media, branding and controversy: perceptions of aljazeerain newspapers around … · 2011-08-31 ·...

JOURNAL OF MIDDLE EAST MEDIA

R E S E A R C H P A P E R S

MEDIA, BRANDINGAND CONTROVERSY:

PERCEPTIONS OFALJAZEERAIN

NEWSPAPERS AROUNDTHE WORLD

By

John Mark KingAssociate Professor of Public Relations and Mass Communication

College of Arts & SciencesDepartment of CommunicationEast Tennessee State University

P C Box 70667Johnson City, Tennessee 37614 USA

Email: ¡[email protected]

and

Mohamed ZayaniAssociate Professor of Critical Theory

College of Arts & Sciences,American University of SharjahP C Box 26666, Sharjah, UAE

Email: [email protected]

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ABSTRACT

This paper examines the effect of the newly launched Al lazeera English channelon the Al Jazeera brand. An analysis of a random sample of 400 newspaperarticles—drawn from 7,830 articles mentioning the Al lazeera brand andpublished in the period between November 30, 2005 and September 30, 2007 inmore than 200 major world newspapers—yielded the following results: Positivetones toward Al lazeera were higher with the English service (35.3%) comparedto the Arabic service (11.9%); Tone was most negative in North America/Israel(30.9%); Al lazeera English mentions were more frequently seen on front pages(16%) than mentions of the Al lazeera Arabic service (10.8%); Brand mentionsassociating Al lazeera itself with terrorism were fewer with Al lazeera English(6%) than with the Al Jazeera Arabic service (11.4%). These findings suggestthat major world newspapers are increasingly accepting Al Jazeera and that theestablishment of Al Jazeera English has contributed to improved perceptions ofthe Al Jazeera brand.

Key Words: Al Jazeera Satellite Channel, Al Jazeera English, Media,Branding, Newspapers, Perception, Content analysis. Controversy, Terrorism,Anti-West sentiments

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MEDIA, BRANDING AND CONTROVERSY

I. INTRODUCTION

The image problem which has dogged the maverick satellite channel Al Jazeera during its fewyears of existence has in many ways become a defining aspect of the network. In recent years,though, the pressure Al Jazeera found itself under has made it cognizant of the importanceof its reputation, particularly as its seeks to reposition itself and to expand from an Arabicnews channel to a multi-language, multi-channel, multi-service network. The latest and mostintriguing exercise in branding is probably the English language channel which has beentrumpeted for months as Al Jazeera International, only to be renamed Al Jazeera Englishat the eleventh hour (Kraidy, 2007, p. 161). Thus, on October 31, 2006, Al Jazeera officiallyannounced the launch of Al Jazeera English, which went live on November 15, 2006.The event has a special significance partly because it coincided with Al Jazeera's tenthanniversary and partly because it inaugurated a new era in Middle Eastern communicationwhereby traditional one way flows from the center are starting to give way to contra-flowsfrom the periphery (Thussu, 2007, p. 20) such that information and news are beamed inEnglish from the East to the West. The name and potential audience of the new channel wereenough to guarantee it extensive coverage during the preparation for the launch and well intothe following year.

Using a systematic content analysis of a random sample of 400 articles—out of a popula-tion of 7,830 articles—published in English language newspapers throughout the worldover a 22-month period, this paper examines how newspapers treated the Al Jazeera brand.It seeks to explore differences in perception of Al Jazeera English and Al Jazeera Arabicservice. Of particular interest was how newspapers published in different regions of the worldhad an impact on tone, page placement prominence and association of the Al Jazeera branditself with terrorism, violence and anti-West sentiment. Further motivating this paper wasan attempt to determine if Al Jazeera's expansion into English language broadcasting andits repositioning itself as a global broadcaster with a potentially wide reach has affected theimage and standing of the network and contributed to the improvement and acceptanceof the Al Jazeera brand.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

when Al Jazeera went on air in the mid-1990s, it was perceived as a media revolution in sofar as it daringly broke the strong grip Arab governments had on media. Its coverage ofpolitical, religious and societal issues was unorthodox in a part of the world where publicityhas its own specificity and in a region which has long been dominated by state-run mediaorganizations hampered by censorship and control. In an interview, Al Jazeera's general man-ager explained that Al Jazeera's founding mission was "to free the Arab media from beingmanipulated by authoritarian regimes in this part of the world; to give audiences choices—the right to know, to be better informed, and to decide for themselves without interferencefrom political authorities" (Patel, 2006).

