28. Name: Loai A.O. Abdallah Title: The Coverage of the Iraq War: A Comparative Study of Al Jazeera and the CNN Institution: International Islamic University Country: Malaysia Date: 2007 Language: English Abstract: This research investigates how CNN and Al Jazeera news networks represent the national interests of their respective countries in their coverage of the Iraqi War. The study assumes that the two channels would express different attitudes towards the war since the former belongs to a country supporting the conflict while the latter to a country that opposed it. To test this hypothesis, stories from the two channels from the start of the war on March 20, 2003 to the officially declared end of the war on May 1, 2003, were sampled. 246 news stories were examined for content analysis. The results satisfied the initial expectations of the study. CNN emphasized the U.S. war efforts, citing primarily U.S. officials, while Al Jazeera devoted more space to the war victims and to antiwar voices, citing primarily Arab non-official sources. These results suggest that CNN had a more pro-war tendency, emphasizing the military operations and the war victims of coalition forces, while Al Jazeera reflected a more antiwar stance, devoting more space to antiwar demonstrations or responses, war effects on society, and the Iraqi civilian casualties.
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