The New York Times and Al Jazeera: How Culture and Location Affect News By (Student’s name)

(Instructor’s name with Title)

English 102H Date:

Outline I. Introduction A. This section briefly examines the delicate situation that Al Jazeera finds itself in: As the first and largest independent Arabic satellite station, Al Jazeera has had to face endless critics most of whom are from the West for its Arabic sentiments. Despite all accusations, the station has only grown in popularity in the Middle East and among Arabs around the world. B. While Western countries such as the US and Russia have expressed their reservations about the objectivity of the station, its audiences has only been growing especially among Arabs. Its stance on popularizing Arabic sentiments may be due to its location and the cultural beliefs of its target audience, reporters and owners.
Thesis Statement: Using Al Jazeera and the New York Times as primary cases, this paper explores how the location of a media outlet and culture of its primary employees and target audience can affect the ways in which news items are reported. As it was briefly discussed, Al Jazeera’s primary reporting obligations may possibly be to protect the interests of its region and culture. This paper explains how and why media outlets may, perhaps unwillingly, take stances on many matters just because of their locations and cultures. II. Body Paragraphs A. Al Jazeera and its Arabic, Middle East Possible Bias: i. Qatari, and indeed Middle East’s, most popular satellite television, Al Jazeera has been hailed and criticized in equal measure for its daring, high quality and alleged biased (in the case of critics) news coverage. Its reporting of issues in the Middle East is unrivalled while its coverage of global issues with an Arabic twist is also unmatched. ii. Al Jazeera may not be biased, it is simply reporting in an Arab perspective. B. The New York Times and its American, Possible White Bias: i. The United States has for a long time been recognized as a cradle for media freedom. The New York Times is undoubtedly one of the largest media outlets in the US and, just like CNN and CBS, it has been accused of mostly promoting American sentiments by non American observers. ii. In 2011, the paper had 742 book reviews of which 655 (90%) of them belonged to white authors

C. How Culture and Location affects Media: a. "Every nation speaks...according to the way it thinks and thinks according to the way it speaks" (Baldwin 8). From this it can be argued that different nations, especially those that pride themselves with having unique cultures, have different ways of “speaking”. b. In the United States, and indeed many other countries, the media is seen as a profit making tool. This commercialization and commoditization has meant that news reports are disseminated as commodities with the sole purpose of making profits. c. Media content becomes more popular with the audience when it is in agreement with their cultures and attitudes towards certain emotions; that is, when they get emotionally engaged and when they truly relish this emotion. d. For a long time, news media have always painted a picture of a shared sphere; that is, a hegemonic realm of consensus whereby there exists little conflict over the apt configuration and objectives of society. e. American media largely report on local issues and interests. f. Location and culture are institutional forces that influence reporters. III. Conclusion 1. Media outlets will continue to be influenced by their respective locations and cultures. 2. Total objectivity remains a distant dream.

The New York Times and Al Jazeera: How Culture and Location Affect News Introduction
One of the most fundamental conventions of journalism is that reporters have to cover news items with transparency and without any bias. That is, they have to report facts without taking sides on a matter. However, while newspapers such as the BBC have largely been praised for their unbiased reporting, other media outlets such as Al Jazeera Arabic have been cited as having vested interests in some news development. As the first and largest independent Arabic satellite station, Al Jazeera has had to face endless critics most of whom are from the West for its Arabic sentiments. Its reputation as the biggest Arabic satellite television station has put it on the spotlight. On one hand, it has to be unbiased in its reporting. On the other hand, it cannot afford to report on issues that will annoy the Arabic population. As a result, it has had to adopt a balancing act. For instance, its Arabic channel has been accused of containing stronger Arabic sentiments than its English channel (Essaid et al., para. 1-2).