Established by an Emiri decree in 1996, the Qatar-based channel coincided with thecollapse of a joint venture between the British Broadcasting Corporation and Saudi OrbitCommunications, leaving a pool of journalists and staff members up for grabs. This BBCtrained group, which formed the nucleus of Al Jazeera, and the margin of freedom thechannel enjoyed, were two key success factors (Richardson, 2003). Structurally, Al Jazeera is

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government owned and sponsored, but not government operated. It claims to be anindependent organization that has a free hand to operate in Qatar thanks to the ease on cen-sorship (Sakr, 2003, pp. 106-08) the reform-minded Emir of this Gulf country has initiated aspart of his proclaimed attempt to modernize the country and introduce a kind of politicalreform which is anathema to the Middle East region (Zayani, 2005, pp. 1-3). Advocating afree and open press has won Al Jazeera a sizeable audience, in fact making it a householdname in the Arab world and a potent instrument for fostering an imagined communityamong Arabs in the diaspora (Shuraydi, 2006). At the same time, its inquisitive journalism,namely prying open nearly every Arab state's affairs, has made it a thorn in the side of Arabgovernments and the "enfant terrible of Arab media," so to speak (Maluf, 2005, p. 531).

The registered enthusiasm for Al Jazeera and the media revolution it introduced shouldnot obscure the limits of such a revolution (Sakr, 2005, p. 88-89). Al Jazeera came to interna-tional eminence when it scooped the world in the post September 11 events—being the onlynews network allowed to beam from Afghanistan during the Anglo-American-led war on theTaliban (El Nawawy, 2002). Initially lauded by the United States administration for being anexperiment in free speech and democracy, the network soon found itself embroiled in a sourrelationship with the Bush administration when the focus of its programs became U.S.foreign policy. The network's privileged position during the war in Afghanistan gave AlJazeera prominence, but this came at a price as the network has been a source of much publi-cized controversy and a subject of vilification. In the United States in particular, it is oftendismissed as an anti-U.S. propaganda machine with inflammatory reporting and jarringfootage. Pointing to frequently aired tapes of a cave-dwelling bin Laden on the airwaves of AlJazeera, the network's critics—particularly during times when the "United States no longercontrols the script" (Pintak, 2006a)—have often emphasized its alleged affinities with radicalIslam and its perceived tendency to be aligned with Al Qaeda ideology. In fact, there is awidely-held perception that Al Jazeera is a channel "committed to an Islamic agenda" (Brent,2006, p. 17). Some analysts went as far as considering it a fundamentalist channel in disguise:"the image Al Jazeera inculcates in the public mind of offering 'the opinion and the otheropinion' is really trompe l'oeil or as cover-up for a larger religious message.... Al Jazeera is nota 'liberal' or 'neutral' channel; it is a religious channel that allows other programs that are lib-eral or neutral to be shown occasionally" (Cherribi, 2006, p. 122).

The prowess of Al Jazeera—its presumed ability to influence Arab public opinion and itsproclivity to unsettle the previously established one-way information flow from the center tothe periphery (Azran, 2004, p. 75)—has triggered an unprecedented interest in televisionprogramming in Arabic (Sakr, 2007, p. 1), even leading to a "global news war" (Rosenback,2006). In the wake of September 11, the United States' Broadcasting Board of Governors—which oversees all U.S. government-sponsored international broadcasting services—becameparticularly attentive to international broadcasting geared toward an Arab and Middle Easternaudience. The outcome is Al Hurra, a 24-hour Arabic language news channel devoted to newsand information and aimed at attracting and influencing a signiflcant audience (Djerejian, 2003,pp. 28-32; El Nawawy, 2006). Similarly, Erance—which played a prominent diplomatic role inthe anti-Iraq war movement but which felt it lacked media diplomacy tools at its disposal—alsolaunched a multi-language news channel, France 24, aired partly in Arabic, to communicate itsviews and values to an international audience (Carvajal, 2006). Jointly funded by the Erenchgovernment and a private TV network, Erance 24's mission is to convey Erance's values andperspectives to an international audience (Potter, 2007, p. 62). More recently, the BBC hasunveiled plans for an Arabic language TV news service to maintain its position in world media.

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As these new ventures sought to compete with Al Jazeera in the battle to influence Arabpublic opinion, Al Jazeera struck back, unveiling a bold though not unexpected plan to gointernational. The prominence of Al Jazeera—in spite of or maybe because of its controver-sial nature—prompted its expansion, although such an expansion was not part of the origi-nal plan or goal of Al Jazeera founders. As it became an internationally recognized brand, AlJazeera came to realize the need to reinvent and reposition itself for changing times.Accordingly, it started to look beyond the region with ambitions to transform what used tobe a regional satellite channel beamed from the capital of an obscure Gulf country to a multi-channel, multi-service, multi-language conglomerate with a global reach, amenable to mak-ing even its host micro-state Qatar a brand name (Peterson, 2006, p. 732). A decade after itsstart, Al Jazeera prides itself on having English and Arabic websites as well as a number ofspecialized channels ranging ñ-om Al Jazeera Children, to Al Jazeera Sports, to Al Jazeera Live,to Al Jazeera Documentary (Zayani, 2007, pp. 162-66). More ambitious and more challengingthan any of these though is the launch of a 24-hour news service in English aimed at Englishspeakers worldwide.

