The Role of Visual Media in Triggering Political Conflict The Role of Al-Jazeera in the Revolution of Tunisia as a Case Study from the Perspective of Tunisian Media Professionals رسالة ماجستير

Abstract

This study, entitled "The role of visual media in triggering political conflict", aims to study the role of media in triggering political conflict, in which the problem revolves around the question to what extent Al-Jazeera's media discourse affected the Tunisian public opinion triggering and enforcing popular protests in Tunisia, during the so-called Jasmine Revolution against President Zine El Abidine's regime in 2011? To access the results, the researcher used the following research tools, Methodology of analyzing media content based on the Maghreb Harvest Bulletin, In addition to the descriptive analytical methodology based on interviews conducted by the researcher with Tunisian media and academics. This research includes an introduction and two chapters, the researcher addressed the events of the Arab Spring and its relationship to the science of conflict and the role of the media in the introduction. In the first chapter, the researcher dealt with previous theories and studies on conflict and the media. And the second chapter( field work and content analysis) the researcher divided this chapter into two parts, the first one is about interviews with elite Tunisian media professionals to present their viewpoint of Al Jazeera's professionalism about the transfer of the event and its impact on the street during the revolution through coding. On chapter two the researcher discussed the general results of the analytical study of the Maghreb Harvest Bulletin in Al-Jazeera during the Tunision revolution. In details, Al-Jazeera adopted this for the quality of the news confiscation of the channel in terms of Balance, diversity, and neutrality by presenting different points of view, the direction of news coverage towards the ruling political system, and where the guests who hosted belong to and the time allocated to them. The researcher concluded a number of results:  Al-Jazeera did not meet the necessary media standards and did not perform its functions as a media institution in the conflict phase, through several examples: - Al-Jazeera's bias towards the opposition and giving the floor to them, which undermined the rule of media balance that achieves impartiality and objectivity. - Al-Jazeera did not expos to official figures and decision-makers towards the crisis and ways to deal with it to contain its effects, and it focused on a particular conflict party. VI - The presence of Al-Jazeera guests that refuses to contact them because of the disagreement with their views with the directions of the channel for example, the institution of democratic women, which isa well-known institution in Tunisia. - Its bias towards the Islamic trend by giving Annahda guests more duration.  The study found the impact of psychological, political, and international factors on the existence of conflict: - Psychological factors were a great motivation for the revolution to the hope of the people to escape from the harsh and unsatisfactory conditions, such as high prices, unemployment, poverty, the high proportion of young people in Tunisia. Educated young and graduated people from universities were without work, they have the values of the middle classes and want to integrate into the consumer market, in addition, To marginalize the interior and focus on the development on the coastal areas of the Republic. - Political factors: the policy of gagging and oppression followed by the former regime, there was no outlet for the expression of opinion and suppression of political freedoms. - International factors: There were environmental changes and external interventions such as support for the demonstrators and show that Tunisians have the right to have freedom. In addition to the news of Wiki leaks published about Zine El Abidine before the revolution.