Ideological Disparity, and the Transnational News Network Page 1 Mohammed El-Khatib November 2, 2009 Critical Studies in Journalism Professor Kimberly Meltzer Research Project Abstract Efforts by transnational news agencies to localize news gathering to their different audiences has parallel concerns over ideological disparity between the different office bureaus. Drawing upon Chang’s localization theory (2001), Warren Breed’s “Newsroom Sociology framework” and Barbie Zelizer’s theory on journalistic norms, This paper seeks to examine the ways in which ideological disparity is manifest within such an environment, using comparative content analysis of Al-Jazeera’s English and Arabic websites around coverage of the Israeli offensive on Gaza in January 2008, and through qualitative analysis of second source material on high profile instances involving editorial friction at Al Jazeera. Initial findings from both data sets point to ideological disparity at the station suggesting that editorial friction between the two bureaus is significant. Ideological Disparity, and the Transnational News Network Page 2 Ideological Disparity, and the Transnational News Network: A Comparative Case of Al-Jazeera Arabic and English. Introduction Much like the product localization initiatives that followed the emergence of multi-national corporations and trade liberalization policies in the early eighties, transnational news broadcasters have sought to undertake similar strategies in their attempts to expand into other markets, namely through establishing regional news bureaus or franchise outfits that conform to the cultural and lingual norms of their target audiences. The Arab satellite news broadcasting arena serves as a compelling case study of this phenomenon at work with a surge in localized western exports or ‘franchises’ hitting Arabic satellite waves in recent years. Alongside the two local news giants Al-Arabiyah and Al-Jazeera, foreign news exports from MSNBC Arabic, and Al Hurra TV (a television offshoot off of the US state Department’s Voice of America), to BBC’s Arabic offshoot have sought to capitalize on one the most news-rich corners of the globe. Even more fascinating is the launch of Al Jazeera English in November 2006 signals a strategy by the original Arabic channel to diversify into English-speaking markets- a first by any Arabiclanguage media institution. The emergence of the foreign broadcast outfits within transnational news organizations has created a unique set of challenges in the way the news is delivered. First, the ability to broadcast in Arabic has shifted accessibility from the English-speaking elite in the Arab world to a much wider audience, one beholden to significantly different ideologies and interests (Amin 1999). Second, for operators to be competitive in the region, broadcasters have had to develop the Ideological Disparity, and the Transnational News Network Page 3 necessary apparatus to cover local centered issues. This goes beyond simply hiring and training local journalists or emulating local institutions; in addition to these measures, institutions have had to accommodate local newsroom norms. Scholars and industry analysts have noted for example that Arab reporters tended to be more emotional invested and responsive to the issues they are covering (El-Nawawwy 2004). Under a normative framework, the transnational broadcaster would be able to establish as wide an audience reach as possible while minimizing the impact of editorial variance between the different bureaus and offices on the ideological core of the institution. This ideal can be approached by either (1) severely dimming or restricting the leverage of editorial structures within the organization and adopting a technical approach to news sourcing and covering, or by (2) Relying on methods to enforce strict editorial contiguity that keep the satellite bureau in line with the ideological framework of the broadcaster as a whole. While both measures seek to minimize editorial friction between the different bureaus, this becomes problematic when dealing with two antagonistic editorial cultures. Both David Marash’s departure from Al-Jazeera English in mid-2007 and the ensuing fallout between reporters from that channel and its Arabic counterpart over editorial centrality- serve as examples of how conflict can arise out of the need to reinforce an overarching ideological center over a foreign or ‘activist’ bureau. While these two incidents highlight typical scenarios that occur frequently within newsrooms, they do more by calling into question theoretical models that view transnational news organizations as ideological monolithic institutions. Indeed, studies of the globalization and information industries have tended to rely on this interpretation while failing to account for the internal socio-cultural dynamics that create ideological disparity within institutions. Ideological Disparity, and the Transnational News Network Page 4 To that end, this paper seeks to explore how such disparate cultural and ideological norms operate within a transnational news agency, the conditions under which they come to fruition, and the implications on the