The Sultanate of Silence: A critical analysis of the Omani newspapers’ coverage of the 2011 protests A thesis submitted to Cardiff University in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Moza Abdullah Said Al-Rawahi Cardiff School of Journalism, Media, and Cultural Studies October 2019 * ii Dedication This thesis is dedicated in loving memory of my parents, Abdullah Al-Rawahi and Maryam Al-Aghbari. This work is in recognition of their dedication and devotion to the advancement of my education. I still remember the day when my mother sold her precious gold necklaces for the sake of my education. This one is for my parents. May their soul rest in peace. v Acknowledgement First and foremost, I would like to express my immense gratitude (shukr) to Allah, who eases my journey in the search for knowledge. I also owe a debt of gratitude to the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) in Oman, who granted me a scholarship to pursue my doctoral studies in journalism. I am deeply indebted to my respected supervisors Dr Stephen Cushion and Dr Arne Hintz for their invaluable guidance, constructive criticism, and passionate encouragement throughout my studies. I have benefited greatly from their extensive expertise and knowledge. I would also like to thank the staff at JOMEC, who gave me the opportunity to contribute to UG student learning by undertaking teaching for the Understanding Journalism module. Special thanks to the Bute Library staff who were always there for me, ready with offers of help. Thanks are also due to my Mum, who died a month before the completion of this thesis: “All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother” (Abraham Lincoln). I love you more than words can express. To my wonderful nine siblings, Ibtisam, Aymen, Moosa, Marwa, Abdulrahman, Eman, Issa, Abeer, and Amjed, without whose never-failing sympathy and encouragement this thesis would have been finished, I love you for that. A specific note of gratitude goes to my sister Marwa for her support, and for helping me in more ways than she will ever know. I would like to extend my warmest and most sincere thanks to my dearest husband, Abdul Rahman Al-Ghafri, who probably no longer remembers the many days of our honeymoon when I was busy writing my thesis. His constant sense of humour and banter, boundless love, and continuous patience helped me immeasurably, and I am looking forward to our life together without the thesis in it! A special thanks go to the young generation of Omanis who overcame their silence, paved the way for the 2011 protests in the country, and opened a new chapter in Oman history. Sincere thanks to the editors-in-chief, news editors, journalists, and columnists at the Oman Daily and Al-Watan news organizations for their cooperation. I will always be grateful to my friend Khloud Al-Mawali, who afforded me memorable personal support. Her motivational words kept pushing me forward all the time to overcome the many challenges. Also, I am fortunate to have been supported by a caring friend like Nurul Hidayah, who made the writing of a thesis feel a lot less like a solitary task. vi Abstract While many studies about the Arab Spring have been conducted, Oman has been largely omitted from scholarly debates. This dissertation aims to address this research gap by examining the role of two Omani newspapers (Oman Daily and Al-Watan) during the 2011 protests. It will analyse two aspects of Omani journalism: news content and news production practices. A content analysis of over 800 news stories over 74 days from both newspapers was conducted to examine how they represented the protests. A close examination of the newspapers agendas shows that news about the protests and public demands were ignored during January and February 2011. After the state made various concessions, media attention then focussed on the government’s response to public demands. However, when protests became more violent, the newspapers intensified their coverage about the demonstrations. Both newspapers engaged in more critical coverage, undermining the protests by focusing on patriotism, violence and internal divisions. This thesis also explores if and how the newspapers’ coverage differs from that of citizens’ debates in Sablat Oman forum, one of the most popular forums in the country in 2011. A sample of 1783 posts was collected from the forum within the same period of time. Semi structured interviews with 15 journalists from both newspapers show that journalists encountered several constraints in their reporting from inside and outside their organizations. Political pressure, however, was of paramount influence, which made journalists cautious to adopt an empowering representation of the protests. Overall, the study reinforces the ‘protest paradigm’ thesis long established in academic