how Al-Jazeera and BBC media channels represented the main incidents of Arab Spring uprising

how Al-Jazeera and BBC media channels represented the main incidents of Arab Spring uprising

Research Question

The research question is to investigate how Al-Jazeera and BBC media channels represented the main incidents of Arab Spring uprising. The research will also examine whether this representation was influenced by any ideology both BBC and Al Jazeera attempted to promote.

Abstract

The media in the Arab World has witnessed a radical shift, as seen from the beginning of the 1990s. The radical shift is attributed to the emergence of a broad range of private satellite-TV channels in different Arab countries. Channels such as Al-Jazeera, Middle East Broadcasting Center, and BBC have rapidly turn out to be top Arab channels in the realms of news broadcasting, education as well as entertainment. The Arab spring results as a reaction to the recession witnessed in the economic, political, and social systems in the Arab World. Many scholars believe that these transnational channels have made a significant impact by challenging the conventional approach of those channels owned by the government.

Additionally, most scholars still argue that despite the smooth flow of capital as well as the image of the contemporary Arab television, there is still a challenge of having access to trustworthy information. The problem is because most of these governments still have control over the production and distribution of visual media. From observing Arab Spring Uprising (ASU), one is likely to notice the democratic revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and other Arabian countries are associated with certain factors, including media channels, which played a significant role in shaping those revolutions. Considerable interest is in this research is that despite the unifying contribution of the satellite TV channels, in which the individual national challenges are cast as universal, regional worries, social development, and democratization have still suffered.

The significance of this research is that it will provide a sense of how Arab spring, which is a historical event, came into being by examining factors that interplayed in its establishment from a broad perspective. The research will explain these factors by emphasizing different sets of factors. Some of these factors include immediate factors, which involve people’s quest for economic and social justice, people’s search for political and social liberties, as well as their desire for respect and dignity based on the frustration experienced during oppressive leaderships. The research will illustrate the impact of media and media channels in guiding local people as well as how media influence these local people deeply.

Literature Review

The ultimate purpose of this study is to shed light on how media portray the main incidents of the Arab Spring and its associated effects on students and staff at one of the universities in Libya, University of Tripoli. Therefore, it is vital to elaborate on as well as contextualizing the status of higher education in Arabian World, which in this case will be Libya. The elaboration is crucial as it makes it possible to reach a comprehensive understanding of the potential impacts of mass media on the Libyan higher education.

One of the works to review is on the impacts of the armed conflicts on education from the Arabian context and global context. From this review, tangible clues about the adverse effects of war, as well as armed conflict on people’s lives, including education, are obtained. According to Davies (2012), armed conflict among countries can negatively affect the quality of education among the countries involved in those conflicts. Adverse impacts on the quality of education can be higher if the dispute is within the country, i.e., civil war (Dalacoura, 2012). Statistics on conflicts indicate that internal conflicts are more frequent and more devastating than disputes among nations. Civil wars that have been witnessed in the Middle have had a direct impact on the quality of education (Davies, 2012). Armed civil wars contribute a significant role in the deemed ‘brain drain’ from the institutions of higher education. From these pieces of literature, it can be concluded that armed civil conflicts result in both short-term and long-term disparaging impacts, which might remain engrained in the regions experiencing the conflicts. Bruck et al. (2014) studied the effects of the Israeli-Palestinian war on the likelihood to excel in the final high-school exam, which are requirements for Palestinian students to join the various universities in the West Bank. The study focused on the within-school variation, which has a relation with the number of fatalities caused by the conflict during the academic year. The findings of the study show that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict contributed significantly to the reduced likelihood of passing the final exam used in enrolling students at universities.

Another area of literature to review is the impacts of the Arab Spring on Libyan Education. In 2011 an armed conflict occurred in Libya as a result of ASU affecting everyday aspects of life in the country, particularly education. According to Hakimian (2011), ASU in Libya disrupted economic growth and advancement in education, health, employment, housing, and nutrition. The study also indicated that conflict had a significant effect on the provision and service delivery of education due to the fact that educational infrastructure was massively destroyed. Detrie (2011) also indicates that a substantial number of universities in Libya were closed or were conducting shoestring services as from the beginning of the Libyan Arab Spring. Miliszweska and Rhema (2012) did a study investigating the recent Libyan crisis concentrating on political crisis, armed civil conflict as well as the damage put on high education system. The study found that most universities were shut down due to the shortage of instructors both from Libya and other countries.

Another area of the literature review is the political role of the media. Multiple studies have underlined the role the media plays and how it can be applied to attain specific political, social, and educational goals. Several studies indicate that media can be used as an instrument to manipulate individuals’ perspectives and views. Media can also be used as a tool for social communication. According to Moran, Seaman, and Tinti-Kane (2011), media can be used as an educational tool if it is appropriately censored and heavily controlled. Moran, Seaman, and Tinti-Kane (2011), also indicates that media, particularly social media, can be used as an instrument to spread views as it allows individuals to share content with anyone having internet access. Lerman, Rudich, and Shahar (2013) studied media exposure effects on learning during the Persian Gulf War. From the study, findings indicate that media exposure can result in familiarity with the main events of the war, which is image-oriented information. Another important research shows that media triggers local participation in politics (Loader, Vromen & Xenos, 2014).