agenda-setting protocols of the organization as a whole (McCombs & Shaw 1972). The research questions I will explore are: RQ1. Under what conditions does ideological disparity occur at Al-Jazeera? RQ2. How deep is the ideological rift between the two channels? RQ3. What are the broader implications for this study on Agenda-setting within the broader transnational news community? My methodology will pursue qualitative and quantitative analyses to determine the emergence of ideological disparity and the conditions the lead to editorial friction, using Al Jazeera as a case study, I explore endogenous and exogenous factors that point towards ideological friction at Al Jazeera by analyzing conditions where ideological disparity is apparent, particularly through the lens of (1) Audience formation, (2) newsroom culture and lastly, (3) Journalistic community norms. My methodology will involve framing these three factors within the context of AJA’s relationship to AJE, particularly through the study of existing academic literature on the channel and second source articles involving recent high profile cases of fallout between the two bureaus. I support this argument with findings from parallel content analysis between Al Jazeera Arabic and it’s English websites around a common issue-area- in this case- the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip in December, 2008 and January, 2009. My preliminary findings point to ideological disparities in the nature of coverage of the Gaza War, with AJE displaying significantly more concern for bias against Israel than its Arabic counterpart. Ideological Disparity, and the Transnational News Network Page 5 Problematics and Challenges Defining Al-Jazeera’s ideological cannon The main challenges to this study revolve around issues of media framing both Al Jazeera Arabic and English under a single ideological mission or cannon. Prior to the advent of AJE, scholarly literature recognized two theoretical frames that typed Al-Jazeera as (1) an undergirding force of democratization in the region “that facilitates sociopolitical changes by criticizing and challenging the institutionalized structures and the prevalent social discourse in the Arab world” (Wojcieszak, 2007), and (2) as an agency of contra-flow, one whose existence is predicated on challenging the dominance of the consortium of Western transnational media agencies (Seib 2004, Azran 2007, Thussu 2007). While both of these frameworks serve as a solid ideological platform for the Arabic channel, Al Jazeera English has led to a diffusion of these ideas by courting and being accountable to-Western and English speaking audiences. Within the discipline of marketing communication, the advent of Al Jazeera English has to a “retooling of Al Jazeera’s brand image to match these new realities. (Levy 1999). For example, El-Nawawy argues that AJE is likely to be viewed as a mediated form of conflict resolution and conciliatory media with the potential to reduce dogmatism amongst viewers (2008). This definition falls out of the activist, counter hegemonic rubric that is often associated with the network as a whole. ElNawawy’s findings are reinforced in a study conducted by Leon Barkho on discursive social assumptions in the news. Barkho concluded that AJE’s coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict tended to pursue a discursive strategy that “transformed Palestinian official discourses into public language but with no discernable attempt to vilify Israelis” (2007). This is in contrast to AJA’s inherent pro-Palestinian slant. Indeed, the preliminary findings from my content analysis of coverage of the Gaza war support his findings. Ideological Disparity, and the Transnational News Network Page 6 In summary, the meta-theoretical framework of ideological disparity is predicated upon examining the interplay between a dominant ideological framework vis-à-vis a resistant or adversarial context. The emergence of Al-Jazeera English has led to rethinking of these classical interpretations. Disciplinary Restraints on Ideological Formation Another significant obstacle to this kind of research is ascertaining the source of ideological formation within each of the bureaus. I recognize that while being comprehensive, media influence theory may not be able to address the full spectrum of influences that lead to ideology formation within a news bureau. For example, theoretical frameworks within organizational communication can be tremendously useful in illuminating the cultural interplay between editors and staff from both bureaus. Additionally, marketing communication can be beneficial in determining the extent to which brand loyalty (or lack thereof) plays into agenda-setting. The Need for Ethnographic Research Successfully linking the causality between ideological disparity and internal editorial friction necessitates the input from Al Jazeera staff. Insofar as this paper is concerned, limited resources prevented a more capable analysis of the internal social dynamics of staff. Insofar as this paper is concerned, secondary sources of cases involving conflict between AJA and AJE staff were used. Future revisions of this paper will