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GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

A Comparison of how the War in Mali is

represented by the BBC and Vice websites

Programme of study:

MSc Education, Technology and Society

Unit: New Media Representation and Digital Literacies

Unit co-ordinator: Mrs Jean Dourneen

Name: Antonios Kyparissis

BRISTOL 2014-15

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Contents

I. Introduction………………………………………………………………3

II. Brief introduction of BBC & Vice…………….…………….…………4

III. Headline of the Articles…………………………………………………5

IV. Semiotic analysis of the pictures accompanying the headlines……6

V. Discourse on BBC’s Language….…………….…………………….7-8

VI. Discourse on Vice’s Language……………………………………..9-10

VII. BBC’s “Side” Text…………………………………………………11-12

VIII. Semiotic Analysis in the further Pictures…………….….………13-14

IX. Conclusions……….…………………….…..………………………15-16

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1. Introduction

Media representation has radically changed through years from traditional newspapers

to interactive newspapers and websites, but the main idea remains the same: to cover

the news. Media plays an important role in representing the facts and especially in

wars. The ways that media covers a war is always a sensitive topic this is why I would

like to investigate such representations. Kress and Hodge (1993) point out that the

strategists who control the war in both sides must know the importance of controlling

the information since it is considered a significant part of winning the perceptions of a

war, without it could be worthless to win.

Mali was in war one year ago. During this period I read an article from the website

Vice.gr, which illustrated the situation in Mali. This year I explored the website

BBC.co.uk and I found another article regarding the same facts in Mali. It did not

really surprise me that the point of view was completely different in each website.

Although, these articles illustrated the same facts it seems very interesting to analyze

how these particular websites use the language and the pictures in order to create their

own desired meaning. Burbules (2002) states that the hyperlinks among the websites

could give meaningful associations also, but due to the nature of this assignment it is

not possible to analyze every link. The most part of this analysis will consider texts

and pictures. To succeed on this, for the pictures Semiotic Theory will be used, and

for the texts Discourse on language. The main purpose of this assignment is to reveal

the ways that are being used by each website in order to represent the news from each

perspective. Finally, as Michel Foucault states for the language:

“I believe one’s point of reference should not be to the greater model of

language (langue) and signs, but to that of war and battle. The history which

bears and determines us has the form of a war rather than that of a language:

relation of power, not relations of meaning” (Foucault, 1980 p.114)

In other words, the meaning of signs and language could be transformed to power by

the creators of that meaning and they can use it for their own benefit.

In the following text, first, a brief introduction of BBC & Vice is illustrated, second,

an analysis of the headlines of the two articles follows, then there is a semiotic

analysis of the pictures accompanying the articles’ headlines as well as a discourse on

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the type of language that is being used. In addition, semiotic analysis regarding

further pictures follows and finally, the conclusion.

2. Brief introduction of BBC & Vice

In this point it is worth mentioning some information regarding both websites: First,

BBC website was launched at 1997; on the other hand Vice website was launched ten

years later, in 2007. Vice is a private company which focuses on subjects like art,

culture, politics, documentaries. Furthermore, Vice offices exist on every continent

except Africa.

BBC online is part of the BBC's UK online service, which is public and mainly

funded through the television license fee, which exists in the UK. The average daily

visitors of the BBC.co.uk, according to alexa.com (Competitive Intelligence, 2014 a)

ranks 70th in the word and 7th in the UK. From the same website the positions for

Vice.com are 315th in the world and 72nd in the UK (Competitive Intelligence, 2014

b). That indicates that the size of the BBC.co.uk is as expected much bigger.

Nevertheless, Vice.com in comparison is not so small. Especially if you consider that

CNN in UK takes only the 268th position in the same ranking (Competitive

Intelligence, 2014 c).

Both websites have been criticized for lack of objectivity (Zelizer et al. 2002; Philo

and Berry’s, 2004; Lenzner 2014) but due to the nature of the specific assignment I will

not refer on that. One last factor which seems very interesting is the education level of

the audience. According to the same statistic website the readers of Vice who possess

college degree is much higher than the BBC’s audience. That probably makes each

website to be written in different ways. The article of BBC is written by Paul Melly

who is an analyst in West Africa, as is mentioned in the subtitle. On the other hand

the article from Vice is written by Ben Makuch without any other detail, but by

clicking on his name you can read other articles from him and also go to his twitter

account. This gives you the possibility to learn about him and his work.

