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Framing the Reforms to the Kafala System in Qatar: Observations from a Qatari Newspaper

Zhang, Gong LU (2021) SIMZ41 20211
Graduate School
Abstract
As the reforms to the Kafala system in Qatar in recent years are witnessing substantial achievements, the international communities expressed their appreciations to Qatar on what was happening in favor of the labor rights. However, the public discourse towards the reforms as well as the migrant workers in recent years remains understudied. This paper aims at studying this point by investigating the media framing of the reforms in the Qatari newspaper Al Raya. Four frames were identified from the news articles analyzed, among which international evaluations turned out to be the most concentrated aspect in the media presentation and public concerns of the reforms. The media framing of the reforms was overwhelmingly positive, though a... (More)
As the reforms to the Kafala system in Qatar in recent years are witnessing substantial achievements, the international communities expressed their appreciations to Qatar on what was happening in favor of the labor rights. However, the public discourse towards the reforms as well as the migrant workers in recent years remains understudied. This paper aims at studying this point by investigating the media framing of the reforms in the Qatari newspaper Al Raya. Four frames were identified from the news articles analyzed, among which international evaluations turned out to be the most concentrated aspect in the media presentation and public concerns of the reforms. The media framing of the reforms was overwhelmingly positive, though a proportion of reports framed the economic consequences in a negative way. The image of migrant workers presented in the news framing of the reforms was ambiguous, with contradictory depictions battling each other. Additionally, this paper calls for an alternative frame standing for the migrant workers’ voices that were missing from the Qatari news media. (Less)
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author
Zhang, Gong LU
supervisor
organization
course
SIMZ41 20211
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Kafala system, migrant workers, labor rights, Qatari news media, framing analysis, media presentation
language
English
id
9063593
date added to LUP
2021-09-14 15:22:52
date last changed
2021-09-14 15:22:52
@misc{9063593,
  abstract     = {{As the reforms to the Kafala system in Qatar in recent years are witnessing substantial achievements, the international communities expressed their appreciations to Qatar on what was happening in favor of the labor rights. However, the public discourse towards the reforms as well as the migrant workers in recent years remains understudied. This paper aims at studying this point by investigating the media framing of the reforms in the Qatari newspaper Al Raya. Four frames were identified from the news articles analyzed, among which international evaluations turned out to be the most concentrated aspect in the media presentation and public concerns of the reforms. The media framing of the reforms was overwhelmingly positive, though a proportion of reports framed the economic consequences in a negative way. The image of migrant workers presented in the news framing of the reforms was ambiguous, with contradictory depictions battling each other. Additionally, this paper calls for an alternative frame standing for the migrant workers’ voices that were missing from the Qatari news media.}},
  author       = {{Zhang, Gong}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Framing the Reforms to the Kafala System in Qatar: Observations from a Qatari Newspaper}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}