address this deficiency. Ideological Disparity Defined Scholarship on Media industries and Globalization has long pointed to the rapid growth in transnational news agencies, particularly within traditional mediums (print and broadcast) and the burgeoning of press and broadcasting exports from the developed world to developing countries. This literature parallels concerns raised by the proponents of cultural imperialism, who Ideological Disparity, and the Transnational News Network Page 7 have long cited this trend as a dangerous coefficient for Western cultural homogeneity (Banerjee, 2002). However, this theory relies on monolithic interpretations of media institutions while failing to account for the currency in ideological disparity that comes with demographic franchising within transnational news networks. Inferring from the above, we can thus define ideological disparity as the conflicting ideological narratives within a transnational news organization, ideological disparity creates editorial friction which can be defined as credibility maintaining measures. This can be achieved either by (1) centralizing gate-keeping mechanisms across the different bureaus, or by (2) diffusing editorial authority through the local bureau by decentralizing brand cohesion (i.e. each bureau might be marketed as a distinct institution). Whatever the measure, the determining factors are largely predicated on the brand cohesion of the transnational news agency. Loose brand association, as in the case of a news group like News Corp, might rely on the latter measure whereas an agency like the BBC would be more inclined to restrict editorial variance. Understanding how these responses work is important to our analysis of Al-Jazeera, which, while exhibiting brand cohesion between its Arabic and English bureaus, has, up until recently, relied on dislocating editorial authority between the two bureaus1. In order to understand why a shift might have occurred, we must explore how media influences affect the ideological cannon of each of the bureaus. To accomplish this, I will apply Shoemaker and Reese’s aggregation of media influence theories (1996, pp 4) to describe how ideological disparity might arise in the newsroom. Audience localization: Local bureaus are driven by social reality. In an interview with Brent Cunningham of the Columbia Journalism Review, David Marash cited “attempted centralization of editorial authority by the Al Jazeera Arabic office in Doha” as one of the reasons why he decided to resign from Al-Jazeera English in April, 2007. Marash, D. “Why I Quit”, (2008) Columbia Journalism Review 1 Ideological Disparity, and the Transnational News Network Page 8 Sociology of Newsroom Culture and Norms: Dynamics of social construction within the news room (using Warren Breed’s typology) and interpretive communities of journalists (Zelizer 1993). Norm Formation and Journalistic Interpretive Communities: Competing journalistic norms can impact the ideological trajectory of the news. Localization H1. The more comprehensive audience localization efforts are the likelihood for ideological disparity in the newsroom. As mentioned earlier, bureaus in transnational networks adopt “regionalization and localization” measures to assimilate within the communities they are practicing in (Chang 2001). Localization efforts vary amongst transnational news networks and can include reporting in the local language, adopting regionally recognized gate-keeping mechanisms and content tailoring. In their book, Shoemaker and Reese briefly discuss how regional audience targeting amongst the American networks lead to differences in practice and routine, but they do not articulate how ideological slanting may occur within transnational news agencies nor do they offer a strong case as to the sources of ideological disparity within such instances. This research gap was addressed by Jacob Groshek, who, in his content analysis of CNN’s domestic and international offices, found no significant differences in the ideological premise between the two bureaus. Groshek refers to this phenomenon as the formation of “Homogenous agendas”, in that the agenda setting functions of CNN and CNNI exhibited surprisingly positive correlation, while only the proportions of the coverage differed. His research suggests a uniform cross-section of CNNI viewers who share similar values with their American counterparts. Ideological Disparity, and the Transnational News Network Page 9 In contrast, the very distinct localization measures at Al Jazeera has resulted in cultivating distinct audiences across lingual, demographic and geographic boundaries. From this we can deduce that each bureau is beholden to different agenda-setting protocols. Indeed, literature on localization suggests that AJA’s loyalty gathering methods relies on slanting and coverage of populist issues and perceptions (Seib, 2003 Azran, 2007), whereas AJE’s model relies more on cultivating credibility and objectivity (the BBC model). Reconciling these different narratives may pose a challenge to measures aimed at reducing ideological disparity. Sociology of Newsrooms and Journalistic Norms H2. The more disparate the newsroom