The Representation of the Arab Spring in the U.S. Media

Abstract

The present study examines the representation of the Arab Spring in the American imprint media. The study analyzes principally from a critical discourse analysis approach how journalists employ discursive strategies and linguistic devices which may serve their own ideology and agenda in their news coverage of the Arab Spring. The analysis of newspapers suggests that the media’s representation of Arabs and Muslims is saturated with discourses related to the ideology of Orientalism. In fact, a number of Orientalist themes appear in the majority of texts. The preliminary and common themes found in the coverage of the Arab Spring are that of violence in the Arab world (negative other – representation), Islamophobia (Islam as a threat), and Western superiority in comparison with Arabs (positive selfrepresentation). The results show that the American media coverage of the Arab Spring was biased and unjust. Besides, there is a reinforcement of the stereotypes by which the Orient is viewed.

Keywords

• critical discourse analysis
• media
• arab spring