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Social Media Narratives in Mainstream News: An analysis of the framing of Bana Alabed’s social media narrative and power relations in mainstream news

Barkström, Alicia LU (2020) FKVK02 20201
Department of Political Science
Abstract
User-generated social media content has been increasingly used in mainstream news. This essay aims to examine how Bana Alabed's narrative has been framed in mainstream news and if the framing reflects power relations in mainstream news. The case used in this essay is Bana Alabed's narrative of living in Aleppo during the Syrian civil war. It will be examined how the narrative appears in the news organizations the BBC, CNN, and Al Jazeera. Narrative theory is used to describe the narrative's main features. To analyze how the narrative appears in mainstream news, framing theory is used. When analyzing articles from the BBC, CNN, and Al Jazeera, it was measured if the articles had a human interest frame and if Bana was depicted as an... (More)
User-generated social media content has been increasingly used in mainstream news. This essay aims to examine how Bana Alabed's narrative has been framed in mainstream news and if the framing reflects power relations in mainstream news. The case used in this essay is Bana Alabed's narrative of living in Aleppo during the Syrian civil war. It will be examined how the narrative appears in the news organizations the BBC, CNN, and Al Jazeera. Narrative theory is used to describe the narrative's main features. To analyze how the narrative appears in mainstream news, framing theory is used. When analyzing articles from the BBC, CNN, and Al Jazeera, it was measured if the articles had a human interest frame and if Bana was depicted as an activist. It was found that most of the articles had a human interest frame but did not depict Bana as an activist. Therefore, the framing did not align with the narrative. In addition to removing Bana's agency, the articles emphasize her victimhood and reinforced established narratives of Muslim women as victims. The human interest frame was found to depoliticize civilian suffering, as focusing on individual experiences of war removed discussions of responsibility from mainstream news. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Barkström, Alicia LU
supervisor
organization
course
FKVK02 20201
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Mediatization, Arrested war, Digital witnessing, Social media, Syria, Aleppo, Bana Alabed
language
English
id
9011417
date added to LUP
2020-09-21 11:50:13
date last changed
2020-09-21 11:50:13
@misc{9011417,
  abstract     = {{User-generated social media content has been increasingly used in mainstream news. This essay aims to examine how Bana Alabed's narrative has been framed in mainstream news and if the framing reflects power relations in mainstream news. The case used in this essay is Bana Alabed's narrative of living in Aleppo during the Syrian civil war. It will be examined how the narrative appears in the news organizations the BBC, CNN, and Al Jazeera. Narrative theory is used to describe the narrative's main features. To analyze how the narrative appears in mainstream news, framing theory is used. When analyzing articles from the BBC, CNN, and Al Jazeera, it was measured if the articles had a human interest frame and if Bana was depicted as an activist. It was found that most of the articles had a human interest frame but did not depict Bana as an activist. Therefore, the framing did not align with the narrative. In addition to removing Bana's agency, the articles emphasize her victimhood and reinforced established narratives of Muslim women as victims. The human interest frame was found to depoliticize civilian suffering, as focusing on individual experiences of war removed discussions of responsibility from mainstream news.}},
  author       = {{Barkström, Alicia}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Social Media Narratives in Mainstream News: An analysis of the framing of Bana Alabed’s social media narrative and power relations in mainstream news}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}