Al Jazeera English has a different and innovative format from that of the mother channel.Its coverage is designed to follow the sun throughout the day (Miles, 2006, p. 23). Itbroadcasts from four bureaus in London, Washington, Kuala Lumpur and Doha, but withone feed, thus providing independent and varied view points. This also means that as thenews rolls, the perspective and tone differ from those of major Western competitors like theBBC and CNN which are beamed from and anchored in London and Atlanta respectively.For many, the expansion and news strategy of Al Jazeera are unsettling either because theyredefine global news or because they show how incomplete it is. It remains to be seen thoughif Al Jazeera can take significant market share away from these long-established Western net-works (Eattah, 2006, p. C9).

StiU, although Al Jazeera English is far from displacing international media giants, its launchhas ushered in the prospect of a no less important revolution. As it enters into competitionwith long established media broadcasters like the BBC and CNN, Al Jazeera English brings in anew dimension to global communication. With dominant trends in media ownership and theformation of international media conglomerates, media are becoming increasinglyconcentrated in few hands or monopolized by government agencies in ways which risk either totruncate public debate or favor a manufactured consent (Butsch, 2007, p. 1; Herman 2002). Anetwork like Al Jazeera though contributes to undoing such a monopoly. In fact, the ostensiblemission of Al Jazeera English is to provide an alternative perspective on global affairs—one thatis distinctly Arab/Middle Eastern. Al Jazeera English's goal is to bring a non-Western perspectiveto the West; as such it has a global perspective with an emphasis on the global South (Pintak,2006b) and an attention to untold stories and under-represented parts of the world. As abroadcaster of international news, Al Jazeera English is, in the words of its managing director,"the first news channel based in the Mideast to bring news back to the West" (Miles, 2006, p.23) and an important "conduit for understanding between different cultures" (Paffner andCarvajal, 2005). As such, Al Jazeera English has the potential to break the Western monopoly onthe teUing of history by expanding the spectrum of perspectives participating in Englishlanguage discussion of world issues (Malek, 2006, p. 11). It remains to be seen whether AlJazeera can be an enduring counterbalance to a West-centric coverage typical of Western media.

Audience-wise, the new initiative aims not only at reaching Arabs and Muslims who donot speak Arabic, but also at attracting a wide international English-speaking audienceestimated at one billion people. The prolonged and complicated preparations for the launch

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though suggest that the success of Al Jazeera English cannot be taken for granted. Althoughoriginally slated to launch in 2005, the Al Jazeera English debut was pushed back severaltimes, often with no specific dates announced. The delays were attributed to significant hur-dles which included technical issues and complications. As one staff member explained, "it ishard enough keeping guys on time when you're installing a new kitchen, let alone holdingthem to deadlines across different time zones" (Jaafar, 2006, p. 25). The channel has also beenencountering licensing issues and distribution hurdles, as it finds itself challenged by "theHerculean task of selling an Al Jazeera product in a post 9/11 America that is at war in theArab world and suspects—rightly or wrongly—that the network favors the bad guys"(Halloran, 2006, p. 38). U.S. cable and satellite companies in particular have been reluctant tocarry a controversial brand like Al Jazeera. Part of this opposition was garnered through amuch publicized campaign against the channel (Hickman, 2006; Levine, 2006, p. B3).

In order to attract advertisers and secure distribution in large market countries where it islooked upon with suspicion, Al Jazeera English was keen on distinguishing itself from themother organization, stressing that the new channel is not a translation of Al Jazeera fromArabic. The former is often presented as independent of the latter—drawing on the resourcesof its parent organization while being editorially independent—with a separate crew. In spiteof the efforts of the English language channel, though, there is a belief even inside Al Jazeeraitself that it is hard to separate the two (Jaafar, 2006, p. 25). Not surprisingly, the new venturehas created a degree of unease among the staff of Al Jazeera Arabic. There is fear among somethat Al Jazeera English is bound to change the profile of the network. There is also a percep-tion that the new enterprise is predominantly Western in its staff and inclinations. In fact, AlJazeera English has attracted high profile Western talent, including seasoned BBC, CNN andABC former journalists. It is from this perspective that the elevation of Al Jazeera Arabic gen-eral manager, Waddah Khanfar, to the position of director general for the whole network,helming Al Jazeera's Arabic channel, English channel, sports channel, documentary channel,and children's channel has led some observers to raise a brow. According to one source, "themove has been seen as consolidating Khanfar's position, and that of the Arabic-language sat-caster, ahead of Al Jazeera English's launch" (Jaafar, 2006, p. 25). Jonathon Gatehouseconcurs: "there have been rumblings of power struggles as its owners try to ensure the newchannel doesn't stray too far from the Al Jazeera formula. Director of programming PaulGibbs, a former BBC editor, was dismissed in August, and the new enterprise has since beenbrought under the direct control of the Arab channel. Whatever the underlying reasons, themelding of cultures has not gone smoothly" (2006, p. 25).