Despite all accusations, the station has only grown in popularity in the Middle East and among Arabs around the world. This leads us to wonder why the station is popular amongst Arabs but not among the Western cultures (George Bush, Rumsfeld et al. have publicly let out their feelings about the station). To try and explain this phenomenon, there are some independent observers who have argued that the station is not actually biased; rather, it is just presenting news from an Arabic perspective. This simply means that Al Jazeera’s news policy is so due to its location and cultural beliefs of most of its employees and its primary target audience (Zouehid para.1, 11).
Using Al Jazeera and the New York Times as primary cases, this paper explores how the location of a media outlet and culture of its primary employees and target audience can affect the ways in which news items are reported. As it was briefly discussed, Al Jazeera’s primary reporting obligations may possibly be to protect the interests of its region and culture. This paper explains how and why media outlets may, perhaps unwillingly, take a stance on many matters just because of their locations and cultures.
Al Jazeera and its Arabic, Middle East Possible Bias
Qatari, and indeed Middle East’s, most popular satellite television, Al Jazeera has been hailed and criticized in equal measure for its daring, high quality and alleged biased (in the case of critics) news coverage. As the first truly independent station, its viewership has increased immensely since it was founded less than two decades ago. Its reporting of issues in the Middle East is unrivalled while its coverage of global issues with an Arabic twist is also unmatched. It exclusively broadcast in Arabic in the first seven years of its operation before launching an English channel. The station grew in stature after the US Al Qaeda- instigated September 11th attacks. This is because it became Osama Bin Laden’s (an extremely infamous figure after the tragedy) main mode of communication to the outside world. Following Bin Laden’s cue, the Taliban also used the station to issue their press releases. Such daring coverage popularized the station in the Middle East and around the globe. It particularly became popular among Arabs since it was their only true voice. However, it has attracted criticisms from many other parts of the world (Essaid et al., para. 1-3). Complaints about Al Jazeera, especially its Arabic channel, over its coverage have become frequent. Its close association with notorious groups such as Al Qaeda and Taliban has been rebuked by high ranking US officials from George Bush to Donald Rumsfeld to Russian politicians. While the station has been praised recently for its unmatched coverage of the Arab Spring, there have also been some accusations that it has openly taken sides when covering conflicting parties. For instance, it failed to adequately report on the Shiite protests in neighboring Bahrain and the subsequent state orchestrated violence against the harmless protestors. Its coverage of the Libya uprising, and later the Syria uprising, was also accused of bias. Since these countries are primarily Arabic, Al Jazeera was possibly inclined to take sides to protect its own interests and those of its owners, the Qatari royal family (Pollock para. 10-13).
The New York Times and its American, Possible White Bias The United States has for a long time been recognized as a cradle for media freedom. Media outlets have been given the freedom to express their sentiments with very minimal political interference. However, accusations of non objectivity in US media reporting have been leveled against the outlets for quite some time now. The New York Times is undoubtedly one of the largest media outlets in the US and, just like CNN and CBS, it has been accused of mostly promoting American sentiments by non American observers. For instance, Edward Said argues that due to its immensity, it has numerous reporters from many corners of the world such that it has many news items to report. As a result, the company may carefully choose what it reports. Said argues that most news items are reported from an American perspective. On the other hand, the news may not necessarily be objective. The respected author also claims that companies such as the NYT write reports about foreign countries when these countries pose a significant threat to Americanism or simply to mock them. These accusations are not leveled against the New York Times only but also against other large media such as CNN and CBS (Said 48-49). In a veiled accusation of New York Times possible white bias, The Rumpus reports that the paper predominantly reviews books written by white authors. In 2011, the paper had 742 book reviews of which 655 (90%) of them belonged to white authors. The articles author, Roxane Gray, believes that many other books written by people of color were largely overlooked by NYT. Acknowledging that the United States is predominantly white (72%), a 90% white only book review may be largely skewed. Although the writer does not suggest that the newspaper may be biased towards white authors it nonetheless suggest that the newspaper’s may be influenced by the dominant race of its reporters (white) and the majority of Americans (its primary target audience). Therefore, just like Al Jazeera, the New York Times reporting is also influenced by location and culture (Gray para. 5, 8). The last section has shown that even the largest of media outlets are not totally objective. In these cases, their respective locations have largely influenced the way and the type of reporting. Both Al Jazeera and The New York Times report on issues from the perspective of their respective locations. For the former, the culture of its target audience (predominantly Arabic) has had a greater impact on its reporting. Although the New York Times is largely unbiased, the Rumpus Report suggests that it may be inclined to highlight literary works by white authors than authors of a color. In the next section, this paper explores why media outlets tend to report issues without disregarding their locations and cultures. That is, why media outlets report on issues with sensitivity to their respective locations and cultures.
