Journalism’s Rewriting of History in Reporting the Arab Spring
Investigation of journalism’s role as writer and rewriter of the record of political episodes of world importance is central to this article, which takes an empirical approach in choosing the Danish press coverage of The Arab Spring as its starting point. The article analyses how a number of hist...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
| Published: |
FU Berlin, University of Erfurt
2012-05-01
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| Series: | Global Media Journal: German Edition |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.db-thueringen.de/servlets/DerivateServlet/Derivate-25448/GMJ3_Joendrup_final.pdf |
| Summary: | Investigation of journalism’s role as writer and rewriter of the record of political
episodes of world importance is central to this article, which takes an empirical approach in
choosing the Danish press coverage of The Arab Spring as its starting point. The article analyses
how a number of historical references to, in particular, European revolutionary history from
Eastern Europe in 1989, are woven into the journalistic descriptions of events in Tunisia and Egypt.
But the analysis also reflects on journalism’s own historical precedents in that field. Therefore, this
paper takes the topics and circumstances that put Tunisia and Egypt on the Danish media’s agenda
in the year before the Arab revolutions as a starting point. The central point of this comparison is to
convey how journalism, while describing contemporary events of The Arab Spring, at the same
time rewrites its own prior commentary on the region. Rewriting history in this way gives
journalism a neutral and unassailable position as observer of events of world-wide importance, but
it brings in its train other problems with staying true to both the readers and to unfolding events. |
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| ISSN: | 2196-4807 2196-4807 |