English abstract
The study aims to describe and analyze the news reports on the Syrian Crisis in Al Jazeera and Al-Mayadeen during the period of January to March 2020. Different pillars
considered in the comparison between the two channels such as defining the volume and
type of the crisis covered, discussing the most frequent topics used, defining the trends and
sources of news reports, determining the active characters, actors, and graphic elements
stated in these reports, exploring the geographical dimensions of the topics and referential
frameworks applied in news reports.
The study examines the problem of news coverage of the Syrian crisis in the Arab
satellite channels, by focusing on two channels that present opposing positions on the
crisis, namely the Qatari Al-Jazeera channel and the Lebanese Al-Mayadeen channel. The
researcher seeks to reach a conclusion about the impact of these positions on the news
coverage, which is supposed to be objective by virtue of the professionalism.
The study adopted the "Content Analysis" tool to analyze randomly selected sample of
125 TV reports from both channels for the period from January to March 2020.
The study concluded that the two channels have utilized the news reports to cover the
various events of the Syrian crisis and express their position of the crisis. Those reports were
generated by in-house editors and news reporters inside and outside the country. Moreover,
the two channels mainly depend on "political analysts and strategic experts" as sources of
news reports to support the channel's position of the crisis. The most notable topics
discussed in the news reports are "military" related topics, followed by the "humanitarian"
topics, and finally the political issues in Al-Jazeera, and the social issues in Al-Mayadeen
channel.
The study pointed out that "the Turkish president and Turkish officials" were among the
most notable characters in Al-Jazeera news report; On the other hand, "Syrian leaders and
officials" were the most notable characters in Al-Mayadeen channel. The study reached into
a conclusion that the "Syrian government" ranked first among the actors in the two channels'
reports, followed by "Russia" in Al-Jazeera, and "Turkey" in the Al-Mayadeen. With regard
to the geographical dimensions of the Syrian crisis issues, Idlib governorate ranked first
compared to other regions in the news reports covered by the two channels. Al-Jazeera has
mainly employed "live image" in highlighting the elements of the news reports, while Al Mayadeen was concerned of highlighting the headlines.
