Journal of Arab and Muslim Media Research最新文献

{"title":"The Muhammad cartoon controversy in New Zealand newspapers","authors":"S. Kabir","doi":"10.1386/jammr_00028_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jammr_00028_1","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines the construction of the controversy surrounding the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, as it appeared in three New Zealand newspapers and discursively identifies how three New Zealand newspapers framed Islam and Muslims from an Orientalist perception. This study argues that these newspapers framed the issue of Muhammad cartoon controversial image in a way that reinforces the notion of a clash of culture between Islam and ‘the West’ and identified that Islam is a threat to the civilization. The metaphors employed, the visual texts incorporated, the terminologies they imposed appear to dehumanize Islam and Muslims, which also violates the philosophical stand of the freedom of expression. The news frame that these newspapers adopted in covering the controversial cartoon issue also supports an elite political agenda without respecting the religious norms of a minority group. However, the dehumanization of Islam and Orientalist perception of clash of cultures were mostly absent in their editorials. Therefore, the news frame conflicts with editorials’ construction of the issue in most cases. Furthermore, while one newspaper’s editorials dehumanized Islam and Muslims by espousing Orientalist perception of clash of cultures, the other two played a constructive role towards Islam and Muslims.","PeriodicalId":36098,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Arab and Muslim Media Research","volume":"46 1","pages":"143-156"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84140666","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mapping the fake news infodemic amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: A study of Indian fact-checking websites","authors":"Kaifia Ancer Laskar, Mohammad Reyaz","doi":"10.1386/jammr_00026_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jammr_00026_1","url":null,"abstract":"Fake news, a term that was never heard a decade back, has established a subculture of misinformation and disinformation, whether intentionally or unintentionally, on social media by its users. The personal bias as well as unverified content sharing through the click of a button has not only led to the epidemic of fake content across the world, but in countries like India, it has also led to lynching and violence in various places. This article tries to find the rate of debunked or fact-checked content during the COVID-19 pandemic in India related to the enforcement of the nationwide lockdown, false claims of cure or immunity boost, political blame gaming, the impact of the pandemic on economy, religious polarization, as well as fake news on related issues concerning other countries apart from India. We try to discern in this article whether fact-checked items of disinformation were more on communal issues than the cure/claims of alternative medicines. We also try to unearth if there were a larger number of international items covered by the fact-checking sites given the status of the COVID-19 crisis in other countries than the lockdown (issues related to nationwide lockdown declared in India). Using content analysis of two fake news debunking websites Boom Live and Alt News, for six months (March–August 2020) during the COVID-19 pandemic, we argue that there were a lesser number of disinformation or fake news on treatment-related fake news compared to those on polarizing issues. We also posit that there were more fake news on the nationwide lockdown imposed in India than on its impact on the economy. In a bid to map the fake news and disinformation debunked by these two select websites, we find that the genealogy of fake news works with our personal biases and fears, thereby making media literacy all the more indispensable given the reach of internet-based news. The urgent need for stringent regulations by an autonomous body of the government to curb the fake news ecosystem is recommended by us along with emphasizing digital media literacy.","PeriodicalId":36098,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Arab and Muslim Media Research","volume":"77 1","pages":"93-116"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79983751","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Role of the Social Media in Empowering Saudi Women’s Expression, Hend T. Alsudairy (2020)","authors":"Reem Ali Al Derham","doi":"10.1386/jammr_00030_5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jammr_00030_5","url":null,"abstract":"Review of: The Role of the Social Media in Empowering Saudi Women’s Expression, Hend T. Alsudairy (2020)\u0000Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholar Publishing, 121 pp.,\u0000ISBN 978-1-5275-4974-6, 358.30 QAR","PeriodicalId":36098,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Arab and Muslim Media Research","volume":"51 3 1","pages":"160-162"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86223466","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Insta-hate: An exploration of Islamophobia and right-wing nationalism on Instagram amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in India","authors":"B. Rajan, S. Venkatraman","doi":"10.1386/jammr_00025_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jammr_00025_1","url":null,"abstract":"The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light a crisis of racism and violence on social media by right-wing nationalists in India. Twitter and Instagram have become the online spaces to spew misinformation about the pandemic. Instagram pages such as Hindu_Secret and Hindu_he_hum have been unrelenting and vicious in spreading Islamophobic campaigns using the COVID-19 pandemic. This has opened up opportunities for targeting the Muslim community in India.