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The state of media: An analysis of strategic narratives in CNN and RT’s reporting on the Syrian crisis

Lövqvist Enbratt, Simon LU and Forsgren, Simon LU (2021) STVA22 20202
Department of Political Science
Abstract
The Syrian civil war began in 2011 after wide-spread protests were met with violence from the government, and since then both Russia and the U.S. have gotten involved in the conflict. Strategic narratives regarding the conflict and the involved nation’s actions and motives have been told, constructed to benefit the interests of these states. The purpose of this paper is to answer to what extent CNN and RT support their respective state’s strategic narratives when reporting on the Syrian war. By applying a narrative analysis on a combined 27 articles by the two news outlets we reached the conclusion that RT, to a higher degree and in more explicit fashion than CNN, supported Russian strategic narratives. While this was the case, CNN was... (More)
The Syrian civil war began in 2011 after wide-spread protests were met with violence from the government, and since then both Russia and the U.S. have gotten involved in the conflict. Strategic narratives regarding the conflict and the involved nation’s actions and motives have been told, constructed to benefit the interests of these states. The purpose of this paper is to answer to what extent CNN and RT support their respective state’s strategic narratives when reporting on the Syrian war. By applying a narrative analysis on a combined 27 articles by the two news outlets we reached the conclusion that RT, to a higher degree and in more explicit fashion than CNN, supported Russian strategic narratives. While this was the case, CNN was also revealed to have a significant tendency of supporting U.S. narratives, though in a more implicit manner, while including more counter-narratives than their Russian counterpart. (Less)
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author
Lövqvist Enbratt, Simon LU and Forsgren, Simon LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVA22 20202
year
type
L2 - 2nd term paper (old degree order)
subject
keywords
Strategic narratives, narrative analysis, Syria, CNN, RT, media
language
English
id
9033453
date added to LUP
2021-05-11 14:52:40
date last changed
2021-05-11 14:52:40
@misc{9033453,
  abstract     = {{The Syrian civil war began in 2011 after wide-spread protests were met with violence from the government, and since then both Russia and the U.S. have gotten involved in the conflict. Strategic narratives regarding the conflict and the involved nation’s actions and motives have been told, constructed to benefit the interests of these states. The purpose of this paper is to answer to what extent CNN and RT support their respective state’s strategic narratives when reporting on the Syrian war. By applying a narrative analysis on a combined 27 articles by the two news outlets we reached the conclusion that RT, to a higher degree and in more explicit fashion than CNN, supported Russian strategic narratives. While this was the case, CNN was also revealed to have a significant tendency of supporting U.S. narratives, though in a more implicit manner, while including more counter-narratives than their Russian counterpart.}},
  author       = {{Lövqvist Enbratt, Simon and Forsgren, Simon}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The state of media: An analysis of strategic narratives in CNN and RT’s reporting on the Syrian crisis}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}