Even if these internal problems are overlooked, there are other challenges. Some fear thatwith the launch of Al Jazeera English, the mother organization is slowly losing its definingcharacter. It is thought that the Western feel of the new channel is often at the expense of anArab identity that has distinguished the mother channel and at times has given it an edgeover Western outlets (Amayreh, 2006). Not only does Al Jazeera English rely heavily onWestern news agencies, but many of its prominent hires are from long established British andAmerican media outlets. According to some sources, "three quarters of the on-air staff, andmost of the management, come from British and American networks" (Pintak, 2006b) andwith that also comes the likelihood of a more pro-Western bent out of synch with theacrimony that has branded Al Jazeera (Gatehouse, 2006, p. 44). This raises the question as towhether Al Jazeera has a well-expressed differentiating idea for its product. As Jack Troutexplains, "The more [brands] you add, the more you risk undermining your basic differenti-ating idea, which is the essence of your brand... Most failed brands once had a good idea that

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they undermined by adding more and more versions" (2001, p. 11). For others though, theassociation of AI Jazeera English with the mother company, which is often perceived as being"radioactive" (Tischler, 2007, pp. 42-46), sheds doubt on the appeal of what is oftenperceived, at least in the States, as "the terrorist network" (Dobrow, 2006, p. S28). Currently,Al Jazeera English is having more success in being distributed in Europe than in NorthAmerica, as it found it hard to secure an American cable or satellite system willing to carry it.It remains to be seen if the network can persuade enough satellite and cable services to carryit. In the meantime, the network is providing live streams on its website.

The political economy of Al Jazeera—^which is intertwined with the politics of its host coun-try Qatar (El Oifi, 2004)—also raises a number of questions: Can Al Jazeera English generatesignificant revenue streams? Can it escape the de facto embargo the Arabic news channel hasendured? Will companies be willing to advertise on it or would they prefer to steer clear fi-om abroadcaster that is perceived as a sister channel of the original—and controversial—^Arabic lan-guage Al Jazeera? Even distributors who do not think it would be politically incorrect to carry AlJazeera are hardly convinced that there is a market for it and that they can generate revenue asAmericans in general may not be all that interested in yet another news channel, let alone onethat focuses on international news (Tischler, 2006, pp. 43). In the meantime, the new venture,much like the original channel, can survive without corporate sponsorship, commercial supportor external revenues to a large extent because of the deep pockets of Qatar—a tiny oil-produc-ing Gulf country which sits astride vast fields of natural gas, having the third—second accordingto some economic reports—such reserves in the world (Siddiqi, 2003, pp. 48). Given that thereis little pressure to turn a profit as this does not seem to be the main motive for the launch of AlJazeera English, sponsorship is not an insistent issue. Being government funded, Al Jazeera doesnot have the same financial considerations as other television networks. In fact, there is atendency to deride the assumption that "Al Jazeera needs to be commercially successful in theway that American networks need to be successful... Al Jazeera has never been a successfulenterprise insofar as accounting, but Al Jazeera has helped make Qatar relevant, and in thoseterms it has been a wonderful investment for the government of Qatar" (Lavin, 2006).

III. RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES

This research aims at examining the extent to which the Al Jazeera brand has been acceptedin regions that are geographically located in or associated with the West (North America,Europe, Australia/New Zealand and Israel) and the East (Asia, the Middle East and Africa).One measure of perceived attitudes toward Al Jazeera was to study how print media, majornewspapers, around the world differed in their coverage of Al Jazeera English and the AlJazeera Arabic brands. To that end, an extensive, systematic content analysis of newspapermentions of the Al Jazeera brand was conducted in Qctober, 2007.

The research questions centered on the impacts the independent variables had on thedependent variables. Of particular interest were whether or not Al Jazeera itself wasassociated with terrorism, violence and anti-West sentiments and whether or not themention was linked to terrorism, violence and anti-West sentiments in general. Special atten-tion was also paid to the extent to which the nation or region in which the newspaper waspublished had an impact on tone toward Al Jazeera itself and page placement. Further, wasthere a difference in the dependent variables related to whether the mention was associatedwith the Al Jazeera English service or the Arabic service?

