Saudi Women as Decision Makers: Analyzing the Media Portrayal of Female Political Participation in Saudi Arabia

© 2020 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. This paper analyzes the contrasting media portrayals of female political participation in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Through a thorough discourse analysis of Saudi, British, and American newspaper articles surrounding the 2015 municipal elections, we scrutinize how the portrayal of women as a subject group has shifted from one that requires the constant approval of guardians in the public sphere to one that makes its own decisions and actively participates in politics. We analyze what types of discourses and frames have supported this drastic shift in official Saudi media discourses. We then contrast these findings with the portrayal of Saudi female political participation in Western countries that claim to uphold human rights and gender equality, in contrast to Saudi Arabia. Finally, we contrast our findings with the perceptions of 50 female Saudis regarding female agency and political participation in Saudi Arabia

Veiling and Blogging: Social Media as Sites of Identity Negotiation and Expression among Saudi Women

This paper aims at assessing how Saudi Arab young women use social media for negotiating and expressing their identity. Through in-depth interviews with a sample of seven Saudi females aged 20-26, the research revealed that the internet, with its protection of individual privacy, provided the participants a space to negotiate the boundaries imposed on them by cultural and societal rules. Participants employed several tactics of negotiation such as using nicknames, concealing their personal images and using first names only in order not to be identified by their family names. Using multiple accounts is also popular among participants. Without gatekeepers, the internet brings new ways of self-expression and identification among Saudi females, thus creating a safe space where female body, predominant in daily life, is non-existent and only thoughts count

Representations of Arab Women in Hollywood Pre- and Post- 9/11

Many scholars argue that the image of Arabs in Hollywood has always been tainted by prejudice and stereotyping. However, little attention is paid to women\u27s representation in general or the influence of 9/11 on that representation. This paper compares portrayals of Arab women in popular Hollywood films before and after 9/11. A purposive sample of 76 Arab female characters from 40 popular Hollywood films is used to conduct a content analysis, comparing portrayals in films released before and after 9/11. Popular Hollywood films are defined as films with at least 50,000 reviews that score seven or more on the International Movie Database (IMDB). The results show that Arab women’s representation lacks diversity and Arab women remain unidentified in Hollywood films. Arab women’s portrayal shifts from one of the magical or sexualized characters to one of the violent terrorists. Despite the overall increase in the amount of violence depicted after 9/11, there is a shift in favor of the portrayal of Arab women, with more depicted as good or pure after 9/11. Finally, the results show that the morality of Arab female characters improves, with more characters depicted as evaluating options and making their own decisions

AlJazeera: Non-Violence and Peace Journalism

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 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, and again during the Iraq War. The Al-Jazeera network once more captured international attention during its continuous coverage of Arab Spring in 2011. Between being the first news network to air Osama Ben 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 take 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.QNR