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3. Headline of the Articles

To begin with, the headline is considered to be one of the most important factors

formulating the readers’ perception. BBC’s article (Melly, 2013) has as a headline

“France: How was it dragged into the Malian conflict?” in Vice’s case (What Are the

French Really Up to in Mali?, no date) the headline of the article is “What Are the French

Really Up to in Mali?” Both of them do not state anything they just wonder. It is very

interesting because with questioning they seem like the topic is open for discussion. In

addition, in this thought Vice offers its readers the opportunity to comment on the

article, in contrast with BBC which does not have this possibility. This maybe

indicates logophobia from BBC’s side due to the possibility of the mass to speak to

errant, to unrestrained discourse as Foucault (1993) points out. It is worth focusing on

the language that BBC uses “France” and the question; from that point of view it is

like the author wants to create distance, to be more neutral.

On the other hand, the question of Vice seems mysterious like the author already

knows something else. The word “Really” indicates that the truth is relevant and

maybe differs from the others’. Also the use of the language is more friendly and

personal than the BBC’s which is indicated from the straight question and the phrase

“Really Up to”. Furthermore, when the BBC writes “dragged into” is a clear position

that France did not want to engage to this war but was forced to. According to Oxford

dictionary drag into is defined: “try to get somebody who is not connected with a

situation involved in it” so it is obvious that this is a very carefully chosen expression.

Also the “Malian conflict” indicates that there was already war before France was

dragged into. Finally, the use of capital letters in the beginning of some words, from

Vice’s side, shows that the journalists did not wish to express themselves with such a

strict use of language.

Summarizing the above regarding the headlines one of the main difference of the two

websites is the formality of the language. In addition, both of the headlines are in the

form of questions, but the meaning of the text is totally different.

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4. Semiotic analysis of the pictures accompanying the headlines

The first picture from BBC represents three Islamists keeping guns in the back of a

truck. Furthermore, in their heads there is written “There is no God but the Almighty

God and that Mohammad is a messenger of God”. Barthes (1973) mentioned that in

terms of semiology a picture represents something but in parallel other meaning can

be occurred. What the picture actually represents is the signifier and the signified is

the meaning of the representation. Barthes says “the signifier expresses the signified”

(1973, p113). The signified of this picture is that these soldiers are ready to start a

jihad as they are wearing clothes with their holy phrase. It could be possibly

stemming from that, memories of religious wars that everyone should know that they

are not rational and can lead in terrible situations. The second picture’s signifier from

Vice’s article is a soldier. Likewise, this soldier is from the French army as he has the

French flag in his uniform. The background is a track with some other people who

maybe are also soldiers and some trees. In the left side of the picture there is a

cannon.

The signified that could be possibly revealed is a mysterious scene since the soldier is

being revealed through a dusty environment with the sunbeams, and also the flag in

his uniform is roughly visible. Moreover, it indicates fear thus it is not a common

soldier but with a bone face mask holding a big gun and having a strong body

position. Except of his body position also the contrast between the “black” color of

the soldier and “white” of the background could indicate a relation of power as

Derrida (1974) argues. Finally, the canon adds an even more dramatized tone in the

Figure 1: BBC chose this picture to illustrate the article

Figure 2: Vice chose this picture to illustrate the article

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picture. It seems very interesting the fact that BBC used a picture of Islamist to

illustrate the headline of the article, and in contrast Vice used the picture of a French

soldier. This maybe happened due to the fact that BBC represents jihadist as the threat

in contrast with Vice which indicates France as threatening.

5. Discourse on BBC’s Language

The author of BBC starts his article with:

“For anyone under the illusion that the early impact of French air strikes

presages a rapid defeat for jihadist fighters in northern Mali, the latest news

is a reminder of awkward realities”

He uses bolt letters for this phrase in order to emphasize these words. Exemplifies of

what Widdowson (2007) argues that an assertion of opinion and not a statement of

objectivity could be accepted by the reader. In addition, “For anyone under the

illusion” shows a hostile attitude and also indicates that more strikes are expected

because as he says is not easy to defeat them. The fact that the author characterizes

these soldiers as “jihadist fighter” reveals an attempt to affect readers’ perceptions by

presenting the soldiers as religious fanatics. Summarizing his words the author says

that if France had not launched their missiles, the jihadist fighters could have been in

Bamako. He also states that these facts came from officials in Paris in order to

strengthen his claim.