Location and Culture Impact on Media Reporting The social and cultural aspect of language, and its study, has been discussed for a long time. Cecelia Baldwin quotes revered scholar Johen Gottfield Herder who once remarked that, "Every nation speaks...according to the way it thinks and thinks according to the way it speaks" (Baldwin 8). From this it can be argued that different nations, especially those that pride themselves with having unique cultures, have different ways of “speaking”. This is because, in many cases, thoughts are based on cultural beliefs of the thinkers and their cultural needs. This implies that the way a certain group of people will think, and speak, is different from the way another group will speak. In addition, it has been observed that "language is a guide to social reality". Therefore, the way people speak may be a true reflection of their societal beliefs and customs. In the recent past, cultural studies have been merged with rhetorical studies and linguistics so as to gain an insight of how the two shapers of ideas (language and culture) affect different countries of the world (Baldwin 8 - 9). The above discussion may perhaps explain why media outlets are inclined to report in accordance with their locations and respective cultures. This is because Herder rightly pointed out that every nation has its way of thinking and speaking. It can also be argued that each nation (or region in the case of the Arab world) has its unique cultural beliefs. This difference is reflected in the reporting practices of their respective media outlets. Therefore, Al Jazeera, by virtue of its location in the Arab world, thinks according to the region’s Arabic beliefs. As a result, the station will ‘speak’ (broadcast) in accordance with these beliefs. This implies it cannot be totally objective since it has to protect its Arab interests. Although the United States may not have strong cultural beliefs like the Arabs, the sentiments of American supremacy over other nations are always prevalent in media outlets such as the New York Times. This publication certainly believes in the greatness of America and will report as thus (Zouehid para. 8-9).
In the United States, and indeed many other countries, the media is seen as a profit making tool. This commercialization and commoditization has meant that news reports are disseminated as commodities with the sole purpose of making profits. This is especially true when it comes to Al Jazeera and the New York Times. Although the former is owned by the Qatari royal family, it is largely run as a private satellite television station that is required to sustain itself. This simply means that it is required to generate revenues and make profits just like any other private organization. The New York Times was also founded as a private organization and has thus been run as so. The notion of profit making implies that these stations have to report on issues that will be popular with its target market and primary audience. This simply means that it will most likely fail to report on issues that will offend the people around it. To this end, media outlets will most likely try to protect the interests of its society, its culture and location. This may be a reason why Al Jazeera invokes its strong Arabic beliefs and location in its reporting (Kellner 16).
Media content becomes more popular with the audience when it is in agreement with their cultures and attitudes towards certain emotions; that is, when they get emotionally engaged and when they truly relish this emotion. For instance, a New York Times musing on Yankee Doodle Dandy may not elicit the same emotional patriotic sensations with audiences outside of the United States. In the same breath, an Al Jazeera report on Qatar’s internal affairs may not generate similar attention levels outside the Middle East. The fact that media outlets must capture the emotions of its target audience implies that they have to come up with ways of connecting with them. This suggests that they cannot overly report on news issues that are predominantly foreign to its target audience. Therefore, stations like Al Jazeera have to come up with reports that will resonate with the Arabs. In the same breath, the New York Times has to report on matters that will resonate with Americans. In both cases, the outlets have to satisfy their primary audiences above everything else. Thus, the sensitivity of their respective locations comes into play in their reporting (Rohn 91).
