Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Al Jazeera: Non-Violence and Peace Journalism

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Al Jazeera in the Gulf and in the World

Part of the book series: Contemporary Gulf Studies ((CGS))

Abstract

Since its establishment in 1996, Al Jazeera has branded itself as an alternative source of news in a world dominated until then by Western media. Al Jazeera’s role as an alternative voice has been particularly highlighted after September 11, 2001, and the US invasion of Afghanistan, and again during the Iraq War. The Al Jazeera network once more captured international attention during its continuous coverage of the Arab Spring in 2011. Between being the first news network to air Osama Bin Laden’s statements in 2001 and its non-stop coverage of the Arab Spring, Al Jazeera has covered multiple violent conflicts around the world. Building the conceptual framework of Peace Journalism by Johan Galtung, this chapter interrogates Al Jazeera’s coverage of violence and violent conflicts. Using framing analysis, the chapter examines Al Jazeera English coverage of 2017 battle of Raqqa. To understand the organizational and ethical decision-making process that takes place at Al Jazeera network, document analysis and in-depth interviews were utilized. Analysis revealed that in its hard news bulletins Al Jazeera English coverage is characterized by a focus on direct violence with less attention paid to issues of structural and cultural violence. However, in framing issues of conflict, Al Jazeera adopted a humanitarian frame and focused on the high human cost associated with conflict. The framing process was a conscious and deliberate ethical choice based on a moral position to side with the vulnerable and the oppressed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Some historians refer to the 1980 Iraq-Iran war as the first Gulf War. However, in this article the first Gulf War refers to the Desert Storm Operation.

References

  • Aguiar, L. (2009). Framing a Global Crisis: An Analysis of the Coverage of the Latest Israeli-Palestinian Conflict by Al-Jazeera and CNN. Estudos em comunicacao, 6, 1–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ajami, F. (2001, November 18). What the Muslim World Is Watching. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/18/magazine/what-the-muslim-world-is-watching.html

  • Al Jazeera Media Network. (2014). Code of Ethics. Retrieved from http://www.aljazeera.com/aboutus/2006/11/2008525185733692771.html

  • Al Jazeera Media Network. (n.d.). Editorial Standards.

    Google Scholar 

  • Al-Khalil, M. (2017). Personal Interview. Doha: Qatar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Al Sheikh, A. (2017). Personal Interview. Doha: Qatar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amnesty International. (2009). Israel/Gaza: Operation ‘Cast Lead’ – 22 Days of Death and Destruction Facts and Figures. Accessed from https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/48000/mde150212009eng.pd

  • Avraham, E., Wolfsfeld, G., & Aburaiya, I. (2000). Dynamics in the News Coverage of Minorities: The Case of the Arab Citizens of Israel. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 24(2), 117–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ayish, M. (2010). Politics Versus Morality in the Public Sphere: How Al Jazeera Humanized a Bloody Conflict in Gaza. In J. Lewis & S. Cushion (Eds.), The Rise of 24-Hour News: Global Perspectives. New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ayish, M. (2011). Television Broadcasting in the Arab World. Political Democratization and Cultural Revivalism. In N. Mellor, M. Ayish, N. Dajani, & K. Rinnawi (Eds.), Arab Media: Globalization and Emerging Media Industries. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beer, F. (2001). Meanings of War & Peace. College Station: Texas A&M University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bodi, F. (2003, March 28). Al Jazeera Tells the Truth About the War. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/mar/28/iraq.television

  • Broom, B. J., & Hatay, A. (2006). Building Peace in Divided Societies: The Role of Intergroup Dialogue. In J. G. Oetzel & S. Ting-Toomey (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Conflict Communication: Integrating Theory, Research and Practice (pp. 627–662). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Carter, B. (1991, January 17). The Media Business; CNN Takes an Early Lead in Coverage of the Gulf War. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/17/business/the-media-business-cnn-takes-an-early-lead-in-coverage-of-the-gulf-war.html

