Television news, narrative conventions and national imagination

Abstract

AND KEYWORDSAbstract: By and large, contemporary news stories are stories about a particular nation, told to an audience that is seen and addressed in national terms. However, the understanding of the exact ways in which national imagination becomes engrained in the narrative conventions of news reporting is still rather limited, in particular when it comes to audiovisual genres. This article aims to fill a part of this blank by examining the links between national imagination and the narrative conventions of television news. Building on existing debates about different modes of news reporting, the article distinguishes two distinct sets of narrative conventions at work in television news: one typically found in routine reporting, the other characteristic of crisis and celebratory reporting. It is argued that each of these two sets of conventions is tied to a different form of nationalism, and normally arises in a different political climate.Links between national imagination and narrative conventions vary accordingly. To demonstrate this, the article provides a comparative analysis of narrative structures in selected samples of television news bulletins broadcast in the early 1990s in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The concluding section reflects on the external validity of the chosen case study and surveys supportive evidence from four other relevant cases, drawn from Britain and Israel.

TeamArab:al‐Jazeeraand the flagging of everydayArabism during the 2008BeijingOlympics

“…Moreover, this framing appears so routine and normal to suggest that this ‘Team Arab’ approach is typical of the way that all sport is reported (Mihelj et al. : 70). Therefore, though the event may not be everyday itself, the discourse used appears typical of al‐Jazeera 's framing of events to inculcate a sense of Arab identity (Downey and Koenig : 70–1).…”

“…However, at the same time, as an international event and institution it is predictable, structured and ‘normal’ and how media bodies such as al‐Jazeera report it (Dayan and Katz : 1–10) differs greatly from its coverage of conflict and crisis that have dominated the literature on new Arabism (Mihelj et al. : 70). Although all media are spun to reflect a certain editorial line, coverage of conflict and political news is done so more overtly than everyday items such as sport (Herman and Chomsky : 1–14).…”

“…It suggests that al‐Jazeera and its rivals promote Arab identity not just at times of crisis in its politicised ‘hot’ Arabist news items such as the Israel/Palestine conflict but also in more routine, everyday content such as the weather bulletins and sport (Hutchinson : 298; Mihelj et al. : 70).…”

Al-Jazeera and the Arab Uprisings: The Language of Images and a Medium's Stancetaking

“…Many media scholars have observed that Al‐Jazeera's broadcasts have contributed to a sense of unity among Arab communities (Fahmy & Johnson, ; Mihelj, Bajt, & Pankov, ; Miladi, ; Phillips, ; Pintak, ; Rinnawi, ). In fact, some scholars (Pintak, ; Rinnawi, ) note that during the recent uprisings in Arab communities, Al‐Jazeera presented a slanted viewpoint in its approach to the events' unfolding.…”

Nationalism, gender and the multivocality of war discourse in television news

“…The presence of war is among the key contextual factors that can account for rapid changes in media discourse, including a shift from 'banal' to 'hot' forms of nationalism (Mihelj et al 2009a). During periods of conflict, the usual democratic mechanisms regulating the production and circulation of public information are weakened, and the media are drawn into the promotion of social relations and values preferred by the ruling political structure (Van Dijk 2006: 15).…”