For a long time, news media have always painted a picture of a shared sphere; that is, a hegemonic realm of consensus whereby there exists little conflict over the apt configuration and objectives of society. In the news media's consensual orb perceived challenges to the overriding order, apparently illicit political action, and disconcerting threats to the implicit moral decorum are all viewed as originating from outside the sphere of influence of consensus. Such threats and challenges are characterized as the work of outsiders. Those who confront the status quo are perceived by the media outlets as cultural devils, resolutely downgraded to a space outside that one set aside for the media's description of the ‘correct’ social subject. In the same breath, some scholars have argued that the media’s ideological work of describing self and outsiders is achieved via journalism’s primary narrative structure. This is because the outlets tell stories that eventually serve as vehicles for this ideology. This leads to a system whereby unfamiliar happenings are positioned in symbolic and, ironically, familiar frames. This may explain why media outlets protect their cultural beliefs (Geoffrey 94-95). The world represents the sphere of the historical real although it is neither narrative nor real. However, it is sensitive to systems of language, signs and discourse that human beings have to turn to for them to assign value and meaning to the events, actions and objects. The interpretation of these events, actions and objects will usually call upon the full power of an individual’s cultural system. This simply means that a person’s culture will play a significant role on how that person interprets and reports news items. In addition, there have been some intellectuals who have argued that society, morality and narrative are “inseparable pieces of a whole” (Geoffrey 95). Therefore, a media outlet’s reporting will tend to reflect the society in which it exists. Since societies are structured according to their locations, it can be argued that media outlets subconsciously report on news that is biased towards their locations. As a result, they cannot be totally objective when discussing issues that are related to their locations (Rosengren 20). Acknowledging that the media has had subjectivity issues in the past, Reed Johnson writes that the American media has only been largely sensitive to American issues. This is because most of them simply overlook events happening outside their borders. For instance, they are not always quick to report on what the United States is doing in another country, how it is doing it and its potential impact to Americans. This is perhaps why they half heartedly raised alarm bells when George Bush invaded Iraq in the pretext Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The impact that this invasion has had on American legacy has been profound. More importantly, however, is the fact that the non sensitivity of American media towards matters foreign has been criticized. The American case is replicated in many other areas. A large majority of media outlets do not report on foreign issues to a significant extent unless their respective locations are directly involved (Johnson 3). In his analysis of media bias, Johnson writes of “institutional forces that are far much too large for any individual reporters or groups of reporters to deal with”. This suggests that there are some factors that news outlets cannot overcome during the course of their reporting. Although Johnson does not elaborate on the institutional forces, this paper believes that two of these forces are location and predominant cultures of the audience and reporters. This is because the reporters will naturally raise issues that may be related to their locations as opposed to other distant locations. This is the reason why the New York primarily reports on American issues and Al Jazeera reports on Middle Eastern issues. A person’s cultural beliefs and how his/her society is structured affect how they relate to other persons and how they put across themselves. In many cases, people are strongly attached to their customs and will display these customs subconsciously. This paper believes that this cultural attachment is a force that reporters of news outlets cannot easily overcome during their reporting. Elements of bias towards their cultures will always arise (Johnson 4).
Conclusion
Media reporting is influenced by many factors. However, factors such as their locations and cultures are, to some extent, unavoidable. These are possibly the factors that Johnson was referring to when he wrote that the media is under the influence of institutional forces. This is because media outlets have to be sensitive to their locations and be in touch with their primary audience emotionally. As a result, they will tend to focus more on issues that are related to their cultural beliefs and those that do not hurt their emotions. This suggests that total objectivity in media reporting remains just but a dream. There are not many signs to suggest that this scenario will be changing any time soon.

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