  • Christians, C. (1997). The Ethics of Being in a Communication Context. In C. Christians & M. Traber (Eds.), Communication Ethics and Universal Values. Thousands Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christians, C. (2007). Non-Violence in Philosophical and Media Ethics. In R. Keeble, J. Tulloch, & F. Zollmann (Eds.), Peace Journalism, War and Conflict Resolution. New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christians, C. G., Fackler, M., & Ferré, J. P. (2012). Ethics for Public Communication: Defining Moments in Media History. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Craig Watkins, S. (2001). Framing Protest: News Media Frames of the Million Man March. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 18(1), 83–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • D’Angelo, P. (2002). News Framing as a Multiparadigmatic Research Program: A Response to Entman. Journal of Communication, 52(4), 870–888.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • El-Nawawy, M., & Iskandar, A. (2003). Al Jazeera: The Story of the Network That Is Rattling Governments and Redefining Modern Journalism. Boulder: Westview.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elias, R., & Turpin, J. (1994). Rethinking Peace. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Entman, R. M. (1993). Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm. Journal of Communication, 43(4), 51–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fahmy, S., & Johnson, T. J. (2005). “How We Performed”: Embedded Journalists’ Attitudes and Perceptions Towards Covering the Iraq War. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 82(2), 301–317.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Figenschou, T. (2011). Suffering Up Close: The Strategic Construction of Mediated Suffering on Al Jazeera English. International Journal of Communication, 5, 21. Retrieved from http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/851

  • Figenschou, T. (2013). Al Jazeera and the Global Media Landscape: The South Is Talking Back. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galtung, J. (1964). An Editorial. Journal of Peace Research, 1(1), 1–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galtung, J. (1969). Violence, Peace, and Peace Research. Journal of Peace Research, 6(3), 167–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galtung, J. (1990). Cultural Violence. Journal of Peace Research, 27(3), 291–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galtung, J. (1996). Cultural Peace: Some Characteristics. In From a Culture of Violence to a Culture of Peace (pp. 75–92). Paris: UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galtung, J. (1998). High Road, Low Road: Charting the Course of Peace Journalism. Track Two, 7(4), 7–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galtung, J. (2003). Peace Journalism. Media Asia, 30(3), 177–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galtung, J. (2006). Peace Journalism as an Ethical Challenge. GMJ: Mediterranean Edition, 1(2), 1–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galtung, J., & Ruge, M. (1965). The Structure of Foreign News: The Presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus Crises in Four Norwegian Newspapers. Journal of International Peace Research, 1, 64–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gamson, W. A. (1988). The 1987 Distinguished Lecture: A Constructionist Approach to Mass Media and Public Opinion. Symbolic Interaction, 11(2), 161–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gamson, W. A., & Modigliani, A. (1989). Media Discourse and Public Opinion: A Constructionist Approach. American Journal of Sociology, 95, 1–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goffman, E. (1974). Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. New York: Harper & Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Groff, L., & Smoker, P. (1996). Creating Global/Local Cultures of Peace. In From a Culture of Violence to a Culture of Peace (pp. 103–128). Paris: UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hackett, R. (2006). Is Peace Journalism Possible? Three Frameworks for Assessing Structure and Agency in News Media. Conflict & Communication, 5. Accessed from: www.cco.regener-online.de/2006_2/pdf/hackett.pdf

  • Hanitzsch, T. (2007). Situating Peace Journalism in Journalism Studies: A Critical Appraisal. Conflict & Communication Online, 6(2), 1–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hassan, H. (2017, June/July 2). The Battle for Raqqa and Challenges After Liberation. CTC Sentinel. Retrieved from https://ctc.usma.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/CTC-Sentinel_Vol10Iss6-3.pdf

  • Iskandar, A. (2005). Is Al Jazeera Alternative? Mainstreaming Alterity and Assimilating Discourses of Dissent. Transnational Broadcasting Studies, 15. Accessed from: https://www.arabmediasociety.com/is-al-jazeera-alternative-mainstreaming-alterity-and-assimilating-discourses-of-dissent/

  • Kalip, M. (1994). Provocations: A View from the Press. In W. L. Bennett & D. L. Paletz (Eds.), Taken by Storm: The Media, Public Opinion, and US Foreign Policy in the Gulf War. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kessler, O. (2012). The Two Faces of Al Jazeera. Middle East Quarterly. Retrieved from http://www.meforum.org/3147/al-jazeera

