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Photographic Coverage Connotations of the Activities of Terrorist Organizations on the Websites of Arab Newspapers

Research Date
Research Department
Research Authors
مجلة البحوث الإعلامية
Research Publisher
جامعة الأزهر
Research Vol
47
Research Year
2017
Research_Pages
145-194
Research Abstract

The study aimed to uncover the photographic coverage connotations of the activities of terrorist organizations on the websites of Arab newspapers and to find out the difference between the situation of the two newspapers under study by studying the pictures associated with the press coverage of the activities of these organizations in the website of the Egyptian newspaper "Al-Ahram" and the Saudi newspaper "The Middle East", by conducting a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the picture content, investing in semiotic knowledge to conduct a semiological analysis to reveal the real meaning of the messages carried by the picture. The study is based on the survey methodology, the content analysis tool and the semiological analysis. The number of pictures analyzed was 301 pictures distributed between the two newspapers as follows: Al-Ahram website has 129 pictures, 43%, the Middle East has 172 pictures, 57% of the total pictures associated with the activities of terrorist organizations, during the period from 1/1/2013 to 31/3/2015. The study found that there is an agreement between the study sites to give importance to the subjects of the pictures associated with the activities of the terrorist organizations, "Counterterrorism Efforts" addressed the rest of the issues and came first, It has been proved that there are statistically significant differences between the sites of the study and the sources of the pictures associated with the activities of the terrorist organizations, the pictures "non-specific source" ranked first in Al-Ahram site, while the pictures "news agencies" came in first place in the Middle East site. The semiological analysis showed that Al-Ahram website focused on the security approach in the face of terrorism, while the Middle East website focused on the efforts of the official international and regional forces to deal with such terrorist events.