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It was expected that newspapers published in countries that are located in or associatedwith the West would generally be more negative toward Al Jazeera itself, provide more promi-nent page placement, and associate Al Jazeera itself with terrorism, violence and anti-Westsentiments more frequently.

IV. METHODOLOGY

The researchers used the LexisNexis database to conduct a systematic content analysis ofnewspaper coverage of Al Jazeera. The unit of analysis was any mention of the Al Jazeerabrand published in any non-advertising part of the newspapers. The time period covered wasNovember 30, 2005 through September 30, 2007. The 11-month time period was chosenrather than a one-year time period because at the time the data was collected only 11 monthshad passed since the official announcement of the Al Jazeera English service launch date wasmade on October 31, 2006. This provided an 11-month time period on each side of the offi-cial announcement of the launch date.

Using the search term "Al Jazeera" under "all newspapers" with the LexisNexis databaseyielded 7,830 newspaper articles that mentioned the Al Jazeera brand during the time periodstudied. A random sample, generated using a reputable online random number generator,was used to ensure that each newspaper article had an equal chance of being selected. Thesample size was set at 400 newspapers so that a probability level of .05, the social sciencestandard, could be utilized in the data analysis stage of the research.

The sample yielded newspaper articles fi-om 18 nations (Australia, Canada, China, England,France, Ireland, Israel, Jordan, Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, SouthAfrica, United Arab Emirates, United States and Wales), mentioning the Al Jazeera brand atotal of 695 times. Out of these, 538 mentions (77.4%) were published before the launch of AlJazeera English and 157 mentions (22.6%) after this much-publicized event. More than 200different newspapers were included in the sample. A few of the major newspapers in the sam-ple were Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, New YorkTimes, New York Post, USA Today, Washington Post, Washington Times, Phßadelphia Inquirer,Daily Mail (London), Evening Standard (London), Guardian (London), Independent (London),International Herald Tribune, Irish Times, Age (Melbourne), Sydney Morning Herald, Australian,Calgary Herald, Globe and Mail, Ottawa Sun, Toronto Star, Toronto Sun, Windsor Star, WinnipegSun, AME Info (Abu Dhabi), Edge Malaysia, Jordan Times, Jerusalem Post, Korea Herald, KoreaTimes, Kuwait Times, South China Morning Post and Star (South Afi-ica).

There were two limitations in the sample which could have affected the results: the formeris that only English language newspapers were included and the latter is that newspaper arti-cles were only drawn from the LexisNexis database. These limitations resulted in more news-papers geographically located in or associated with the West than the East. It is also possiblethat non-English language newspapers, which were not included in the sample, may havepresented Al Jazeera differently than English language newspapers.

The data was examined in the light of independent, dependent and control variables.Independent variables consisted of name of the newspaper, nation, region and location.Dependent variables were tone toward Al Jazeera itself (neutral, negative or positive), pageplacement (inside page, section front or front page), association with and link to terrorism,violence and anti-West sentiments. A control variable was subject of the mention (referenceto Al Jazeera English or Al Jazeera Arabic service).

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The data was coded by two experienced coders. After three training rounds, intercoderreliability tests, based on percentage of agreement, achieved 100% agreement on each of thevariables except for tone toward Al Jazeera itself, which had 92% agreement.

Since all variables were nominal, chi-square tests for statistical significance were used totest all hypotheses. Control variables were tested against all the dependent variables todetermine whether they had any impact and to answer research questions. With a samplesize of 695 mentions of the Al Jazeera brand, the probability level was set at .05.

V. CHI-SQUARE ANALYSES

Since all data were nominal, chi-square analyses were used to test a number of hypothesesand address a set of exploratory questions pertaining to two sets of analyses which are relatedto two antinomies: East/West regions and Al Jazeera Arabic service/Al Jazeera English service.In some cases, data were collapsed due to the number of low frequency cells. This was doneto improve the accuracy of the statistical analyses.

HYPOTHESESThe ñrst set of analyses were designed to test the hypotheses that newspapers published inNorth America, Europe, Australia/New Zealand and Israel (regions located in or associatedwith the West) would use mentions of Al Jazeera differently than newspapers in Asia, theMiddle East and South Africa (the East).

HI: The tone toward Al Jazeera itself in Al Jazeera brand mentions in newspapers will bemore nega tive in North America/Israel, Europe and Australia/New Zealand than in Asia, theMiddle East and South Añica.

