for PhD doctorate

Media Role In War

Introduction: General Overview

Yemen is a country of civilization that has an ancient and great history. It is a counrty that includes all type people with different believes and backgrounds such as Muslims, Christians, and Jews. Unfrountaly, in present day Yemen is struggling to survive from the Civil War that is happining currently. Today Yemen is one of the most countries in the world that has a sever famine and poverty. The Yemen Civil War began in late 2014 and it is still going and the stiuation there is from bad to worst. As I disscussed in my literature review about how media is being used as violent tool in conflicts and wars, from what I have gathered through my research I will use the current Yemen Civil War as case study and I will be discussing the failure on the Western media in coverage the war and speceficlly the role of the Saudi media in this war. From my own perspective, the state-run media of Saudi Arabia played an influential role in portraying the Yemen Civil War, which in turn deeply affected on international news sources acted to repeat Saudi Arabia’s perspective. (The thesis)

History Background

After the Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh got ousted by his people in 2011, the Saudi’s government fears starts to appear regarding who is going to be the next president of Yemen. Knowing that Yemen is neighboring country with Saudi Arabia and considered an important ally in the region at the political level. As the Saudi’s government preferred, Abdrabbuh Massur Hadi has been assigned as the new president of Republic of Yemen. However, Hadi’s government did not last for too long due to the failure of resolving the discord issues in the country such as corruption, separatist movement, poverty and loyalty of military officials to the former president Saleh. Meanwhile, in late 2014 the Houthis, knowing also Ansar Allah – a revolt group that represent the Ziadi Shia Muslim community in Yemen, made a coup toward Hadi’s government after they resolve the relationship with the former president Saleh. In March 2015, President Hadi got ousted by the Housthis, which led Saudi Arabia to intervene in the issue. The Housthis dominated most of the important cities Yemen including the capital Sanaa. Therefore, Saudi Arabia and her allies from some Arab nations and Western nations such the United State, Britain, and France agreed to go into war to liberate Yemen from the Houthis and Keep Hadi in charge. This War was called "Operation Decisive Storm". On the other hand, Iran and Hisbullah are important allies of the Housthis. They supported the Houthis with aids and weapons. Moreover, since Saudi Arabia is Sunni country – Sunni is the first large branch in Islam, there fears starts to appear that Iran could put their foothold into Yemen, since Iran is a Shia country. Due to that Saudi Arabia supported the Sunni pro-government of Yemen, which they attacked the Houthis locations by air strikes. According to the political analysts, the war in Yemen is such proxy wars that include two sides are Iran and the Saudi government, which the victims of the war are the innocent civilians (Ishan & Lawan, 2015). According to Almasmasri and Dewan (2016), the growing instability situation in Yemen made the terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda and ISIS to appear and took advantage of instability to do their terrorist and violence actions. As the Untied Nation reported, since the war started most of the victims were civilians include childrens and women. More than 10,000 innocent people have been killed, 1.5 million children are malnourished, 80 percent of the country population is in need of humanitarian assistance, and millions people have been dispalced (Almasmanri & Dewan, 2015).

Section One: Literature Review

many of the scholars argue that media play a role in international and internal conflicts. Sprcifically, media plays such a major role in forming and affecting public perspectives regarding international politics, which this effect is more obvious than during war times. In fact, there are several examples of media representation as a speaker of the government in war times, in which it becomes the engine of media. In this case, public would get from the media a balanced view, which it will reflect on them negatively. The public as media followers, it is necessary that they improve their critical methods and skills in order determine the process of media in manipulate and forming their perspectives regarding the world to serve such as predominant political agenda.

Moreover, governments aims to discourage those obsevers tendencies of media in war times, which it will support their actions instead of questiong and critiquing them. The only option for governments to encirclement the intervention of media is through securing and classifying information under the name of national security. Indeed, governments are using a method of authoritative censorship. Furthermore, in case the media failed in the questioning the government efforts, the media would not be represented as observer but instead as speaker of the government. Sometimes the government encourages the media to represent as speaker to create public consensus. While the media prefere to represent as observer through holding the government to account. (Kdkins & Zehfuss, 2008)

Media as having consistently found meaning in its process through which conflicts influences media in perspective through communication to achieve the set objectives. It, therefore, provides media with a sense of direction so that the masses become more informed as well as cohesive. Media requires special dedication and devotion to give guidance to others. Conflict, modern world and media have been portrayed in the voices of war as attracting grave concern across the globe (International Media Society, 5). It means that media requires special skills that only selected people can have. The selectivity is justified by subjecting consumers to intensive interview to determine if a press outlet one has the necessary levels of professionalism and they can accord services on observance of ethics and remaining non-bias.

As a mouthpiece of the masses, the media has the role of becoming sure of what one can do, knows, or understand. It is notable that the success of media is determined by the number of followers whom it influences. If their subjects lack trust and confidence in the leader, it becomes a challenge on the part of the organization because the members do not get inspired. Therefore, the media plays a critical role in either fuelling conflict or even cushioning it through observation of utmost ethical concerns that it consumers would need (International Media Society, 6). With this regard, the article asserts that would play a huge part in enabling the understanding of media roles as agents of communication to the ignorant persons. Ethics would explicitly ask the media about: What duties do they owe the masses? What are their ethical principles telling them to do? All answers to these questions have to convince their subjects of their success but not their superiors or themselves.

Different people require different types of media due to the difference in handling the subject that is required. Taking a comparison between a fresh worker and an experienced worker, fresh worker from college requires specialized training and supervision. The special handling is to equip the new worker with the special skills needed in the organization. With this regard, media has a role of closely monitoring authorities on behalf of the masses with a particular consideration of the limits they can go. International conflict management would require the media to come out of their way and source accurate and relevant information that they need to feed the masses with since it is a duty they owe to them. It would also become necessary to prevent any damages that might be caused by the media in the process of sourcing for information. On the other hand, an experienced media expert does not need to be given strict technical media because they are well skilled through the experience (International Media Society, 8). For that reason, the organization structure should incorporate media positions in the structure in consideration of the style of media that is required to manage a given group of people. The manager should have a proper understanding of his subjects. The understanding should be done in the perspective of emotions, motivation, and needs. Top management specifically requires general management skills. In technical media, one has to have the skills in the given technical field apart from general managerial skills.

Communication is a critical determinant in a successfully lead media organization; communication is, therefore, the passing of an intended message from one person to another. An active media should accommodate two-way communications. The first way of communication is done when giving direction on what needs to be done. The element herein is best described in international conflict. Whereby in global conflict the media is concerned about: What kind of media outlet do they want to become? Is their behavior consistent with human being's morality? All the concerns get enshrined in the top-down communication model, where the media adopts an appropriate mechanism for delivering their authority under the guidance of moralities. The other type of the two-way communication is down-top communication. This happens when junior employees or subjects are submitting to their superiors. It is also used by junior employees to pass complaints to their leaders in anticipation for rectification. Some leaders rule with an "iron hand," they do not accommodate down-top communication. Such leaders do not require the views of their subordinates in decision making. Consequently, the situation becomes a poor working environment resulting in the poor performance of the organization, and international conflict becomes distorted in the long run.

Media and international community outlet should get the views of most of its consumers before making a rule on a particular decision. Many third world countries are victims of poor communication. The presidents are dictators and make decisions that do not favor the majority. They ensure that the actions of the citizens never put into action. As a result, only a minority of the subjects gain from the policies implemented at the expense of the whole country. This has made the countries wallow in the poor economy despite the concern of international organizations to save the situation. Making it worse, such governments restricts the involvement of the media and even the international community in their affairs. In the article, John Major asserts that the role of the press in a global model situation is "the delivery of authority in diverse situations." It simply requires that what one does in one situation might never work in another situation. Taking an instance, where confronting an employee for inappropriate behavior, international conflict management requires that the confrontation should get implemented in a tactical manner (International Media Society, 8). It should not be too early or too late neither should it be too harsh or too weak. If it is not done in the most appropriate manner, the results might not be desirable. Situations also differ in urgency. There are situations, which require immediate actions while others require well calculated, timed, and analyzed the response. Media should well understand when they need to confront situations and how they approach them becomes equally vital.

Section Two: Case Study

As example to illuslrate the idea of media acting like mouthpiece of the government is the Saudi Arabia’s media role in Yemen War. The Saudi Arabia’s media played a major role shaping other international media peespectives that led them either to be tricked by the Saudi’s media. In Saudi Arabia media is acting as mouthpiece of the government, which it is always controlled by the government. Many goals and political intersts that Saudi Arabia is trying to achieve in Yemen through their media. The failure of the Western media helped the Saudi’s to take the advantage to play the leader role in Yemen.

The Failure of Westren Media: Yemen Civil War

The complexity of the political situation in Yemen made the local journalist lives under a risk. According to Sharma (2017), “The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based press freedom watchdog, has recorded the deaths of at least six journalists caught in the crossfire since the start of the Saudi campaign. In its latest report, the Yemeni Journalist Syndicate said that more than 100 press violations were committed in the first six months of 2016, including 10 cases of attempted murder, 24 abductions and disappearances, and 12 cases of assaults on journalists and their offices.” Even for international journalists, they are expose to danger of teasing and kidnappings (Sharma, 2017).

Afrah Nasser, an independent Yemeni journalist who was interviewed by Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Policy (JMEPP). She argued that the western media coverage of the war in Yemen is very weak and mostly ignored, as she claimed it is under the form of “parachute journalism”. The reason behind that is the difficulty of accessing Yemen, especially with the Saudi blockade on Yemen. Whether for Arab or international journalists, it is required to get permission from the Saudi’s or the Houthis in order to enter the country. Due to that it is very dangerous for journalists to enter Yemen, which their lives will be under a risk. Moreover, it is very hard for some western and Arab media to buy stories of the victims because it would not be in favor of the Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, the Houthis created a campaign against all journalists (Bollier, 2017).

Moreover, the Western in general and the United States in specific has no political interests in Yemen, which why the war got ignored by the media and focus more on the war in Syria and Iraq. Knowing that in present day, both Iraq and Syria are considered the most dangerous places for journalists, the two wars are getting large media coverage than Yemen. A brutal civil war blazing in impoverished Yemen is overlooked, and the pivotal ramifications of the situation remain amiss in the mass media. (Taub, 2016 & Larison 2017)

Furthermore, the failure of the Western media in coverage the war appears through showing independent media outlets that has the ability to control the story before it is been read by the people and then been shocked by Pro-Western media. For instance, Western media attempted to report the situation in Yemen despite that the Houthis removed Hadi’s government. ”The Houthis may be called “rebels” but the fact of the matter is that portions of the Yemeni Military are also fighting in support of the new Revolutionary Committee– it’s essentially an anti-imperialist alliance” (Nord, 2016).

The Saudi Media Role: Yemen Civil War

According to Sons and Matthiesen (2016) the intervention of Saudi Arabia in Yemen was because of political interests, as well as strategic. However, the Saudi media contributed dramatically in achieving these goals. First, the King of Saudi Arabia Salman and his son Muhammad (The Minister of Defense and second crown prince) wanted to be in charge of making decisive decisions in case of external threats. The Saudi media strongly helped to achieve the king endeavor; especially as he managed to intervene in Yemen. Second, the Saudi government claims national unity in fighting the external enemy, which the Saudi media praised the military and reports that they are preforming well in the battle. In fact, this is contradictory with reality. The Saudi airstrikes did not cause to diffuse military successes against the Houthis. The Saudi media claimed that strikes were responsible for regional interests. Third, diffuse media coverage of the military campaign contributed in switching the focus far away from the Saudi’s domestic affairs. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia accused the Houthis and Iran of the instability situation in Yemen. Fifth, the Saudi government wants to take advantage in Yemen war to play as good actor. The Saudi media has claimed that the intervention was to liberate Yemen and help their people, but in fact it was not. Sons and Matthiesen (2016) stated, “As the UN reported in January of this year, as many as 119 coalition sorties have violated the laws of wars. These violations, together with the rising number of civilian casualties, have been criticized by international media, which has called for a shift in Saudi military tactics and an end to the conflict.” However, the Saudi media denied this international criticism, publicize a logic that is caught by unknown article in the Saudi newspaper reported “Outside parties are trying to instigate revolt against the Kingdom’s leadership through fake social media accounts under Saudi names and fabrication of information.” The Saudi journalism has resisted international criticism and tried show the world that they are putting many efforts to help the Yemeni people through establish humanitarian projects that provides aids such as food, medicines, clothes, shelters etc. One of the Saudi’s projects is King Salman Humanitarian and Relief. This project was supported by many agencies such the United Nations and other organizations. The donation coasts from the center to the UNCHR were paid by the Saudi journalism. (Sons & Matthiesen, 2016)

However, with the rejection of some assured aspects of the war, the Saudi media has tried to offense the government from international criticism. Journalists and editors have a clear idea that there are specific topics should not be infringement such as the political decisions of the royal family, the clergy, and religion. Furthermore, self-censorship formed an important role in the Saudi media campaign encouraging the intervention. Since the war begun in 2015, Saudi Arabia paid around 50 to 70 billion US dollars, which led to budget deficit. These facts were denied by the Saudi media because it would disclose the Saudi’s government and offense it reputation. (Sons & Matthiesen, 2016)

Once the Yemen war began, Saudi Arabia started a “Public Relations Blitz” with the international media, supported by some of the world’s knowing PR associations. Many European newspapers, reported interviews with Saudi official representatives, which attempted to clarify and legalize of the intervention. For intense, In frankfurter, Germany Allgemeine Zeitung, the Saudi embassy supported financially for an advertising to enhance Saudi Arabia new foreign policy. Also, the Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman was interviewed several times in international news and media to support his international profile and defend Saudi policies at the foreign and economic level. Moreover, the Saudi media described the Yemeni war in two different languages Arabic and English. Newspaper and media in English language are related to those foreigners living inside and outside Saudi Arabia. They obviated ideological or religious issues to legalize the Yemen war, instead of assure its political and security proportions. On the other hand, religious, sectarian, and other ideological stories have mostly supported arguments in Arabic language newspaper and media. (Sons & Matthiesen, 2016)

Saudi Arabia has made massive of efforts and spread its interpretation to gain supports of the Yemen war, whether by the Saudi people, the region, and the world. It is been more than a year since the war started and the official media discourse remains an important element of Saudi government media. Saudi Arabia has described itself as hegemony in the region and wanted the Yemen war to be the centerpiece of its new attitude in the region. As this media strategy has managed and gained Western allies such as the United States and Britain continued to support the Saud intervention, it will create a huge struggles to maintain this media story the longer the war continues on and the more losses and needs the conflict causes. (Sons & Matthiesen, 2016)

Conclusion (add comparison Saudi media vs. western media + summary over all paper + restate the thesis)

The tragedy of Yemen is getting worse everyday and the silence of media is continuing. International media is relying on the Saudi perspective to portraying the war in Yemen, which it giving such a fake facts to the public. The media is reporting things in the war that are no existing in reality. Furthermore, in Saudi Arabia the government who control the media, which obviously all they care about is to be seen as the good player in war and their reputation. The reality of the war in Yemen contradicts with what the media is reporting to public. The reality says that Saudi Arabia lost many military forces since the intervention, even more then the Houthis. Also, Saudi Arabia had an economic lose, which they spent a very large amount of money that led to budget deficit of the country. The question here is does the media report like these facts to public? The answer is no, because it will disclose the government of Saudi Arabia and this is what they do not prefer.