Abstract
The recent political and military developments in the Arab world have resulted in Arab news media organisations becoming fully fledged political actors in the region. This chapter explores how two 24-hour Arabic news channels, Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera, have been actively disseminating and propagating political ideologies enforcing political hegemonies that match certain political affiliations in the region. We argue that the discourses used by both channels have political implications and that they reflect a body of statements that are systematically organised to try and shape how their target audiences view regional conflicts and their antagonists. A battle for viewership along the lines of political affiliations has emerged and the destructive impact of divisive sectarian discourse, which might amount to hate speech, is evident in many Arab capitals.
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Notes
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Personal communication from one Al-Arabiya journalist.
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Disclaimer: I am trustee and board member of the EJN.
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UK broadcast regulator Ofcom’s hate speech definition: ‘all forms of expression which spread, incite, promote or justify hatred based on intolerance on the grounds of disability, ethnicity, gender, gender reassignment, nationality, race, religion, or sexual orientation’ (Ofcom broadcast code 2017).
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For more on who are the Shia? See Nasr, Vali. 2007. The Shia Revival, Norton, NY.
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Links to ‘The Opposite Direction’ Three Episodes (in Arabic)
Links to ‘The Opposite Direction’ Three Episodes (in Arabic)
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Episode 3 June 2014: Why is the Alawite Minority ruling the Sunni majority in Syria?
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Episode 5 May 2015: The fate of Syrian Alawite now the rebels have come closer to their districts.
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Episode 23 August 2016: Would the Sunni become a minority in the region?
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Harb, Z. (2019). Covering Regional Conflicts in Arab News: Political Loyalties and Hate Speech. In: Kelly, M., Footitt, H., Salama-Carr, M. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Languages and Conflict. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04825-9_13
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