As seen in Table 1, the hypothesis was supported somewhat, but the differences were not"large in terms of percentages. In North America/Israel, 121 (30.9%) of mentions werenegative; in Europe, 55 (24.4%) of mentions were negative. In Asia/the Middle East/SouthAfrica, 5 (23.8%) of mentions were negative.

TABLE 1 : WORLD REGION

World Region

North America/Israel

Australia/New Zealand

Europe

Asia/Middle East/South Africa

BY TONE

Negative

121/30.9%

10/17.5%

55/24.4%

5/23.8%

Neutral

217/55.4%

35/61.4%

121/53.8%

13/61.9%

Positive

54/13.8%

12/21.1%

49/21.8%

3/14.3%

Note: n= 695; chi-square= 1 1.24; df= 5; p= <.O5

H2: The page placement ofAl Jazeera brand mentions in newspapers will be more prominentin North America/Israel, Europe and Australia/New Zealand than in Asia, the Middle Eastand South A&ica.

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Table 2 shows that this hypothesis was also supported, at the <.O1 level. Newspapers in NorthAmerica/Israel, Australia/New Zealand and Europe used the Al Jazeera brand name morefrequently on the front page or a section front page than newspapers in Asia/the MiddleEast/South Africa, which never used the brand on the front page. This suggests that Al Jazeerais more successful at commanding prominent page placement in the West than in the East.

TABLE 2: WORLD REGION

World Region



Europe


BY PAGE PLACEMENT

Inside Page

333/84.9%

55/96.5%

203/90.2%

21/100.0%

Section Front/Front Page

59/15.1%

2/3.5%

22/9.8%

0/0.0%

Note: n= 695; chl-square= 11.31; df= 3; p= <.O1

H3: Al lazeera brand mentions in new^apers associa ting Al lazeera itself with terrorism orviolence in newspapers will be more frequent in North America/Israel, Europe andAustralia/New Zealand than in Asia, the Middle East and South Africa.

This hypothesis was not supported. While mentions associated with terrorism or violencewere more frequent in newspapers in the West than newspapers in the East, the differenceswere not statistically significant, as seen in Table 3. The vast majority of mentions in allregions of the world did not associate Al Jazeera with terrorism or violence. This suggeststhat newspapers in the West and the East recognize that Al Jazeera is simply covering thesetopics as any other network does.

TABLE 3: WORLD REGION BY ASSOCATION OF AL JAZEERAITSELF WITH TERRORISM OR VIOLENCE

World Region



Europe


Al Jazeera

not associated with terrorism

353/90.1%

51/89.5%

200/88.9%

20/95.2%

Al Jazeera

associated with terrorism

39/09,9%

6/10.5%

25/11.1%

1/4.8%

Note: n= 695; chi-square= 0.91; df= 3; p= n.s. (not significant)

H4: Al lazeera brand mentions in newspapers associa ting Al lazeera itself with anti- Westsentiments will be more frequent in North America/Lsrael, Europe and Australia/NewZealand than in Asia, the Middle East and South Africa.

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This hypothesis was also not supported. Findings in Table 4 were very similar to findingsconcerning mentions associating Al Jazeera with terrorism and violence. While largerpercentages of newspapers in the West associated Al Jazeera with anti-West sentiments thannewspapers in the East, these differences were not statistically significant. A vast majority ofnewspapers did not associate Al Jazeera with anti-West sentiments. This suggests again thatnewspapers in the West and the East recognize that Al Jazeera is covering these topics as othernetworks do.

TABLE 4: WORLD REGION BY ASSOCATION OF AL JAZEERAITSELF WITH ANTI-WEST SENTIMENTS

World Region



Europe


Al Jazeera not associated

with anti-West

354/90.4%

51/89.5%

199/88.4%

20/95.2%

Al Jazeera associated

with anti-West

38/09.7%

6/10.5%

26/11.6%

1/4.8%

Note: n= 695; chi-square= 1.25; df= 3; p= n.s. (not significont)

H5: Al fazeera brand mentions in newspapers linking the mentions with terrorism or violencein general will be more ûequent in North America/Israel, Europe and Australia/New Zealandthan in Asia, the Middle East and South Airica.

This hypothesis was supported somewhat as Table 5 shows. North America/Jsrael with 192mentions (49.0%) and Australia/New Zealand with 30 mentions (52.6%) more frequentlylinked mentions with terrorism or violence in general, but Europe and Asia/the MiddleEast/South Africa were about the same on this variable. This suggests that newspapers inparts of the West more frequently published items about terrorism or violence in generalthan newspapers in the East, but that does not mean that the mentions associated Al Jazeeraitself to these topics. Jt simply means that Al Jazeera is covering these topics and that it isperceived as a "credible" source.