cultures, rituals and norms, the more prevalent the case is for ideological disparity. Within the sociology of the news, much has been written on the interplay between policy formation and the interactions between staff and editors. Warren Breed’s “Social Control in the Newsroom” (1955), considered the foremost seminal work in this area, argues that social hierarchy in the newsroom (interaction between staff and managers) and not exogenous factors like ratings, sponsorship defines ideological policy of the newsroom. While Breed does not apply his model towards understanding how different bureaus might operate within a transnational news organization, his typology of policy deviation provides a sound template for exploring how Ideological disparity might arise between the interaction of journalists at both AJE and AJA. In his work, Breed articulates five conditions that create what calls “deviance” to editorial norms, these being: 1. Policy Vagueness: When policy norms are vague by virtue of its covert nature and large scope Ideological Disparity, and the Transnational News Network 2. Page 10 Editorial Ignorance: When Executives are ignorant of certain facts and may be cajoled into going along with a reporter’s version of the story. 3. Planting: When reporters ask other newspapers to cover their story, thereby generating hype. 4. When staff reporters hold editorial dominion over the stories they cover. Breed argues that in some cases, editors will not come between the reporter’s beat and the story. 5. When a staff reporter has star status or celebrity Breed’s conditions for policy deviance can provide a sensible framework for looking at how editorial friction can arise between staff at both channels. We can look towards two illustrative instances of where deviance may take shape at Al Jazeera. First, the celebrity status of many of AJE’s journalists may have unwittingly contributed to the editorial friction between the two stations. “big-wig” journalists such as Dave Marash, Robert Frost and Riz Khan may have significant editorial leeway by virtue of their celebrity status which may run contrary to the agenda-setting protocols of Al-Jazeera. As recalled previously, David Marash’s resignation was a result of an attempt by editors in Doha to curtail the editorial freedoms his office had enjoyed. Considered the American face of Al-Jazeera, Dave Marash resigned from the channel over editorial friction between his bureau and the headquarters in Doha. The second example draws upon Breed’s understanding of “beat authority” which deals with the relationship between editors and reporters who have significant editorial authority over a certain special topic by virtue of their experience. This can also apply within an adversarial context between experienced and novice reporters within a certain hotspot. AJA journalists may feel constrained by their lack or “beat experience” in covering regions outside of their purview. In one example, AJE journalists operating out of the American bureau objected to a plan for a series on American Poverty” on grounds that it was, to quote Dave Marash, too “stereotypical and Ideological Disparity, and the Transnational News Network Page 11 shallow” and that the editorial staff at Doha lacked sufficient knowledge of American norms to become authorities on American stories. Drawing this into the fabric of ideological disparity and transnational news organizations, we can infer that disparate social norms in the newsroom create avenues for editorial friction. Journalistic Norm Formation While Breed’s typology of social construction can help us understand the inner factors that influence ideological formation within newsrooms, the theory falls short of articulating the ways in which journalists view themselves within a larger collective. Indeed Breed refers to these external influences in passing but focuses his study on the microcosmic factors in the newsroom. Journalists have long coalesced around discourse of shared values and norms, forming what Zelizer refers to as “interpretive communities” (1993). According to Zelizer, this discourse creates “shared interpretations that make their professional lives meaningful” by sharing concerns and dilemmas with one another. Within an intercultural framework, understanding how interpretive communities created around the disparate journalist groups is useful to observing how ideological disparity is created. The unique approach to journalistic practice by Arabic journalists has been significantly documented in mass communication theory circles. Scholars like El-Nawawwy argued that AJA’s journalists tended to be more ideologically invested in their stories (2004). Others, like Amin (2002), have emphasized the clandestine nature of Arab journalists, stating that “selfcensorship is commonplace in the Arab news media today and journalism education programs”. This self-censorship may take the form of ideological loyalty in the form of group-think, ritual, and practice towards a single ideological narrative. Jehane Noujam’s seminal documentary “Control Room” tackled the issue head on as she documented the emotional upheaval facing Al Ideological Disparity, and