WestminsterResearch http://www.westminster.ac.uk/westminsterresearch BBC Arabic TV Service and the Lebanese Audience(s): Can They Engage with Each Other? Makki, O. A PhD thesis awarded by the University of Westminster. © Miss Ola Makki, 2019. The WestminsterResearch online digital archive at the University of Westminster aims to make the research output of the University available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the authors and/or copyright owners. Whilst further distribution of specific materials from within this archive is forbidden, you may freely distribute the URL of WestminsterResearch: ((http://westminsterresearch.wmin.ac.uk/). In case of abuse or copyright appearing without permission e-mail [email protected] BBC Arabic TV Service and the Lebanese Audience(s): Can They Engage with Each Other? Ola Makki A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements by the University of Westminster for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy October, 2019 1 Declaration I declare that all the material contained in this thesis is my own work. Acknowledgement My deepest appreciation and gratitude to all those who supported me throughout this arduous journey. This would be my lovely big family, my friends and all those who gave an advice, a push to keep going, and a pat on the shoulder. 2 Abstract Foreign Arabic speaking channels exist for a reason: to influence. The birth of these channels has been in reaction to political developments which press the nations they are attached to, to speak to foreign audiences. They form one of the most reliable tools for a country’s practice of soft power. BBC Arabic service is no exception. The urge to speak to Arab audiences was related to the high rivalry that the service faced from other pan-Arab channels. Within this context, this study investigates the relationship between BBC Arabic TV and the Lebanese audiences by exploring how BBC Arabic service and the audiences see, perceive and understand each other. The research studies the Arabic service from a political and economic perspective to understand how its milieu impact and influence its relationship with the British establishment as well as the audiences. In addition, critical discourse analysis is used to explore the discursive language BBCATV uses in speaking to audiences by analyzing four BBCATV produced documentaries. This research also studies the Lebanese audiences to understand if what BBCATV offers resonate with their needs, how they see BBCATV, what they expect of it and how they think it sees them. The fieldwork of this study takes place in Lebanon and among the young and educated whom the channel aims to address. The data was obtained through doing focus groups where participants watched and discussed the four documentaries. The results show that BBCA is governed by its milieu and that it still speaks to the audiences as if it is isolated and in need of BBCA to educate and inform them. The findings from the Lebanese audience’s data showed that they have a lack of trust of BBCATV because of its identity as a British organization; they expect media to engage in their societies’ causes therefore they feel detached from BBCATV. The findings also showed that the Lebanese audiences are diverse and have different needs, different expectations of BBCATV and different interpretations to how BBCATV sees them. To conclude, the study shows that Arab audience is in fact audience(s) which is seen, understood and addressed by BBCATV as one lump and which stems from an imperialist perception of the Arab world as one which needs change and modernization according to the western model whether in values or politics. 3 TABLE OF CONTENT Chapter One: Introduction 1.1 International Broadcasters 9 1.2 Research Problem and Questions 12 1.3 BBC Arabic TV and the Lebanese Audiences: An Unexplored Relationship 13 1.4 Objectives of the Study 15 1.5 Realities and Realisations during Fieldwork 17 1.6 Outline of the Chapters 19 Chapter Two: Theoretical Framework 2.1 Introduction 22 2.2 Audience and Medium 23 2.2.1 Audience as Passive: Media Effects 24 2.2.2 Audience as active: Hall’s Encoding Decoding Model 27 2.2.3 Audience studies: Finding an inroad between Mass Communication and Cultural Studies 30 2.3 Propaganda Model 33 2.3.1 Criticism of the Propaganda Model 34 2.3.2 The Propaganda Model and the BBC: A New Perspective 37 2.4 Cultural Imperialism 39 2.4.1 Cultural Imperialism and Media 40 2.4.2 Criticism to cultural imperialism: Dilemma of Definition and Practice 42 2.5 Globalization 44 2.5.1 The Glocalization of