The domestication of “the Arab Spring”: A comparison of news framing in the United States and South Korea

Abstract

By employing a content analysis of news stories, this study explored how national history, national interests and journalistic values have affected the coverage of the Arab Spring by South Korea and the United States. Overall, the lens of national interest largely determined the newsworthiness of stories in the two nations. Journalists’ perspectives on journalism (specifically, on the role of journalists) as well as media routines have also influenced journalists’ presentations of the Arab Spring. The U.S. newspaper coverage relied on the views of Arab opposition figures and civilians most prominently, followed by those of U.S. government officials; while the South Korean papers relied heavily on foreign media as their sources (in particular, Western media). While this difference in news sourcing led to correspondingly divergent news frames, ironically, it often also resulted in a congruence between the news frames employed in each country’s major news outlets. This study proposes that national interests and history should be further considered as important dimensions for developing the models of media systems.