing site YouTube. The film lacked coherence, and depicted the prophet in offensive ways. In the course of months, the film went from being an unknown obscure film trailer with an amateurish look, into sparking a range of protests and demonstrations around the world. The conflict bore resemblances with the Rushdie affair from 1989 and the Mohammed cartoon crisis from 2005 and 2006, although some important features were different. I have conducted a content analysis of the online coverage of five different news media to find some journalistic tendencies in how the controversy is presented. The results showed that the journalistic tendencies were in line with general news coverage with a majority of mainly episodic framed articles and various main sources, although Western news media was dominating. However, I also found that the coverage offered a more nuanced and less polarizing presentation of the controversy than expected, and that the controversy did not resemble the Rushdie affair from 1989 and the Mohammed cartoon crisis from 2005 and 2006 as much after all. V VI Preface The process of writing this thesis has been like a rollercoaster ride with many ups and downs. It has been very challenging at times, especially dealing with statistics and a, to me, whole new statistics program (SPSS). This project has taken a lot of work, incredible amounts of coffee and a fair share of up- beat guilty pleasure songs to keep the energy up during the long hours. However, I have also had fun and I have learned so much during this writing process. I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this thesis in any way. Firstly, I need to thank my supervisor, Sigurd Allern, for good advice, constructive comments and literature, and for always pushing me that extra step. I would also like to thank my family, especially my mother and brother for helpful discussions and comments during the whole process. You have all been really helpful! Thank you for keeping my spirits up, listening to my complaints, and for providing me with valuable suggestions and guidance. And coffee. I could not have done this without you. I also need to thank to all my lunch-buddies at Blindern, especially Karianne and Ingrid for encouraging me through long hours at the library the last few months of the project. I would also like to thank all my fellow Nordic Media students for being a great class through these two years and for being available for support and help when needed. Lastly, a general thanks goes out to everyone outside of the student and master’s bubble that have dragged me out to the real world and given me some much needed distractions from time to time. Thank you everyone! VII VIII Table of contents 1 Introduction and background ............................................................................................. 1 1.1 The Innocence of Muslims controversy .................................................................................. 2 1.2 The Satanic Verses .......................................................................................................................... 4 1.3 The Mohammed cartoon crisis .................................................................................................. 5 1.4 Islam versus West ........................................................................................................................... 6 1.5 Copts and Muslims in Egypt ........................................................................................................ 7 1.6 Research questions ........................................................................................................................ 9 1.7 Structure .......................................................................................................................................... 10 2 Theoretical perspectives ..................................................................................................... 11 2.1 Globalisation................................................................................................................................... 11 2.2 Free speech ..................................................................................................................................... 13 2.3 Low quality ...................................................................................................................................... 30 3 Method ....................................................................................................................................... 31 3.1 Frames in news texts ................................................................................................................... 31 3.2 Content analysis ............................................................................................................................ 36 3.3 Data material .................................................................................................................................. 36 3.4 About the broadcasters .............................................................................................................. 37 3.5 Codebook ......................................................................................................................................... 43 4 The media presentation of Innocence of Muslims ...................................................... 48 4.1 Open sources in the news coverage ....................................................................................... 48 4.2 Main source ..................................................................................................................................... 50 4.3 Main frame ...................................................................................................................................... 55 4.4 Terror frame ................................................................................................................................... 58 4.5 Extreme ............................................................................................................................................ 59 4.6 Freedom of expression ............................................................................................................... 60 4.7 Summing up the results .............................................................................................................. 62 5 Free speech ............................................................................................................................... 64 5.1 Lack of authority ........................................................................................................................... 64 5.2 Low quality ...................................................................................................................................... 66 5.3 Individual responsibility............................................................................................................ 67 6 Concluding remarks .............................................................................................................. 69 6.1 The controversy ............................................................................................................................ 69 6.2 The media coverage ..................................................................................................................... 70 6.3 Lack of context ............................................................................................................................... 70 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................... 72 Appendix 1: Codebook ................................................................................................................. 77 Appendix 2: List of coded articles ........................................................................................... 79 IX 1 Introduction and background In the summer of 2011 there had been a casting in Los Angeles, USA, for a film called Desert Warriors made by an unknown filmmaker named Sam Bacile. According to Zuckerman (2013), the actors reported to have played the whole script out in front of a green screen, wearing turbans, robes and sandals. They were told it was a film about the life in Middle East 2,000 years ago, and the plot involved battle between warring tribes provoked by the arrival of a comet. The main person’s name was George, which some of the actors later said they found odd for a person supposedly living in the olden Middle East. “The script was so poorly written that the actors made fun of it between takes, and the director didn’t seem to care if the actors flubbed their lines, moving quickly from scene to scene” (Zuckerman, 2013, p. 31). When the clip appeared on the video sharing website YouTube
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