International Media 46 2.5.2 Global Media and Resistance, Audiences, and Resistance 48 2.6 Summary 51 Chapter Three: Methodology 3.1 Introduction 52 3.2 Focus Groups 53 3.3 Design of Focus Groups 54 4 3.4 Challenges in Lebanon 56 3.4.1 Lebanon and Focus Groups Research 56 3.4.2 Snowballing and Gatekeepers 58 3.4.3 Focus Groups in Practice 61 3.4.4 The Participants 63 3.4.5 The Moderator 65 3.4.6 Interviewing Style 68 3.5 Critical Discourse Analysis 69 3.5.1 Fairclough’s Three-Dimensional Model 70 3.5.2 BBCATV Production and Ideology 71 3.5.3 Limitations of CDA 73 3.6 Elite Interviews 75 3.6.1 Interviewing Colleagues 76 3.6.2 Elite Interviewing for this Research 76 3.7 Participant Observation 77 3.7.1 Types of Participant Observers 78 3.7.2 Access, Data Collection, Recording 78 3.7.3 Interviewing Styles 79 3.8 Summary 79 Chapter Four: The Political Economy of the BBC Arabic TV 4.1 Introduction 81 4.2 BBC Arabic Service: The Reactional Birth 82 4.3 BBC Arabic Service and FCO: Ownership and Control 85 4.3.1 BBC Arabic Service: A propaganda Tool or an independent Broadcaster 86 4.3.2 FCO and BBCA 90 4.4 BBCA Identity 94 4.5 The Diaspora Diplomacy 97 4.6 Challenges of the Arab Media Market 102 4.7 Conclusion 105 5 Chapter Five: Audience Reception and BBCA in a Changing Media Environment 5.1 Introduction 108 5.2 BBCA: Audience Research 108 5.2.1 Arab Audience Complexities 111 5.2.2 BBC Arabic TV and Audiences in a Changing Media Environment 114 5.3 Lebanon’s Sectarian Rule 117 5.4 Lebanese Media, Audiences, and Confessionalism 122 5.5 Conclusion 125 Chapter Six: Focus Groups: Audiences’ Perception of how BBC Sees Them 6.1 Introduction 126 6.2 Themes 126 6.3 Method 127 6.4 The Role of the Media: Raising Awareness and Giving Solutions 128 6.5 Cultural Clash 136 6.6 Stereotypes and Images 139 6.7 Detachment 142 6.8 BBC’s Political Bias 146 6.8.1 BBC’s Pro-Israeli Coverage 147 6.8.2 Images of Sympathy to Israel 151 6.8.3 The Image of the Lebanese people 156 6.9 Lack of Trust and Engagement 161 6.10 Conclusion 165 Chapter Seven: Critical Discourse Analysis of BBCATV Documentaries 7.1 Introduction 167 7.2 Ma La Yuqal Programme 168 7.3 Africa… The Upcoming Battle 169 7.3.1 Interpretation 170 7.3.2 Subjects’ position: The Demonising Image 171 6 7.3.3 Visual Analysis 183 7.3.4 Explanation 185 7.4 Jews of Lebanon… Loyalty to Whom? 189 7.4.1 Interpretation 189 7.4.2 Textual Analysis: Discourse of Memory and Amnesia 191 7.4.3 7.4.3 Visual Analysis 197 7.4.4 Explanation 199 7.5 Je Suis Gay 201 7.5.1 Interpretation 201 7.5.2 Textual Analysis: Discourse of Sympathy 202 7.5.3 Visual Analysis 215 7.5.4 Explanation 218 7.6 Buried Secrets 220 7.6.1 Interpretation 220 7.6.2 Subject positions: Tradition 221 7.6.3 Visual Analysis 228 7.6.4 Explanation 230 7.7 Conclusion 232 Chapter Eight: Conclusion 8.1 Introduction 234 8.2 The Lebanese Audience(s) 234 8.2.1 Lebanese Audiences and their Understanding of the role of the Media 235 8.2.2 Cultural Difference and Detachment 236 8.2.3 BBCA Political Bias and Stereotypes 237 8.3 International Broadcasters: A Foreign Policy Necessity 238 8.3.1 BBCATV: A British Service with an Arabic Accent 239 8.3.2 The Dilemmas of ‘Global’ Media 242 8.4 BBCA Discourse 243 8.5 Limitations of this Research 244 8.6 Recommendations for future Researchers 245 8.7 Conclusion 246 Bibliography 246 7 Appendices 283 8 Chapter One Introduction 1.1 International Broadcasters In an interval of less than ten years the Arab world have seen eight international broadcasters launching in Arabic. This period stretches from 2004 the Iraq invasion up through the Arab Spring at a time when the Arab media market have already expanded since the 1990s with the satellite revolution. The Arab world has come a long way from having only state media that reflect the views of the government to having transborder media that can broadcast with less control from governments. This is not to say that government do not attempt to clamp down on these channels’ freedom of expression1, but Arab media have expanded in multiple forms offering audiences different genre of output2. MBC, the Saudi channel that launched in London in 1991 offered programmes modelled on the Western programming style and format (PBS; 2007). The most crucial aspect of this broadening of Arab media market was the launch of Aljazeera and Al-Arabiya, two pan-Arab news channels that offered audiences content so they no longer needed to rely on western media for news of their own region (see CNN coverage of the first Gulf war or the coverage of the Israeli Palestinian conflict, Henderson; 2000).