literature about the media representation of demonstrations, and argues that the politicized nature of the Omani media contributed to weaken protest coverage. Both newspapers acted as a sphere of ‘confirmed’ intellectuals (Spielhaus 2012, p. 8) that continued to serve the government instead of reflecting the Omanis’ concerns. vii List of contents Declaration…………………………………………………………………………. ii-iv Dedication…………………………………………………………………………….. v Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………….. vi Abstract………………………………………………………………………………. vii List of Contents………………………………………………………………… ..viii-xi List of Tables………………………………………………………………………… xii List of Figures……………………………………………………………………….. xiii Chapter One: Introduction……………………………………............................ 1-10 1.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………….. 2-3 1.2 Statement of the problem…………………………………………………………3-6 1.3 Objectives of this study……………………………………………………………6 1.4 The main questions of the study………………………………………………….7 1.5 Significance of the study…………………………………………………………...7-8 1.6 Scope of the thesis…………………………………………………………………8-9 1.7 Structure of the thesis……………………………………………………………...9-10 Chapter Two: Media roles, the sociology of news production and the public sphere……………………………………………………………………………… 11-41 2.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………… 12 2.2 Early media effects theories…………………………………………………. .12-14 2.3 The disparate roles of journalism……………………………………………..14-16 2.3.1 Watchdog……………………………………………………………………...16-17 2.3.2 Agenda setter…………………………………………………………………17-19 2.3.3 Gatekeeper……………………………………………………………………19-20 2.4 Influences on journalism and media content…………………………….. …21-22 2.4.1 Influences of media routines……………………………………………...…22-23 2.4.1.1 News values……………………………………………………………….. 23-25 2.4.1.2 News framing……………………………………………………………….25-26 2.4.1.2.1 Protest paradigm………………………………………………………...27-30 2.4.1.3 Source-journalist interaction…………………………………………..….30-34 2.4.1.3.1 The domination of elite sources………………………………………..30-31 2.4.1.3.2 The changing environment: Prominence of citizen sources……......31-33 2.4.1.3.3 Unnamed and anonymous sources…………………………...…..…..33-34 2.4.2 Influences on content from outside of media organizations………….... 34-37 2.5 A critical reflection of the public sphere…………………………………......37-39 2.5.1 Distrust of representation: Public sphere and the media………………. 39-40 2.6 Summary……………………………………………………………….……….40-41 Chapter Three: Citizen journalism in the digital era……………………….... 42-66 3.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………….43 3.2 The internet…………………………………………………………………….. 43-44 3.2.1 The internet and public sphere………………………………………..…… 45-47 3.3 Social Media, interactivity and participation…........................................... 47-50 3.4 Contemporary citizen journalism……………………………………...…..…. 50-51 3.5 Citizen journalism and social change……………………………...……....... 51-52 3.6 The role of citizen journalism………………………………………........…… 52-59 viii 3.6.1 Citizen journalism as a watchdog………………………………………… 52-55 3.6.2 Citizen Journalism as agenda setter…………………………………….. 55-57 3.6.3 Citizen Journalism as a gatekeeper……………………………………… 57-59 3.7 The role of social media upon the social unrest of the Arab Spring……. 59-61 3.7.1 Traditional media vs. citizen journalism: Comparing news and information coverage during the Arab uprising………………………………………………..61-65 3.8 Summary………………………………………………………………………. 65-66 Chapter Four: Oman and Omani media……………………………………… 67-95 4.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………….………….68 4.2 Oman's geopolitics, economy and society…………………………….……….. 68 4.2.1 Geography……………………………………………………………….…….68-69 4.2.2 People…………………………………………………………………….………. 70 4.2.3 The administrative system and legal structure…………………….…….. 70-71 4.2.4 Economic……………………………………………………………….………72-74 4.3 Omani media…………………………………………………………….…………..74 4.3.1 Oman News Agency………………………………………………………… 74-75 4.3.2 Omani press: Omani daily newspapers…………………………………… 75-79 4.4 The Publications and Publishing Law (PPL) in Oman……………………....79-80 4.5 Identifying restrains on freedom of the press in the law of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries………………………………………….....80-82 4.5.1 Legitimate areas of press restriction of the six Arabian Peninsula countries…………………….………………………………………………………. 82-84 4.6 Omani media in normative media theories……………….………………… 84-86 4.7 Pro-democracy protests in Oman prior 2011………………….…………….86-87 4.7.1 The 2011 popular protests in the country……………………….……….. 87-91 4.8 Online activism in Oman……………………………………………………… 91-95 4.9 Conclusion……………………………………………………………..………..95 Chapter Five: Methodology…………………………………………..……….96-113 5.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………..97-98 5.2 Research questions………………………………………………………….. 98-100 5.3 Research methods……………………………………………………………