\u0000This study positioned itself within the theoretical framework of Stuart Hall’s encoding and decoding theory to uncover the visual and textual codes used to create stigma and blatant stereotypes that dehumanize and demonize certain communities using social media. This is an explorative inquiry that engaged in a semiotic analysis of the Instagram pages of Hindu_Secret and Hindu_he_hum. The study found encoded stereotypes of threat in the use of colour, religious structures, clothes and other physical markers of cultural identity in generating content for Islamophobia. Coronavirus was portrayed to have Islamic parentage in the memes; thus, it portrayed the Muslim community of nurturing and intentionally spreading the virus across India.","PeriodicalId":36098,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Arab and Muslim Media Research","volume":"44 1","pages":"71-91"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86930173","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Social media and the COVID-19 pandemic: The dilemma of fake news clutter vs. social responsibility","authors":"Moez Ben Messaoud","doi":"10.1386/jammr_00023_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jammr_00023_1","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the relationship between fake news and social media as increasingly important sources of news, at a time when mainstream media no longer have exclusive control over news production and dissemination. It has been evident that few media outlets and professionals tend to draw conflicting news about COVID-19 from social media feeds, which are largely produced by common citizens with mostly no journalism training. This pervasive use makes social media key sources to scores of media outlets for news, whether it is related to COVID-19 or public affairs issues, even though it is susceptible to torrents of credibility and accuracy issues.\u0000As a result, of the overwhelming spread of fake news on coronavirus, which is contributing to framing events from several angles, media professionals are now obliged to track and vet information circulating on social media. Due to the scale of disinformation spreading on the Web, it has become imperative that the credibility and accuracy of news is thoroughly verified. Media organizations have already been putting in place various mechanisms to monitor false news.\u0000This article will attempt to identify and assess these monitoring efforts in the Arab world. For this purpose, I have put together a list of Arab observatories launched on the internet in order to monitor fake news circulating in relation to COVID-19, and to discuss their methods of monitoring work, in the context of mobilization carried out by governments and many organizations such as the World Health Organization.\u0000This article is pinned down on social responsibility approach which helps pave the way the different propositions to combat fake news and avoid abuses in social media uses. This article proposes an evaluation of the monitoring initiative via-a-vis fake news and proposes a set of guidelines for improving the work of such monitoring bodies. Hence, this research reveals that social media outlets have diversified their goals to match the power of the conventional media in disseminating information and bringing up issues for debate. However, in the light of the framework of social responsibility, social media actors have to constantly develop a set of ethical practices to be observed by users, establish codes of conduct regulating content production, and lay down a code of integrity to assure accuracy in news and information transmission.","PeriodicalId":36098,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Arab and Muslim Media Research","volume":"13 1","pages":"25-45"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72502536","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Communication ethics for online social movements: A study on Arab social networks on Twitter","authors":"Asma H. Malkawi, Khamis Ambusaidi","doi":"10.1386/jammr_00027_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jammr_00027_1","url":null,"abstract":"Social media increasingly play a role in transforming activist movements in the Arab world into digital forms. This study examines the link between adherence of network members to digital communication ethics and the level of the movements’ success based on the conceptual grounding in communication theories of Jürgen Habermas and Taha Abdurrahman. We tried to evaluate the link between the success of online social movement actors and their ethical contents by asking: What are the ethical implications of online social movements that do succeed in actualizing their goals? Do social network users discuss communication ethics to agree on terms of use within these movements? What are the important issues of communicative action and challenges of rational discussion in Arab social media use? We used two case studies: the hashtag #with_the_teacher launched to support teachers’ rights in Jordan in 2019, and a Twitter network of Arab users discussing digital communication ethics. We used mixed-methods and case studies approaches; data collected from Twitter were analysed using social network analysis followed by qualitative content analysis. Key findings demonstrate positive effects of activists’ engagement in social networks, and that commitment to digital communication ethics, whether stemming from secular or religious frames of reference, is significant for the success of online social movements. The case of #with_the_teacher network proved itself to be an example of successful digital protest and ideal model for rational ethical communication. Content analysis revealed that teachers formed a social network that exhibited strong solidarity and cohesion, and relied – perhaps unconsciously – on rules and principles of ethical discussion, including truthfulness, credibility, transparency, respect, accuracy and responsibility. Content analysis of the ‘communication ethics’ network demonstrated that the majority of content was religiously oriented, produced mainly by religious figures, educational institutions, or accounts with pseudonyms that are influential by the sheer number of their followers.","PeriodicalId":36098,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Arab and Muslim Media Research","volume":"19 1","pages":"117-142"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86500950","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Routledge Handbook on Arab Media, Noureddine Miladi and Noha Mellor (eds) (2021)","authors":"Helena Hägglund","doi":"10.1386/jammr_00029_5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jammr_00029_5","url":null,"abstract":"Review of: Routledge Handbook on Arab Media, Noureddine Miladi and Noha Mellor (eds) (2021)\u0000London: Routledge, 528 pp.,\u0000ISBN 978-0-42942-708-4, e-book, ISBN 978-1-13838-548-1, h/bk, £190","PeriodicalId":36098,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Arab and Muslim Media Research","volume":"55 1","pages":"157-159"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86246631","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The virus of the ‘others’? Corona and discursive othering in Arab media","authors":"Carola Richter, Abdulrahman Al-Shami, S. Khalīfa, Soheir A. Osman, Samuel Mundua","doi":"10.1386/JAMMR_00022_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/JAMMR_00022_1","url":null,"abstract":"The spread of fear of the coronavirus and related insecurities around the pandemic have fuelled nationalist