Mapping Journalistic Role Performance Across Five Arab Countries

Abstract

This study applies a media systems approach to examine the performance of journalistic roles in the news of five Arab countries: Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. The content analysis of 13,299 news stories in newspapers, radio, television, and online sites revealed the practice of loyal-facilitator, watchdog, interventionist, service, civic, and infotainment roles is a result of the intersection of several factors. Overall, findings point to the overarching power of the political system that is manifested in media ownership, media political alignment, and countries’ specific conditions.