WORK STRESS ON THE BAHRAINI JOURNALIST

This analytical descriptive study aimed at recognizing the vocational stress that affects journalists of the Bahraini daily press, and the impacts of these stress on the journalists performing their press work effectively. The study was conducted on a sample of (230) journalists working at (AL Ayam, Al Watan, Al Wasat and Al Bilad). The study showed a low level of stress journalists faced in the Bahraini daily press. Al Watan journalists are considered the most vulnerable to pressure, compared with journalists of other press. Working conditions may be a factor in such a relatively high degree of stress in this paper as there are significant statistical differences at (0.05). Significant statistical differences also occur between all journals at (0.05), in six of the nine areas of the degree of exposure to the vocational stress in the field of press. Regarding the vocational experience variable, the only difference between journalists appeared in Al-Ayam press, which is a significant statistical difference at (0.05), while there are no statistical differences among journalists in other press as a result of vocational experience variable. The study also showed that there were no significant statistical differences between the journalists due to the variables of nationality and marital status, with the exception of Al Wasat newspaper journalists as results indicated the presence of significant differences between them. Results also indicated an increase in the proportion of fatigue among journalists of Al-Watan press (29.4). This is also true with respect to the feeling of job insecurity at the same press. The researcher recommended that an appropriate environment for the human element (the journalist) should be made available while performing responsibilities assigned to him (in the press). In this context, work stress stands as a hindrance for the journalist productivity. This requires press institutions to work hard in order to reduce it to the lowest possible degree

Digital and Interactive Social Media among Middle East Women: Empirical TAM Study

This study investigates the use of interactive media (WhatsApp) by Bahraini women to understand their decisions on how, why and when they use it. It supports the use of mobile technology applications to expand efficient communication and information among Arab women. Mobile technologies are very accessible to Arab women these days. A sample of 1,137 responses was collected, using a snowball sampling approach. Based on TAM literature, the study found that interactive media (e.g., WhatsApp) has enabled Bahraini women to communicate and share information with others. WhatsApp was used daily (2- 3 hours) and also for sending comics and entertainment clips, important and rare news stories. Social interaction, communication, and escapism were found to be the most popular reasons for using WhatsApp. Overall, WhatsApp served as a platform used by Bahraini women to participate in social and communication activities

Neighboring Countries' Press Coverage of the Syrian Refugee Crisis: An Analytical Study of Lebanese "Ya-Sour", Jordanian "Al-Wakeel News" and Turkish "Turk Press"

Local and international media, in their various traditional and digital forms, have shed considerable light on the Syrian refugee crisis caused by the war that has engulfed their country since 2011. The nature and objectives of press coverage varied from one media to another, and from country to country, some of which were linked to political agendas (Zaaroor, 2018, Maharat Foundation, 2016), and others were linked to emotional and humanitarian factors (Alhayek, 2014). Syrian refugees were portrayed in different media settings (Ramasubramanian et al., 2018). The image of refugees in the Western press also differed from country to another (Berry et al., 2015, Efe, 2019). This crisis continues and so is the press coverage with considerable variation in attitudes and trends.This study aims to analyze how the most prominent news websites in neighboring countries i.e. Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey have covered the Syrian refugee crisis, by showing the interest of the Lebanese "Ya-sour", Jordanian "Al-Wakeel News" and Turkish "Turk Press" websites in the issues of the refugees, their complications, the highlighted aspects, and the position of these sites on the Syrian refugee crisis through the topics they focused on and the issues they prioritized.The study showed that the most important topics discussed were "security", "economy" and "politics" and the main focus was on "refugee impact on commodity prices", "difficult living conditions for refugees" and "refugee impact on the labour market". As for persuasion methods, it has been found that the "provocative" and "violent" methods were the most used in the examined press coverage. Keywords: Syrian Refugees, News Websites, Media discourse, Content analysis DOI: 10.7176/NMMC/80-05 Publication date:May 31st 201

War and Journalism: Framing the Syrian and Yemen War Through the New York Times Online News Coverage

This study, based on a quantitative and qualitative approach of content analysis, aims to understand the image of Arab-Muslims in times of crises and wars and how they are presented through the American press. In particular, the study is concerned with analyzing the news coverage of current Arab issues by the New York Times Online (NYT). The study answers a number of questions about how the New York Times Online produced stories and news related to the Syrian war (SW) and the Operation Decisive Storm (ODS) in Yemen, in terms of news processing and media frames.Results revealed that overall, the perceptions of news-sources trends in the NYT regarding the two issues (SW and ODS) can be described as negative trends. Furthermore, the analysis framing perspective indicated that the NYT was more likely to use emotional features than substantive features to cover all the two issues. The type of frame most used in covering the SW was limited frame, conflict frame, general frame and human-interest frame, while framing type related to the ODS, the most frame used were conflict frame, human-interest frame and limited frame. Keywords: journalism, war, news coverage, framing, Syria, Yemen, New York Times DOI: 10.7176/NMMC/88-03 Publication date: February 29th 202

