12. Name: Yasser Abdel Rahim Title: Imaging Identity: A Study of Al Jazeera’s Online News and its Representation of ‘Arabness’ with Particular Attention to Arabs in Diaspora Institution: McGill University Country: Canada Date: 2005 Language: English Abstract: This study investigates the relations between media image, online news and the framing of identity. It scrutinizes images of Arab identity and their representation on Al Jazeera Net in order to examine how the site constructs the ‘reality’ of Arabs. The study begins by defining Arabness in terms of ethnic, cultural and postcolonial identities. It assesses the origins of Arab identity and examines them as sources of meaning for Arabs. Through the lens of a remediation approach, the study explores newly emerging practices in the representation of news, and investigates how the design of Al Jazeera Net alters the construction of meaning. The frames governing the representation of Arab identity determine the complexity of the image of Arabness and reveal the differences between the acknowledged perspectives and the Al Jazeera evolving identity. The study conceives Al Jazeera Net as a space for reciprocal relationship with Arabs in diaspora and as a site for the overlapping of the local and global in media representations. It also considers how Arabs in North America perceive their identity, and how they evaluate Al Jazeera as pan-Arab media.
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