Additionally, according to (Loader, Vromen, and Xenos (2014), media plays a direct role in influencing individuals’ participation in selective political processes. Also, Gerber et al. (2009), in his study, found that the media plays a significant role in manipulating the voters’ opinion during elections. In conclusion, these works of literature indicate that media plays a vital role in shaping the political standpoints and views of persons

The role of media in the Arab Spring is also another critical area of reviewing the literature. In this segment, the works that address the role of media in incidents of ASU are reviewed. Ghannam (2011) examined how social media led o Arab Spring. The study’s findings indicate that social media has changed the expectations of freedom of association and expression to the extent that collective and individual capacities to communicate, gain technical knowledge and mobilize are expected to result in a significant voice, political participation, and influence. Castells (2011) investigate the role of Al-Jazeera in Arab Spring incidents. The study’s findings indicate that Al-Jazeera collected information that was spread on the internet by persons who used to use them as sources and established groups in social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, then retransmitting the free news on smartphones.

Research Methodology

The research thesis will investigate how the Al-Jazeera and BBC media channels affect the staff and students in one of the Arabian University, University of Tripoli, through their major Arab spring uprisings in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia. The nature of the methodology approach will be qualitative. The study will apply 40 semi-structured interviews; 20 interviews will be conducted with students and the other 20 interviews with the staff. To gain further evidence concerning staff’s and students’ experience as well as their personal views towards the Al-Jazeera and BBC channels, ten articles (5 articles for each group) relating to critical events of the ASU were meticulously analyzed by applying the assumptions of Systematic Functional Linguistics and Critical Discourse.

In order to uncover how Al-Jazeera and BBC present the main incidents of the Arab Spring Uprisings (ASU), the study will employ the important tenets of Systemic Functional Linguistics as well as Critical Discourse Analysis. Applying Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) helps analyze the transparent and opaque structural relationships of discrimination, power, control, and dominance as manifested in language. Embedded on the main principles of CDA, the research seeks to outline how both Al-Jazeera and BBC make use of power, hegemony, and ideology portrayed on the significant incidents of the ASU. Systematic Functional Linguistics (SFL) principle will be applied in the study to illustrate how the specific selected ASU incident is rendered as an instrument to attain certain ideological tenacities, particularly by the Al-Jazeera. All interviewees at least agree that the channel uses some elements of manipulation

.

A semi-structured interview is one of the most recommended ways to provoke information in qualitative research. A semi-structured interview will be essential in this study as it enables the researcher to guide the interview while also ensuring that the respondents address the main issues defined in the topic under scrutiny.

Dissertation Chapters Outline

Chapter I: this chapter will mainly focus on the background and context of the study question. Definition of the term Arab Spring Uprising will be discussed; incidents of ASU in various Arabian countries such as Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia will be discussed. The historical background of ASU will also be highlighted in this chapter.

Chapter II: This chapter will focus on the literature review. The works of literature will be viewed from a broad perspective. Pieces of literature on the impacts of armed conflict on education, the impacts of ASU in Libyan education, the political role of media, and the role of media in ASU will be reviewed.

Chapter III: The chapter will focus on research methods and methodology. Methods used in conducting the research and criteria used to select them will be discussed in this chapter.

Chapter IV: This chapter will focus on data analysis.

Chapter V: Discussion of the research findings.

Chapter VI: This chapter will discuss the conclusions and recommendations of the research.

Bibliography

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Brück, T., Di Maio, M., & Miaari, S. H. (2014). Learning the hard way: The effect of violent conflict on student academic achievement.

Castells, M. (2011). The rise of the network society (Vol. 12). John Wiley & sons.

Dalacoura, K. (2012). The 2011 uprisings in the Arab Middle East: political change and geopolitical implications. International Affairs, 88(1), 63-79.

Davies, L. (2012). Teaching about Conflict through Citizenship Education. In Citizenship, Education, and Social Conflict (pp. 114-133). Routledge.

Ghannam, J. (2011). Social Media in the Arab World: Leading up to the Uprisings of 2011. Center for international media assistance, 3(1), 1-44.

Hakimian, H. (2011). The economic prospects of the ‘Arab Spring’: A bumpy road ahead. CDPR Development ViewPoint, (63), 1-2.

Lerman, S. F., Rudich, Z., & Shahar, G. (2013). Does war hurt? Effects of media exposure after missile attacks on chronic pain. Journal of clinical psychology in medical settings, 20(1), 56-63.

Loader, B. D., Vromen, A., & Xenos, M. A. (2014). The networked young citizen: social media, political participation, and civic engagement.

Moran, M., Seaman, J., & Tinti-Kane, H. (2011). Teaching, Learning, and Sharing: How Today’s Higher Education Faculty Use Social Media. Babson Survey Research Group.

Vitak, J., Zube, P., Smock, A., Carr, C. T., Ellison, N., & Lampe, C. (2011). It’s complicated: Facebook users’ political participation in the 2008 election. CyberPsychology, Behavior, and social networking, 14(3), 107-114.