the Transnational News Network Page 12 Jazeera employees around the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the polemical and problematic relationships they formed with their Western counterparts. In one scene, AJA journalists are seen collectively lamenting the fall of the statue of Saddam Hussein in Ferdows square. In tandem with Amin’s analysis, the journalists depicted in Control Room shared disparagingly critical opinions on the Iraq War, suggesting group-think and loyalty at play. Given the western orientation of the majority of the AJE journalists, group think may be more partial to Western journalistic norms. Several studies on journalistic interpretive communities in Western, liberal-democratic societies have argued that, within a classical framework, Western journalists see themselves as democracy enforcers, committed to principles of objectivity and upholding the systems of public discourse. (McNair 1998, Schultz 1998). Within AJE, this may be manifest in presenting a more balanced, less confrontational slant in their coverage. Absent of democratic discourse and accountability structures, interpretive communities of Arab journalists have, as argued by Pintak and Ginges (2008), built themselves around reinforcing ideals of pan-Arab nationalism, anti-colonialism and resistance doctrines. To that end, Arab journalists see their craft as a vessel for promoting these ideals. In an ethnographic study spanning interviews with 106 Arab journalists, the authors found that a significant cross-section of interviewed journalists identified themselves as “journalists first” followed by religious and national identity. There is evidence of how disparate norms between Arab and Foreign journalists at AJA and AJE. In early 2006, Hannah Allan of Night Ridder ran a story that echoed the concerns of AJA employees who, fearing a “watering down” of Al-Jazeera’s bold, “in-your-face approach”, Ideological Disparity, and the Transnational News Network Page 13 reacted with extreme skepticism to the prospect of an English channel. Allan quoted the following concerns raised: Why aren't there more Arab managers? How much does the new British-led team know about the region? Will they use "insurgents" or "terrorists" (considered a loaded word) to describe Iraqi fighters? And, most important, if AJI's mission is to become a global news alternative, what will distinguish it from, say, CNN or the BBC? (Allan, 2006) Content Analysis of the Gaza-War In order to measure the extent to which ideological disparity existed at Al-Jazeera, a preliminary comparative content analysis between Al-Jazeera’s English and Arabic websites was conducted. While previous comparative content analyses between the two has tended to focus on issuecoverage (Al-Najjar 2009) and media framing (Al-Emad & Fahmy 2009), this study will focus more on deciphering patterns of Agenda-setting at both AJA and AJE. This is accomplished by examining emergent patterns of bias and ideological disparity. Method Sample Selection My method involved extracting randomized sample articles from the Al Jazeera Websites. The articles had to satisfy the following conditions: 1. Articles had to contain a reference to Gaza 2. Articles had to be published on their respective websites on January 15, 2009. 3. Articles had to appear in the top 8 responses to the search query. Ideological Disparity, and the Transnational News Network Page 14 Sampled articles were picked purposively2 via a Boolean search query on all articles written by Al Jazeera staff. Articles were queried using Google’s site search function with January 15, 2009 chosen as the date of reference. The top eight articles under the search for Gaza were selected. For the AJA articles, the search term Gaza was translated into Arabic ()غزة. The selected articles were then translated via Google’s translating service (http://translate.google.com) before being coded.3 In selecting the issue-area for the articles, attention was paid to three underlying factors. The issue had to have chronological consistency over a time period. The issue had to involve some degree of ideological dichotomy in coverage (that is coverage could be either positive or negative) The topic has to be part of a constellation of reoccurring news events with predetermined frames of reference (this makes coding much easier). (Galting and Ruge,1965) The word count for both sample groups totaled 5,113 words for the AJA sample group (after translation) and 5014 word in the AJE sample group. Coding Terms Coding was done Coding terms revolved around popular media references to the Gaza war and were divided into four categories: Negative coverage, positive coverage, Israeli favoritism and Palestinian favoritism. Coding was done in accordance This was done to better locate the ideological inferences of the articles. This is shown in the table on the following page: 2 Riffe, Lacy and Fico “Analyzing Media Messages, 2nd Ed” 2005, LEA Communication Series, NJ 3 Since this was merely a word extraction using content analysis, I feel that the study was not compromised as a result of using Google’s translating function. As a side note: Translated articles were surprisingly