In addition, the author of BBC comments that if the airstrikes would not have taken

place that could have led to:

“A strategic disaster for Mali but also for West Africa as a whole, threatening

the stability and democratic structures of the entire region”.

He also mentions the word “democratic” which is a strong semiotic word creating the

feeling of justice in order to point out the good intentions of France helping not only

Mali but also the entire region. The use of these last words may lead to spread of

panic and fear in order to think under pressure; a very common strategy used by

journalist or politics in order to manipulate the public opinion and pass their belief.

Izard and Tomkins (1966) point out that the feeling of fear could influence the

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individual in matters of what will perceive, think and do. Also that behavioral

alternatives greatly reduced by fear.

BBC continues in the same spirit:

“President Francois Hollande has stressed the threat that would have been

posed to Europe's security if Mali had been transformed into a new safe haven

for radical Islamist groups”

The author of BBC uses the expression president in order to be more respectful to

Francois Hollande and indicates that his statement is very formal. Furthermore, he

uses the words “safe haven” to characterize the country of Mali in order to shape the

opinion that France did well to create an unsafe environment for “radical Islamist”.

Although it is a fact that the 90% of total population of Mali are Muslims, it is not

being mentioned.

It seems very interesting the claim that:

“…stable West African state to collapse entirely in the face of an assault by

armed groups with an agenda of exporting revolutionary jihad”

First, in author’s claim a dissonance appears how can a “stable state” “collapse

entirely” by some “armed groups”. One could maybe guess that the author starts with

“stable state” in order to indicate that everything was fine until some “armed groups”

appeared; he uses these words in order to affect the audience’s perception in a

negative way, as he also did before. The author with this statement that the state may

collapse entirely creates fear in an attempt to rationalize the acts of France. He also

points out that this operation was successful but he is wondering what could follow

next.

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6. Discourse on Vice’s Language

The author of Vice starts his article with:

“When it comes to going to war, it’s not too often we get to see France beat

the US to the punch… the French are playing the usual American role of

global terrorist-hunter, launching a string of airstrikes and deploying 2,500

troops”

It is shown that the language in general is freer and informal. Also the author uses

sport terms (“to the punch”) comparing France with the US. Furthermore, “terrorist-

hunter” is a phrase in order to gain the audience. He refers to a relative article from

the guardian to support the “string of airstrikes” which is bold and underlined as it is a

hyperlink for the reference. In addition, the use of numbers to regarding the troops

indicates a willingness to emphasise on that. In comparison with Vice, in BBC’s

article the numbers of troops are not mentioned at all. That possibly happens because

the BBC’s article tries to shape a particular opinion that France helps the Malian

people and if the focus would be just on the guns, which is being used in order to

succeed this, the author would lose the major purpose of what he would probably

wanted to pass.

In addition, Vice’s article openly accuses France that destabilizes the area:

“…rich history of corrupt African dictators being propped up by

French political leaders in exchange for syphoning natural resources”

“Rich history”, “syphoning” are words put there in purpose to gain the audience,

connoting that many times France has taken in advantage the African natural

resources in a massive way. Also the use of “dictators” for Africans and leaders for

French formulates the meaning that this article wants to give to the politicians.

Vice accuses directly France that destabilizes the area in that spirit the author says:

“In “Françafrique,” colonial influences have translated into extensive

economic holdings that a delicate French economy now requires…. with the

rampant fiscal invasion of Chinese entities threatening France’s traditionally

dominant sphere of influence in Africa, the war in Mali helps reinvent French

power in the region…. French state-owned nuclear engineering company

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Areva has huge interests in neighboring Niger (the number four producer of

uranium, globally)”

First of all, he creates a word aiming to correlate Africa with France. Also the author

uses the word “colonial” which has negative semantic prosodic, bringing in memory

old times and maybe slavery. With the use of the word “delicate” the author means

that the French economy is not as strong as before and that this is the main reason for

action. Using the word “rampant” he wants to stress out even more that China’s

business in Africa developed in fast ways so that France has to act this way. In favour

of strengthening more his argument he also refers to a public, nuclear company which

has interest in Niger.

