Media- Script for Voiceover

Introduction for Middle Eastern couple

This is Ricky (Ritesh) and Safi from Kidderminster and they have been together for 7 years. They are living in their own home with their two children: Thalia and Amir. They got engaged last year on holiday, and they have been planning their traditional British wedding ever since, to the shock of their parents.

Safi owns her own Beauty salon in their home town, and her husband-to-be works from home. They say they have no time for hobbies because they are running around after their kids! Safi says that her parents are more excited about the wedding than she is, and have been pestering her to walk up the aisle since her and Ritesh met.

Introduction for British couple

This is Sarah and James from Evesham and they have been together for 4 years. They live with Sarah’s parents, but are saving up to buy their own place. They have been engaged for a year, and can’t wait to get married.

Sarah is currently employed doing night shifts as a nurse in the local hospital, and James works in a tax office.

Representation of World Leaders

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Representation of Syria in cartoons

To step away from the news, and look at the current representation of Syria in more informal aspects of the media, I typed in "Syria 2013 Cartoons" to Google images. This enabled me to see how Syria was being represented in a humorous way, and the results were interesting. Here are the results:

Representation of the Middle East on Twitter

By using Syria, we can see how it is being spoken about and portrayed in social networking sites. The way in which people talk about it, and the pages that are created in relation to it (by instsitutions and not) can help us to see how the general public are being influenced by the news, and what views they have. By analysing what is said, and what is trending for example, we can determine whether or not the general representation of Syria and the Middle East on Twitter is positive or negative.

From looking at these screen grabs, over all Syria and the Middle East are being represented as an area full of unrest and conflict. Words such as "crisis" have been used by Oxfam, which enhances the percieved extremity of the events. The BBC News say "will protestors ever get justice?" which suggests that in the country, people have to fight to be heard.

Syria in the News:

The Guardian:

·         Russia withdraws its remaining personnel from Syria

26 Jun 2013: Evacuation signals growing concern in Moscow about conflict between ally Bashar al-Assad's regime and rebels

-          Escalating Crisis

-          Pilot Captured

-          Governments

 

·         Syria crisis: no deal on peace conference

26 Jun 2013:

International envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi says Geneva conference unlikely to take place in July

-          Russia and US talks on Geneva conference end in failure

-          Saudi Arabia warns of the danger of Iran in Syria

-          Qatar’s interior minister set to be new Prime Minister

• Saudi Arabia: Syrian rebels must be armed

25 Jun 2013: Foreign minister says involvement of Iran and Hezbollah in Syrian conflict is dangerous

-          Extremist opposition groups are becoming too powerful

-          Faltering efforts to end Syrian crisis are in deep trouble

-          The Saudis are already sending arms to rebel groups

 

The Sun:

Last pictures of Dubliner Hisham who died in Syria

THESE are some of the last images of Dubliner Hisham El Habbash, who was killed in Syria fighting last Thursday...has been killed in Syria. El Habbash, 29, above and below, died last Thursday in fighting between...

-          Focuses on the fact that he lives in Dublin.

If Britain had helped us two years ago, we would have avoided bloodshed

SHEIKH Ahmad al-Assir on new Cold War as Russia arms Syria and U.S. aids rebels...fighting alongside Syria’s rebels who include groups linked to al-Qaeda. Yet, surrounded by AK 47-armed...

KAVANAGH: Conflict likely to rage for years to come

SUN columnist argues choice over Syria for Western leaders meeting at the G8 summit in Enniskillen is simple......out of control if Syria fires Russian anti-aircraft missiles to shoot down Nato planes enforcing a...

Representation of Refugees: Angelina Jolie

Angleina Jolie has been in the news, especially on the Telegraph website, for visitng Syrian refugee camps on World Refugee Day. Is this glamorising the subject? Here is a video taken from CNN, to show how refugees are being represented in the news (and American news as a contrast), but also to show how the media often glamorise awful situations with celebrities. Although it is positive because it is charity, it could also be viewed as glamorisation.

 

 

Representation of Syrian Refugees

The topic of Syrian Refugees has been in the news a lot recently, especially the topic of child refugees, who have been effected by the wars and violence in their country. Before researching this topic in more detail, I wanted to get a basic knowledge if how Syrian Refugees are represented in general. I scanned news articles from a variety of sources and used wordle to copy and paste appropriate articles across. The site "Wordle" then created a word cloud for me, picking out the most prominent words which appear in all of the news stories, regardless of the company or writer. This way, we can see what words we are currently associating with Syrian Refugees, and consequently, the picture which the media are painting for us. Below is my word cloud:

Representation of Syrian Soldiers

The top left headline was taken from a blog and is the most controversial sounding of them all and also defies what the government are trying to do, this is most likely due to it being a blog where the person writing can comment on anything they wish in any manner therefore they are going to give their honest and personal opinions of what is going on. This is why they give the issue at hand but then question the motives that are trying to be put in place (arming the Syrians so that they can defend). Soldiers are represented in a sympathetic light due to what has happened and then questioning about arming the people who have done this reinforces the idea that the Syrians are being seen as the bad or ‘other’ people.

The top right one is from an online newspaper from India and their headline does not particularly sway either way but the use of ‘gruesome’ shows that they may feel the video is quite explicit and eye-opening in the ways of how some of the Syrians are acting and this may not be what they wish. The soldiers are again represented sympathetically and vulnerable in which they were “captured” and killed in a gruesome way that this newspaper may be seen as unnecessary

The bottom left is the most informative from The Telegraph, a British newspaper and represents them more as ‘the others’ by using “get first heavy weapons” and “right behind the official opposition”, whether this shows that The Telegraph do not back this decision or if it is just because the East are often shown to not be the same or as ‘the others’.

The bottom right is from the Metro and there is emphasis on how many soldiers the Syrians have killed at the military checkpoints, it appears to show this in a negative light as it does not give a reason and the soldiers are supposedly meant to be helping them defend so the use of them “hitting back” indicates that things are not going to plan and the Syrians are not as negotiable as first intended.

Representation of Syria on "The Times" website

The Times is a respected newspaper, but they still represent Syria in a negative and biased way. What does this tell us?

Representation of the Middle East in social media: Pinterest

Is the Middle East represented in the same way on social networking sites as it is in the news?

Representation of Syria in the media- questionnaire planning and ideas.

In this questionnaire, we are trying to find out how people view Middle Eastern countries, and consequently find out how the media represent the Middle East.

1) Do you read newspapers? If so, what newspapers do you read?

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2) Do you think that the representation of the Middle East varies across different newspapers? Yes or No?

3) What immediately comes to mind if we were to say the word: "Syria" to you?

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4) Are you aware of the issues surrounding Syria that have been in the news in recent weeks? Yes or No?

3) What are the main stories that you have heard about, if any?

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5) Do you think that the media portrays issues in the Middle East as a general area in a biased way? Yes or no?

6) Do you think that, in general, the Middle East is represented positively or negatively in the media?

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7) Can you think of a recent positive story which you have heard in the Middle East? If so, please give brief details.

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8) What words spring to mind when we say Middle East to you?

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