TABLE 5: WORLD REGION BY LINKAGE OF AL JAZEERAMENTIONS WITH TERRORISM OR VIOLENCE IN GENERAL

World Region


Australia/New Zealond

Europe


Mentions not linked

with terrorism in general

200/51.0%

27/47.4%

141/62.7%

13/61.9%

Mentions linked with

terrorism in general

192/49.0%

30/52.6%

84/37.3%

8/38.1%

Note: n= 695; chi-square= 9.58; df= 3; p= <.O5

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H6: Al Jazeera brand mentions in newspapers Unking the mentions with anti-West sentimentsin general will be more irequent in North America/Israel, Europe and Australia/New Zealandthan in Asia, the Middle East and South Aß-ica.

This hypothesis was supported as seen in Table 6. Newspapers in North America/Israel(124 mentions, 31.6%), Australia/New Zealand (16 mentions, 28.1%) and Europe (59 men-tions, 26.2%) more frequently published items about anti-West sentiments than newspapersin Asia/the Middle East/South Africa (1 mention, 4.8%). However, it is important to pointout that the majority of mentions in all regions were not linked to anti-West sentiments ingeneral, suggesting that anti-West sentiment is not as common a topic as terrorism ingeneral. This also suggests that Al Jazeera is valued as a credible news source when reportingon this topic. Again, it does not suggest that newspapers are associating Al Jazeera itself withanti-West sentiments.

TABLE 6: WORLD REGION BY LINKAGE OF ALJAZEERAMENTIONS WITH ANTI-WEST SENTIMENTS IN GENERAL

World Region



Europe


Mentions not linked with

anti-West in general

268/68.4%

41/71.9%

166/73.8%

20/95.2%



124/31.6%

16/28.1%

59/26.2%

1/4.8%

Note; n= 695; chi-square= 8.20; df= 3; p= <.O5

EXPLORATORY OUESTIONSThe second set of analyses, based on exploratory questions, were designed to determinewhether newspaper mentions of Al Jazeera English would differ from newspaper mentionsof Al Jazeera's Arabic television service. Chi-square analyses tests were conducted with thisindependent variable and all the dependent variables. Tests that revealed statistically signifi-cant differences are included here.

EQl: Will there be a difference in tone toward Al Jazeera itself in newspaper mentionsof Al Jazeera English compared to mentions of Al Jazeera's Arabic television service?

Table 7 shows that there is evidence that the percentage of positive tone toward Al Jazeeraitself was larger in mentions of the Al Jazeera English service (35.3%) compared to theAl Jazeera Arabic service (11.9%). However, the percentage of negative tone also increasedfrom 25.5% with the AI Jazeera Arabic service to 34.7% with the Al Jazeera English service.This suggests that newspapers moved away from neutrality and became more polarized intheir tone toward Al Jazeera itself when mentioning the English service.

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TABLE 7: PUBLICATION

Service

Al Jazeera Arabic service

Al Jazeera English service

SERVICE BY TONE

Negative

139/25.5%

52/34.7%

Neutral

341/62.6%

45/30.0%

Positive

65/11.9%

53/35.3%

Note: n= 695; chi-square= 64.01 ; df= 2; p= <.OO1

EQ2: Will there be a difference in page placement in newspaper mentions ofAl JazeeraEnglish compared to mentions of M Jazeera's Arabic television service?

Table 8 shows ttiat larger percentages of mentions of the Al Jazeera English service (16.0%)showed up on the front page or on section front pages than mentions of the Al Jazeera Arahicservice. This means that Al Jazeera enjoyed more prominent page placement in newspaperswith the Al Jazeera English service.

TABLE 8 : PUBLICATION SERVICE BY PAGE PLACEMENT

Service



Inside Page

486/89.2%

126/84.0%

Section Front/Front

59/10.8%

24/16.0%

Page


EQ3: Will there be a difference in new^aper mentions ofAl Jazeera English comparedto mentions ofAl Jazeera's Arabic television service concerning whether Al Jazeera itself isassociated with terrorism or violence?

The percentages of mentions associated with terrorism are lower for the Al Jazeera Englishservice (6.0%) than for the Al Jazeera Arahic service (11.4%) as indicated in Table 9.This means that Al Jazeera has had some success with disassociating itself from terrorismwith its English service.

TABLE 9: PUBLICATION SERVICE BY ASSOCATION OF AL JAZEERAITSELF WITH TERRORISM OR VIOLENCE

Service



Al Jazeera not associated

with terrorism

483/88.6%

141/94.0%

Al Jazeero associated

with terrorism

62/11.4%

9/6.0%


39


EQ4: Will there be a difference in newspaper mentions ofAl Jazeera English compared tomentions ofAl Jazeera's Arabic television service concerning whether the mentions are linkedto terrorism or violence in general?