Finally, the author of Vice website writes:

“Even if French intervention is on the basis of money (or defending their

geopolitical standing, depending on your perspective), there’s no denying the

rebels would’ve easily taken Bamako from the fractured Malian army and

instituted a morally bereft sharia-state based on medieval shit, like stoning

people to death, if the French hadn’t intervened”

Here Vice starts his text with what is already mentioned previously in the text but the

author does this in order to emphasize it and focus even more; after that he admits the

same with BBC’s claim that if “France hadn’t intervened” the rebels would be in

Bamako. But this happens only until the text comes to its end so many readers maybe

had not even made it until then and stay with another false meaning. Furthermore,

with focusing so much on other facts, the readers shape the opinion that France just

found an excuse to infiltrate into Mali.

Also BBC spends so much effort to indicate that the rebels could be into Bamako if

France had not launched the air strikes whereas Vice just says that “there’s no

denying” to indicate that agrees with BBC regarding the above statement. This

happens because as Kress and Hodge (1993) argue if information is ignored as

predictable, the potent of ideological effect could be more, rather than treat it as new

information. This fact is considered and from another respectful author in this field

such as Barthes mentions in his book Mythologies.

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“If I state the fact of France imperiality without explaining it, I am very near to

finding that is natural and goes without saying: I am reassured” (Barthes,

1973, p.143)

In addition he uses words such as “medieval shit”, “stoning people to death”

indicating a passion in his writing but also a freer and more informal way of writing.

On the other hand, BBC summarizes all this in “Islamic Law”.

So far by analyzing the text of both websites two different meanings regarding the

same facts have come to the surface. BBC points out that France goes there to halting

the jihadist. On the other point of view Vice stresses that France goes there to strength

their economy.

7. BBC’s “Side” Text

In the current analysis the side texts of BBC will be analyzed. The term side is

referred to the text which is apart from main text. BBC’s article continues by pointing

out:

“Restoring Mali's unity and stability was always going to be a complex, slow

and costly process, beset with both political and military complications”

The above phrase has also been used in bold letters on the outer of the main text in

order to evoke empathy to the reader even more by repeating it. It is very interesting

that when he puts the same text out of the main text is in direct quotation like

someone else had said this. But it is just part of his text. Also his language seems like

a part of a political speech thus, is like he wants to say much but he just contents

himself by stating that it is complex a classic political strategy where blurring the

audience perceptions is needed.

In parallel, with the main text which becomes smaller, a column about Mali’s rebels

appears next to it. The bullets refer to facts such as:

“Ansar Dine seeks to impose Islamic law across the country”

“Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim) is al-Qaeda's North African wing,

with roots in Algeria”

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“Known for kidnapping Westerners”

In the first bullet the name is in bolt letters since the author wants to blame one person

for this decision, which could be considered as dictatorship without democratic

procedures. Since ninety per cent of the citizens of Mali are Muslims does not that

mean that they follow the Islamic law? Also he uses bolt letters for the Al-Qaeda as a

word connected with the worst terrorist organization. Al-Qaeda is linked to the public

opinion as an organization of terrorists killing innocent people so by characterizing

someone as Al-Qaeda this may result to negative associations.

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8. Semiotic Analysis in the further Pictures

BBC’s article illustrates the head line “Peaceful handover” with one picture by

Reuters.

The picture shows two people; one rides a bicycle and the other is covered with a

French flag using headphones, in an unidentified area. But this differs from the text in

label. Definitely there are only two persons and not many. Also, from this picture it is

impossible to understand if this capture is in Bamako. Likewise, one cannot be sure

that the people are indeed welcoming the French intervention. So the picture and the

label could be irrelevant. But why does BBC use this picture? A picture of a non-

French person wrapped in a flag of France means, among others, respect for this

country. Finally, the use of labeling with Reuters in this particular photo purposes to

give a symbolic power in this picture through the institutional power.

