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This article explores the coverage by The Independent and The New York Times of the 2016 and the 2017 military operations in Aleppo and Al-Raqqa. It highlights the uneven reporting on the humanitarian crisis in the two cities. The analysis shows that the similarities in the coverage of the two newspapers were greater than the differences. The New York Times and The Independent (to a lesser extent) espoused a pro-US narrative of the Syrian conflict by framing Aleppo as a humanitarian ‘catastrophe’ and Al-Raqqa as a ‘liberation’ struggle. Biases were constructed out of several elements including (1) the dominance of US sources and selective use of UN and NGO sources; (2) the use of visual content quantitatively and qualitatively; (3) the use of graphic and emotive terms; (4) focus on the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo and the military operations in Al-Raqqa.

Two events have brought the social movement in Bahrain to light yet again: the temporary detention of the football player Hakeem Al-Araibi in Thailand for alleged ‘terrorist’ acts and the imprisonment of the activist Najah Yusuf because of her criticism of the hosting of a Formula One Grand Prix. This paper sheds light on the nexus between sports journalism and politics in Bahrain. It highlights the weaponizing of sports journalism during the first few weeks of the 2011 uprising to protect the regime. The coverage of the demonstrations is analysed to inspect how the 2011 uprising was reported on by the pro-regime sports newspapers. This paper argues that sports journalism played an unprecedented political role during the uprising when it was used by the regime as a weapon to confront the protests and in the process reinforce the regime's control over the country.