The percentages of mentions linked to terrorism in general are far lower for the Al JazeeraEnglish service (4.0%) than for the Al Jazeera Arabic service (56.5%) as Table 10 shows.This is strong evidence that Al Jazeera English was rarely mentioned with terrorism ingeneral. In turn, this may also help the network disassociate itself from terrorism with itsEnglish language service.

TABLE 10: PUBLICATION SERVICE BY LINKAGE OF AL JAZEERA MENTIONSWITH TERRORISM OR VIOLENCE IN GENERAL

Service




terrorism in generol

237/43.5%

144/96.0%


terrorism in generol

308/56.5%

6/4.0%

Note: n= 695; chi-square= 130.97; df= 1; p= <.OO1

EQ5: Will there be a difference in newspaper mentions ofAl Jazeera English compared tomentions ofAl Jazeera's Arabic television service concerning whether the mentions are linkedto anti-West sentiments in general?

The percentages of mentions linked to anti-West sentiments in general are lower for theAl Jazeera English service (3.3%) than for the Al Jazeera Arabic service (35.8%) as seen inTable 11. This is also evidence that Al Jazeera English was rarely mentioned with anti-Westsentiments in general. Such a trend may also help the network successfully disassociate itselffrom anti-West sentiments with its English language service.

TABLE 1 1 : PUBLICATION SERVICE BY LINKAGE OF AL JAZEERAMENTIONS WITH ANTI-WEST SENTIMENTS IN GENERAL

Service





350/64.2%

145/96.7%



195/35.8%

5/3.3%

Note: n= 695; chi-square= 60.42; df= 1; p= <.OO1

40


VI. CONCLUDING REMARKS

The foregoing systematic content analysis research on how the Al Jazeera brand has beenpresented in major newspapers worldwide suggests that Al Jazeera has made inroads to accept-ance. Al Jazeera's move to establish the English language service has in some ways improvedits image and standing in newspapers around the world. This is especially evident whencomparing Al Jazeera English or Arabic service and region of the world where the newspaperwas published as independent variables. Tone toward the Al Jazeera brand in the newspapermentions, a dependent variable, was notably affected by these independent variables.

Comparing the tone of brand mentions of the Al Jazeera Arabic service to the Al JazeeraEnglish service revealed some differences. Negative tones with the Enghsh service (34.7%)were higher than negative tones toward the Arabic service (25.5%), but positive tones towardthe Al Jazeera brand were much higher with the English Service (35.3%) compared to theArabic service (11.9%).

Prominence of placements of the Al Jazeera brand also lent support to Al Jazeera's gains.Mentions of Al Jazeera English were more frequently seen on front pages and section frontpages (16%) than mentions of the Al Jazeera Arabic service (10.8%).

A crucial indicator of acceptance of Al Jazeera by the newspapers was whether theAl Jazeera brand itself was associated with terrorism, violence and anti-West sentiments.That brand mentions of Al Jazeera English associating Al Jazeera itself with terrorism werefewer (6%) than brand mentions of the Al Jazeera Arabic service (11.4%) suggests that,by and large, the Al Jazeera English brand was not associated with terrorism in newspapers.Similar findings were noted when examining whether brand mentions associated Al Jazeeraitself with anti-West sentiments. These results indicate that Al Jazeera is starting to gaina somewhat broad acceptance as a "credible" source with newspapers around the world.While the latter recognize that Al Jazeera is reporting on these topics, they do not readilyassociate Al Jazeera itself with terrorism or anti-West sentiments—which suggests thatAl Jazeera English has the potential to dissociate the Al Jazeera brand from terrorism andanti-West sentiments. To be sure, some newspapers painted Al Jazeera as an enabler ofterrorism and anti-West messages, but the majority of newspapers presented Al Jazeera as a"credible" source, sometimes the only source, on these topics, without associating Al Jazeeraitself with terrorism and anti-West sentiments.

If anything, the foregoing analysis suggests that newspapers around the world are increas-ing their acceptance ofAl Jazeera as time goes on and that the establishment of the English-language Al Jazeera English service has contributed to the improvement of the Al Jazeerabrand. That may not be a coincidence as Al Jazeera has retained a public relations firm.Brown Lloyd James, to prepare the public for Al Jazeera English and enhance its image(Kincaid, 2005). So far, the Al Jazeera brand has a great potential but it has not been "fully"exploited. How well Al Jazeera English will do in the future, what enduring impact it willhave on the Al Jazeera brand and how that wül affect the controversial Arabic channel remainto be seen.

41

JOURNAL OF MIDDIE EAST MEDIA

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