and increased exclusionary tendencies in countries all over the world. In North America, for instance, anti-Asian racism increased when former US President Donald Trump dubbed the virus the ‘Chinese virus’. A nationalist agenda has been strengthened in many places, including the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region;and hateful narratives blaming ‘others’ for the pandemic, legitimizing a retreat to the protection of national borders and policies, are being spread in different media outlets. This article comparatively investigates processes of othering with regard to COVID-19 in four MENA countries – Egypt, Iraq, Oman and Yemen – and asks, who is held responsible for the coronavirus crisis in different countries? How is othering revealed in media coverage related to COVID-19? What (in)sensitive language can be identified? The study looks at mass media coverage at the peak of the global lockdown during the spring of 2020. The media analysis reveals a strong emphasis on mostly national identities as articulated lines of demarcation in all four cases. A homogenizing and demonizing othering was detected in particular in the cases of Yemen and Egypt, but also Iraq, when blame was attributed to political adversaries. The Omani case was characterized by a more subtle othering that focused strongly on the importance of citizenship. © 2021 Intellect Ltd Article. English language.","PeriodicalId":36098,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Arab and Muslim Media Research","volume":"20 1","pages":"3-24"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83172839","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The significance of digital media in local public space crisis management: The case of Poland, the United Kingdom and Italy","authors":"Ilona Biernacka-Ligieza","doi":"10.1386/JAMMR_00024_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/JAMMR_00024_1","url":null,"abstract":"This article recognizes the potential and possibilities of digital media in COVID-19 crisis management in different democratic systems. It is the comparative analysis of information management during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland, the United Kingdom and Italy. From the theoretical approach, the crisis management usually deals with two main models. The first one is defined as the post-reactive model, which is based on reacting to events after the first symptoms of the crisis and the communication model remains the top-down process. The second one is described as the pro-reactive model, which is based on building a dialogue space with the participatory community and it is the bottom-up communication process. In this case, the community becomes an active partner in bridging the crisis. The main goal of the proposed article is to examine the ways in which digital media influences the quality of strategic communication management in local public spaces and what type of crisis management strategy is applied to each political culture. The article discusses the pros and cons of information distributed through digital platforms by both the media and public institutions in terms of community awareness and crisis governance. The article applies a mixed method approach, which includes content analysis (media and governmental digital services), interviews (with the authorities’ members and media representatives) and social media network analysis (mainly Facebook). The analysis has been ongoing since the beginning of the pandemic in Europe (March–September 2020). The research has demonstrated that the shape and distribution of information during the pandemic were of great importance for the quality of information strategy activities. The problem was noticeable disinformation at all levels, which was the result of a lack of control over the message and the pursuit of sensation or conspiracy. It was clearly observed that without the support of crisis communication during the pandemic by the media, mainly digital platforms, it would be impossible to implement it. In all three countries, social media was the ‘information management centre’ in the COVID-19 era, but the activity of individual municipalities was slightly different. As far as the urbanized and semi-urbanized level is concerned, some consistency can be observed. In all three cases, communication on social media platforms was conducted very intensively and with the use of various tools (texts, statistics, instructional videos, scientific articles, infographics, etc.). All the ‘organizers’ of the local public sphere (presidents, mayors, journalists, service representatives) tried to keep in touch with the inhabitants.","PeriodicalId":36098,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Arab and Muslim Media Research","volume":"31 1","pages":"47-70"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87903028","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Patriotism and Islam on social media: How Pakistani publics revisit their allegiance to the state","authors":"M. Cheema","doi":"10.1386/jammr_00017_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jammr_00017_1","url":null,"abstract":"This study focuses on a series of events related to the sudden disappearance of bloggers in Pakistan on 7 January 2017. Following the incident, the broadcast media reported that the bloggers were sharing blasphemous content and were involved in anti-state activities. This revelation\u0000 triggered online conversations that questioned their sympathizers’ patriotism and loyalty to Islam. The study locates how this led to the emergence of several hashtag-led publics on Twitter. While focusing two hashtags that polarized the publics on the issue, the study utilizes discourse\u0000 analysis to evaluate the discourses generated by the conservative and the liberal publics on patriotism and national identity. This study finds that while conflating national identity with Islam, the conservative discourse constitutes angry, threat-like closed statements that allowed no room\u0000 for disagreement. Liberal publics, on the other hand, use strategic speaking to create anti-state discourse on patriotism. Despite the heated exchange between the two publics, I argue that on this occasion (event-led), Twitter offered the opportunity for initiating counter-narratives that\u0000 refuse to translate patriotism in the idiom of religion. I see this as an occasional, episodic, yet unprecedented form of public sphering in Pakistani context that brings both liberals and conservatives in direct contact with each other.","PeriodicalId":36098,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Arab and Muslim Media Research","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74447477","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}