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- Volume 12, Issue 1, 2019
Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research - Volume 12, Issue 1, 2019
Volume 12, Issue 1, 2019
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A critical discourse analysis of Saudi Okaz newspaper front-page headlines: A case study
Authors: Tariq Elyas and Najwa Ali Al-ZahraniThe present article aims to probe the language used in one Saudi newspaper, Okaz. It investigates the application of the critical discourse analysis on newspaper texts. Special attention was paid to front-page headlines. This study seeks to examine the textual features and the discursive features of Okaz newspaper. To achieve this goal, fourteen prints from Okaz were considered in the analysis. The findings revealed that language is used intelligently in three linguistic aspects: semantics, syntax and lexical morphology while it lacked phonological features. It also reveals that Okaz uses various discursive strategies to represent these textual features such as consensus, disclaimer, numbers and statistics, humanitarianism, illegality, vagueness, intertextuality and trope. Finally, the data analysis shows how do these discursive features employed to indicate a profound understanding of the Saudi culture and its society.
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Press freedom and political instability in the Arab world: An empirical investigation
More LessThe purpose of this article is to empirically test the effect of press freedom on political instability in a sample of fifteen Arab countries for the 2006–15 period. Statistical analysis offers a significant effect of press freedom on political instability. However, when democracy, GDP annual growth and GDP per capita annual growth are taken into account, a fragile mixed positive and negative effect exists. Yet, the findings emphasize a significant interaction effect of press freedom and freedom on political instability. An interesting result is that Arab Spring has not positively affected the relationship between press freedom and political instability.
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Hashtag Unity: Qatar’s digital nationalism in the Gulf crisis
By Nurgul OrucThis article examines digital expressions of solidarity and unity that emerged on social media platforms in Qatar following the outbreak of the Gulf crisis in June 2017. The study undertakes an analysis of public tweets on the social network site Twitter published around Arabic hashtags in Twitter’s Qatar trends in the first two weeks of the blockade. The hashtags attracted thousands of users to form a digitally connected public calling for national unity and solidarity. An qualitative analysis of a sample from 402,962 tweets published around these hashtags reveals that users expressed national unity and solidarity through both visual and textual displays of strength, resilience, loyalty and pride. The article argues that following their emergence, the hashtags not only aimed to cement resistance against the blockade imposed on Qatar but also to forge a national identity that was centred on the persona of the nation’s leader, Sheikh Tamim Al-Thani, while denouncing social and cultural divisions that stemmed from transnational tribal identities.
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The democratic consequences of online media consumption in post-revolutionary Egypt
More LessConsiderable academic focus has been directed towards exploring the roles played by online media in initiating and shaping Egypt’s uprisings experienced since 2011. However, little is known about whether electronic media outlets remained a political agent in post-revolutionary Egypt or not. The current work seeks to redress this gap, relying on unique data collected in April 2016 from a representative sample of 1200 Egyptian adults. Findings show that electronic media consumption leads to increased demands for democratic regimes and negative positions towards Islamic governments. Furthermore, online media use enhances citizens’ protesting behaviour rather than voting action. In the online domain, electronic media exposure instigates more online political activism among online media users. Arguably, the current work concludes that online media have still been a potent democratizing actor in today’s Egypt as it had been during the 2011 and 2013 insurgencies, yet taking different forms and diverse degrees.
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Reshaping representation of race relations in the age of new media: A case study of Chapeltown in Leeds, UK
By Irfan RajaThis study examines the role and the impact of new media in the Chapeltown area of Leeds in the North of England. Drawing on in-depth interviews and personal observations, it traces incredible illustrations of mutual cooperation among people of different faiths and ethnicities who come together to celebrate Carnival and Vaisakhi and enjoy food during Ramadan in the local mosques. Also, it finds that despite the differences among communities of various cultural and religious backgrounds, the takeaway lesson here in Chapeltown is that communities can be united for a common goal. For instance, people can struggle side-by-side to overcome social ills and challenge negative press by effectively using new media technologies.
This study argues that most sections of the British press need to review their attitude towards ethnic minorities that is to change the reporting approach and practice investigative journalism.
Review of the history of Chapeltown’s early migrants, the British Jews, suggests that high levels of education and becoming part of the mainstream literacy circles in both universities and mainstream media can improve the representation of ethnic minorities. Furthermore, unless members of the ethnic minorities become part of the mainstream media it will be difficult for them to improve their media representation.
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Brides vs fighters in the media lens: Orientalism, Islamophobia and gender in media discourse on international recruits to ISIS
More LessThis article examines how the media represents women and men who have left their home countries to join ISIS. It will look at the dual phenomenon of ‘Jihadi Brides’ and ‘Foreign Fighters’, both terms coined by the media, and seek to uncover gender discrimination inherent therein. Beyond gender stereotypes, it will also examine Islamophobic and Orientalist tropes that add an additional layer of othering to Muslim women. The theoretical framework used in this study will be Framing Theory, frameworks which look at women in violent organizations, Systemic Functional Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis. The thesis will use Corpus Linguistics, as a methodology to achieve its results, using the publicly available News on the Web (NOW) corpus as a database.
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