Perceptions of online academics’ and Al-Jazeera.net’s news coverage of the Egyptian political transformation 2013-2014

The growth and expansion of the Internet has enabled many people to communicate and engage in different manners and it is easier than ever now to obtain news and information content via different online sittings. However, concerns grow about the effects of misinformation that has been circulated via different online media sites to influence public views. This research was aimed at exploring online academic news users’ behaviour and their attitudes towards news information given by Al-Jazeera.net during the Egyptian transformation (2013-2014) in Egypt. Based on an online survey (450 users) and focusgroup interviews (six respondents) with Egyptian academics, the research discussed whether users were aware of the media interest or agenda and how users became informed about the political conflict and the transformation, their perceptions of news sites and their evaluation of information regarding this period. The research confirmed that every media has its own interest or agenda when delivering news content, which might favour one side over another. Users indicated that misinformation was found in different forms and, although others underlined the importance of freely accessing online content, there was concern about the spread of misinformation the morality and credibility of online news

Journalism Education in the GCC Region: University Students' and Professionalism Perspectives

This study investigates the perceptions of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) students and professional journalists regarding the quality of curriculum and training sessions that they received at the University and afterwards by looking at curriculum, training sessions and practical programmes related to journalism education, as well as the quality of academic staff and trainings for both GCC journalism students and professionals. A survey was administered to a random sample of 369 students at GCC universities and 34 journalists. Based on the analysed data, the study found that journalism education in the GCC regions is interesting and enjoyable, with respondents being found as ambition, talent skills and motivated. More practical rather than theoretical approach is needed to proof the quality of journalism in the region, though a good number of GCC journalists have had a formal academic journalism qualification. GCC journalism education attempts to reflect the developmental trends in the region

Digital and Interactive Social Media among Middle East Women: Empirical TAM Study

This study investigates the use of interactive media (WhatsApp) by Bahraini women to understand their decisions on how, why and when they use it. It supports the use of mobile technology applications to expand efficient communication and information among Arab women. Mobile technologies are very accessible to Arab women these days. A sample of 1,137 responses was collected, using a snowball sampling approach. Based on TAM literature, the study found that interactive media (e.g., WhatsApp) has enabled Bahraini women to communicate and share information with others. WhatsApp was used daily (2- 3 hours) and also for sending comics and entertainment clips, important and rare news stories. Social interaction, communication, and escapism were found to be the most popular reasons for using WhatsApp. Overall, WhatsApp served as a platform used by Bahraini women to participate in social and communication activitie

How GCC University Students Get Local News and Information

This paper reports a study of the use of local news sources by young people in GCC countries. With the expansion of pan-Arab news services, especially via satellite TV channels, concern has grown that these well-resourced news operations have pulled audiences away from local news suppliers. New research reported here indicates that there is still an appetite for local news and that even young people – who have displayed the greatest enthusiasm for the newer services – will tune into local news services both online and offline. Local services may represent niche markets and cater to specific news interests that have prevailed despite the popularity of pan-Arab news services. 1221 media and communication students completed a survey, reporting how and where they get their news in different GCC regions. The research found that most respondents followed what was happening in their local communities and that their news consumption could be quite varied. Rather than relying on one or two main sources of local news, most respondents reportedly used a wide variety of online and non-online sources depending on which local topic they were seeking information about

Journalism Education in the GCC Region:University Students’ and Professionalism Perspectives

This study investigates the perceptions of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) students and professional journalists regarding the quality of curriculum and training sessions that they received at the University and afterwards by looking at curriculum, training sessions and practical programmes related to journalism education, as well as the quality of academic staff and trainings for both GCC journalism students and professionals. A survey was administered to a random sample of 369 students at GCC universities and 34 journalists. Based on the analysed data, the study found that journalism education in the GCC regions is interesting and enjoyable, with respondents being found as ambition, talent skills and motivated. More practical rather than theoretical approach is needed to proof the quality of journalism in the region, though a good number of GCC journalists have had a formal academic journalism qualification. GCC journalism education attempts to reflect the developmental trends in the region