readable and cohesive. Ideological Disparity, and the Transnational News Network Page 15 Consensus Reference to Positive coverage Diplomacy Ceasefire Compliance Int'l law Aggression Reference to Negative Coverage War Conflict Shalit Israelis Killed Reference to Israeli Favoritism Injured Rockets Terrorism Defense Condemnation of Hamas Palestinians Killed Reference to Palestinian Favoritism Injured Phosphorous Shell and Shelling Condemnation of Israel Defiance Int'l law Findings The table below is a tabulation of the prevalence rate of the key terms used in our content analysis over the sixteen articles. Affix Key Terms Reference to positive coverage Consensus Diplomacy Ceasefire Compliance Int'l law TOTAL Reference to Negative Coverage Aggression War Conflict Shalit TOTAL Total Prevalence: AJE Total Prevalence: AJA 1 5 6 0 12 0 1 1 2 4 2 1 1 1 5 2 2 1 1 6 Ideological Disparity, and the Transnational News Network Reference to Israeli Favoritism Reference to Palestinian Favoritism Page 16 Israelis Killed/Injured 4 0 Rockets Terrorism Defense Condemnation of Hamas TOTAL 2 0 9 1 0 2 0 14 2 5 7 6 4 5 3 4 13 6 33 15 8 34 Palestinians Killed/Injured Civil Structures Attacked Phosphorous Shell and Shelling Condemnation of Israel Defiance Int'l law TOTAL The following observations can be made: Reference to positive events is practically non-existent within the AJA sample, whereas allusion to negative coverage is equal across both bureaus. This indicates an undergirding skepticism and wariness over the involvement of international institutions within AJA. With the exception of one article, none of the AJA articles mention Israeli casualties as opposed to 50% of AJE articles surveyed. Furthermore, coverage favoring Israeli positions is significantly lower amongst AJA articles in general, with none mentioning rocket attacks and only one reference to Israel’s right to defend itself. Not surprisingly, coverage showing Palestinian favoritism is high with both channels, with 33 and 34 references respectively. This shows that on the issue of Gaza, both AJA and AJE shared consistent ideological favoritism towards the Palestinian position. From a media framing perspective, articles from AJE tended to be heavily centered on covering the details of the offensive itself whereas AJA articles were more skewed towards covering global reaction to the conflict. Of the AJE sample, only one article, on fallout between Israel and Venezuela, dealt with reaction to the offensive compared with four articles from the AJA sample. This suggests Ideological Disparity, and the Transnational News Network Page 17 that AJA framed the Gaza war in terms of a global (and unanimously, negative) reactions towards Israel on the offensive. While both channels exhibit strong Palestinian favoritism, AJE’s agenda-setting protocol skews towards presenting a more nuanced side to the conflict by highlighting instances of Israeli favoritism. In contrast, AJA’s coverage showed less evidence of Israeli favoritism and relied more on ideologically framing the conflict by covering global reaction to the offensive. Furthermore, AJE’s coverage tended to be more optimistic, with more stories referencing diplomatic and reconciliation efforts. In contrast, AJA’s articles contained scant reference to either of these phenomena. Conclusion: Al Jazeera English: a Moderating Coefficient? The preliminary findings from this paper point to a significant variance in ideological disparity between the two networks and may be indicative of editorial friction between the staff at both stations. The implications of these findings are twofold. First, understanding the depth of ideological disparity might shed insight into the ways in which brand retooling might occur. Depending on either measure, this may point to either a widening association gap between the two stations or an attempt at ideological reconciliation, at which similarities in agenda-setting might increase. As noted earlier, the physical barriers inherent in the localization policies and the contradicting journalistic norms between Arab and Western journalists present compelling questions to undertaking either response. Second, ideological disparity is a useful way of framing notions of credibility and consistency amongst transnational networks. At present, the brand proximity of both AJA and AJE, coupled with the ideological variance might point to a lack of credibility and consistency in the perception of Al-Jazeera as a whole. Ideological Disparity, and the Transnational News Network Page 18 Further Research Given restraints, immediate suggestions for further research would involve a more comprehensive content analysis (larger article sample and a more detailed coding scheme) over a multiple range of issue-areas. The small sample size and the lack of diversity in the issue area was restrictive. Technicalities aside, future research on the subject of ideological disparity might wish to examine in more details the measures for controlling ideological disparity in transnational news agencies and how agenda and brand formation within the network are informed by such measures. 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