Figure 3: BBC chose this picture to illustrate the “Peaceful handover”

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In addition, BBC and Vice seems to have a quite same pictures of map in the end of

the text

The two pictures above represent the map of French air strikes. The signifiers of BBC

are a presentation of a map with two different colors also it has two different pictures

inside so it is not just a simple picture but a combination of pictures. The first one

shows a car full of rebels and their guns and the other one shows three bombard

aircrafts. The BBC’s map signified with two neutral colours. One colour for the

Islamist-controlled area and one for the Government-controlled area. So the picture

takes a clear position of what is considered as both ethical and legal and what is not.

Because in perception of majority a voted government is legal.

On the other hand the map of Vice for Mali is presented in military colors it has not

separated the areas the same way that BBC’s map does, but in regions. In addition,

Vice’s map has the river of Niger represented in contrast with BBC’s map which

maybe indicates that there are interests close to the river area. Also the Vice’s map

mentions the same cities which have been air stroked plus Nambala which is a city

very close to Diabaly. Moreover, the Vice’s map represents the places where air

strikes happened using explosion pictures instead of neutral red square that BBC uses

and this seem stronger from semiotic perspective. Given this stance indicates a more

lethal meaning from the website of Vice and a more neutral one from BBC.

Figure 4: BBC chose this picture to illustrate the map of air strikes

Figure 5: Vice chose this picture to illustrate the map of air strikes

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Moreover, the two included pictures in the main picture from BBC indicate the

meaning of dominance through the military technology. In the same part of the Vice

picture shows the French air assets operating from outside Mali. This indicates, as

previously is mentioned in Vice text about the French colonies. Another difference is

that BBC’s map does not illustrate the capital of Mali in a different way in relation to

the other cities. So if one does not know what is the capital of Mali it is not possible to

understand it from the map. On the other hand Vice illustrates it with a star. Finally, a

big difference is that in BBC’s map there is a label which focuses on “a terrorist state

at the doorstep of France and Europe” again here it can be seen that the reason of the

air strikes is the “terrorist state” as part of keeping the Europe in piece so all

following acts can be excused. Summing up everything above the BBC’s map is more

neutral with less details than Vice’s but contains two more pictures combined with the

main.

9. Conclusions

In this point it is considered worth mentioning that the analysis and interpretation of

texts or pictures is relevant with the knowledge and the ideology of the person who

analyze it thus, there could be a level of bias in the presented results. Summarizing all

the above from the analysis of these articles, focusing on text and pictures where these

two articles were presented, the following meanings can derive.

From BBC’s perspective is being indicated that the air strikes were

intended to keep the peace in Mali but also to prevent the creation of

place that jihadist could use it for terrorist attacks in Europe. In order

to succeed on this they use proper language with the ambition to shape

the public opinion in their favor. Also they use some pictures to

illustrate these facts showing the faces of the rebels; and another one

that is supposed to show the willingness of Malian people to get help

by France in order to strengthen their position.

From Vice’s perspective is being indicated that the air strikes were

intended to keep the strong influence that France has in Mali and in

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Africa in general. But also they agree without offering any argument

that if they have not launched their missiles rebels could have occupied

the capital. In order to focus more on the intentions of France in this

area they focus on the circumstances that lead France to infiltrate. The

language used is freer and more informal than BBC’s. This makes

reading easier since the audience can feel more familiar with that type

of knowledge if we consider that the majority of the readers is young

people. The pictures are being chosen in order to evoke mystery and

fear for France infiltration.

Many people believe that media is a way to shape opinions and create perceptions in

order to formulate an approving environment for their acts. A historical fact is that the

war in Vietnam from the USA led to big social movements that created a problem for

the USA government. This is why wars in order to be won it is essential to be won not

only in the fields of war but also in peoples’ perception. The effectiveness of

Propaganda could determine the victory or defeat of a war. Every big country invests

in intelligent services because they know that if they have the knowledge they could

turn it into power for them and as Foucault states:

“Knowledge linked to power, not only assumes the authority of “the truth” but

has the power to make itself true” (Foucault and Sheridan, 1977, p. 27)

So we have to be very careful and critical about how and why media represents the

news in this particular way and what it can be gained from this. After all, texts are that

which survive and shape our memories about particular facts and as Socrates concerns

about reading texts “will create forgetfulness in the learner’s souls because they will

not use their memories” (Plato 360 BC; cf. Wolf 2008, p.74)

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