The Road to the White House through Arab Eyes: Analysis of Frames and Credibility as Presented by Alarabiya, Alhurra and Aljazeera A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Lama Mohammed Alhammouri School of Social Sciences – Sociology and Communication Brunel University June 2013 1 THE ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE THROUGH ARAB EYES: ANALYSIS OF FRAMES AND CREDIBILITY AS PRESENTED BY ALARABIYA, ALHURRA AND ALJAZEERA: ABSTRACT The study looks into the 2008 American Presidential Election from two sides; the way the news channels frame the event and the way a sample of the audiences interpret it. Drawing on literature concerning framing theory which describes the practices employed by mass media to present world events in familiar and understandable formats to audiences, the study examines the coverage of the 2008 American Presidential Election on three trans-border news channels broadcasting in Arabic. A number of stories covering the American election campaign broadcasted on Alarabiya, Alhurra and Aljazeera, are included. The study assesses general frames used to describe the event by each channel. The analysis reports the frames generally employed by the three channels are relatively similar, suggesting a global effect on the media in following the Anglo-American model of journalism when reporting international events. The differences appear when reporting regional issues between the two Arabic trans-border channels Alarabiya and Aljazeera on one side and Alhurra on the other suggesting a link between journalistic ideology and framing. The second part of this thesis is the exploratory audience study which attempts to provide insights into perception of Arab news coverage - particularly in Saudi Arabia. The audience study uses a questionnaire and focus group methodologies on a sample of participants with high television news consumption levels, measuring the perception of news channels credibility in specific and credibility of media in general, and exploring the possible presence of a link between consumption level of news and perceived news credibility. Moreover, examining how audience analyse news and how their opinions about the event have been shaped by media framing. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. 1 LIST OF TABLES......................................................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................ 6 1.1 TRANS-BORDER MEDIA AND THE AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION .................................. 9 1.2 THE RATIONALE ............................................................................................................. 11 1.3 STRUCTURE OF THE STUDY ............................................................................................... 16 CHAPTER 2 - TRANS-BORDER CHANNELS IN THE MIDDLE EAST ................................................... 19 2.1 NEWS CHANNELS IN THE STUDY ....................................................................................... 29 2.1.1 Alarabiya News: an Overview ............................................................................................. 29 2.1.2 Alhurra News: an Overview .................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.1.3 Aljazeera News: an Overview .................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER 3 - LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................................... 42 3.1 THE MEDIA AND GLOBALISATION ..................................................................................... 42 3.2 NEWS FRAMING ANALYSIS AND AUDIENCE CREDIBILITY PERCEPTION: BACKGROUND...53 3.3 MEDIA FRAMING ............................................................................................................. 55 3.3.1 Framing Practices ................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.3.2 Framing Analysis of the American Presidential Election ....... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.4 AUDIENCE PERCEPTION OF CREDIBILITY ........................................................................... 76 3.5 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................. 88 CHAPTER 4 - METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................................... 92 4.1 STUDY BACKGROUND ....................................................................................................... 92 4.2 RESEARCH QUESTION ...................................................................................................... 95 4.3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................. 97 4.4 THE CONTENT OF THE STUDY .......................................................................................... 101 4.5LIMITATIONS………………………………………………………………110 4.5 CHAPTER SUMMARY ...................................................................................................... 111 CHAPTER 5 - NEWS ANALYSIS FINDINGS ............................................................................................. 113 3 5.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 113 5.1.1 The American Model ......................................................................................................... 114 5.1.2 Framing Analysis ............................................................................................................... 114 5.2 NEWS SAMPLES: OVERVIEW ........................................................................................... 115 5.2.1 First Sample: Last Primary ............................................................................................... 114 5.2.2 Second Sample: Parties’ Conventions - August and September 2008 .............................. 119 5.2.3 Third Sample: Election Day - November 2008 ................................................................. 124 5.2.4 Fourth Sample: Inauguration Day - January 2009 .......................................................... 140 5.3 THE OVERALL/GENERAL FRAMES .................................................................................. 142 5.3.1 Horse-race ......................................................................................................................... 144 5.3.2 Human Interest Stories ..................................................................................................... 147 5.3.3 Conflict ............................................................................................................................... 150 5.3.4 Issue/Policy ....................................................................................................................... 153 5.3.5 Regional and Local Interest .............................................................................................. 157 5.3.6 Historic Victory .................................................................................................................. 157 5.4 OBAMA AND THE RACIAL DISCOURSE .............................................................................. 158 5.5 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................... 164 CHAPTER 6 - AUDIENCE CREDIBILITY FINDINGS .............................................................................. 167 6.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 167 6.2 REGIONAL OVERVIEW .................................................................................................... 167 6.3 SAUDI ARABIA - AUDIENCE RESULTS ............................................................................... 173 6.4 FINDINGS OF THE FOCUS GROUPS.................................................................................... 173 6.5 FINDINGS OF THE AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE .................................................................. 184 6.5.1 News Watching Habits ...................................................................................................... 184 6.5.2 News Media Reliance ......................................................................................................... 185 6.5.3 News Media Credibility Perception ................................................................................... 188 6.5.4 Credibility Perception vs. Exposure to Alarabiya, Alhurra and Aljazeera ....................... 189 6.5.5 Arab News Media General Evaluation .............................................................................. 193 6.5.6 News about the American Presidential Election .............................................................. 195 6.6 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................... 199 CHAPTER 7 - CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................................... 205 7.1 LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE WORK ....................................................... 213 s 4 List of