  • Khanfar, W. (2005, March 19). Personal Interview with Leon Barkho.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krichen, M. (2017). Personal Interview. Doha: Qatar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, S. T., & Maslog, C. C. (2005). War or Peace Journalism? Asian Newspaper Coverage of Conflicts. Journal of Communication, 55(2), 311–329.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loyn, D. (2007). Good Journalism or Peace Journalism? Conflict and Communication Online, 6(2). Accessed from: http://www.cco.regener-online.de/2007_2/pdf/loyn_reply.pdf

  • Lynch, J. (2014). A Global Standard for Reporting Conflict. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynch, J., & McGoldrick, A. (2005). Peace Journalism. Stroud: Hawthorn Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynch, J., McGoldrick, A., & Heathers, J. (2015). Psychophysiological Audience Responses to War Journalism and Peace Journalism. Global Media and Communication, 11(3), 201–217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGoldrick, A. (2006). War Journalism and ‘Objectivity’. Conflict & Communication, 5(2). Accessed from: http://cco.regeneronline.de/2006_2/pdf/mcgoldrick.pdf

  • McGoldrick, A., & Lynch, J. (2000). Peace Journalism: How To Do It? Accessed from: http://www.transcend.org/pjmanual.htm

  • McLoughlin, K. (2012). War Correspondence. In A. Piette & M. Rawlinson (Eds.), The Edinburgh Companion to Twentieth-Century British and American War Literature (pp. 553–561). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctt1g0b1rx.65

  • Miladi, N. (2003). Mapping the Al Jazeera Phenomenon. War and the Media: Reporting Conflict, 24(7), 149–160.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miles, H. (2006). Al-Jazeera: How Arab TV News Challenged the World. London: Abacus.

    Google Scholar 

  • Negm, S. (2017). Personal Interview. Doha: Qatar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orgad, S. (2009). Watching How Others Watch Us: The Israeli Media’s Treatment of International Coverage of the Gaza War. The Communication Review, 12(3), 250–261. https://doi.org/10.1080/10714420903124168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pan, Z., & Kosicki, G. (1993). Framing Analysis: An Approach to News Discourse. Political Communication, 10(1), 55–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfau, M., et al. (2004). Embedding Journalists in Military Combat Units: Impact on Newspaper Story Frames and Tone. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 81(1), 74–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Samuel-Azran, T. (2010). Al Jazeera and US War Coverage. New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schleifer, A. (2001). The Sweet and Sour Success of Al-Jazeera. Transnational Broadcasting Studies, 7. Acessed from: http://archived.tbsjournal.arabmediasociety.com/Archives/Fall01/Jazeera_sas2.html

  • Seib, P. (2005). Hegemonic No More: Western Media, the Rise of Al-Jazeera, and the Influence of Diverse Voices. International Studies Review, 7(4), 601–615. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3699677

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shinar, D. (2009). Can Peace Journalism Make Progress? The Coverage of the 2006 Lebanon War in Canadian and Israeli Media. International Communication Gazette, 71(6), 451–471.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tankard, J. W. (2001). The Empirical Approach to the Study of Media Framing. In S. Reese, H. Gandy, & E. Grant (Eds.), Framing Public Life: Perspectives on Media and our Understanding of the Social World (pp. 95–106). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, P. M. (1992). War and the Media: Propaganda and Persuasion in the Gulf War. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tenenboim-Weinblatt, T. K., Hanitzsch, T., & Nagar, R. (2015). Beyond Peace Journalism: Reclassifying Conflict Narratives in the Israeli News Media. Journal of Peace Research, 53(2), 151–165.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tumber, H. (2006). The Fear of Living Dangerously: Journalists Who Report on Conflict. International Relations, 20(4), 439–451.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yacoubian, M. (2017). Governance Challenges in Raqqa after the Islamic State. United States Institute of Peace. Retrieved from https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/SR414-Governance-Challenges-in-Raqqa-after-the-Islamic-State.pdf

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Qatar University, Doha, Qatar

    Hala Asmina Guta

Authors
  1. Hala Asmina Guta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hala Asmina Guta .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Qatar University, Doha, Qatar

    Haydar Badawi Sadig

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Guta, H.A. (2019). Al Jazeera: Non-Violence and Peace Journalism. In: Sadig, H. (eds) Al Jazeera in the Gulf and in the World. Contemporary Gulf Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3420-7_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation