Creating the culture of saving: Framing a life without excess in the Emirati media

Abstract

This article assesses how the concept of saving has been portrayed in the Emirati media in recent years and how media coverage serves to raise awareness about the need to save energy, water and money for the future of the UAE and the future well-being of individuals, whether Emirati or foreign residents. The concept of sustainability in relation to lifestyle is an important one in this country that has been associated with exuberance, luxury and overspending. Emirati citizens and expatriates alike, according to surveys, lead consumerist lifestyles characterized by above the limits spending on luxury products, which, for some, led to falling into permanent debts. A sustainable lifestyle requires a shift in mentality and media have recently opened a dialogue about the necessity of such a change. From tips for how to change spending patterns to reporting real-life stories, both negative and positive, media engage the Emirati citizens and residents in this topic. This first of its kind research is based on qualitative content and discourse analysis of the national English and Arabic language Emirati daily newspapers collected in 2019. In the process of analysis, frames, which are the cognitive structures that we use to make sense of the world around us, were extracted from a total of 258 articles in the sample. The analysis established the context and the meaning given to the concept of sustainable lifestyle produced by the news structure and the choice of words. The results of this study testify that local newspapers in the UAE play an important role in spreading financial literacy, sustainable lifestyle and tips for saving money among their readers and were doing so already ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic that highlighted the necessity of savings among audiences worldwide. The results highlight the maturity of the Emirati press in this regard.