Shahira Fahmy 2008

Who is Winning the Hearts and Minds of the Arab Public?

An examination of how Arab viewers judge the credibility of Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra and local Arab stations

BY THOMAS J. JOHNSON

MARSHALL AND SHARLEEN FORMBY REGENTS PROFESSOR COLLEGE OF MASS COMMUNICATIONS

TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY BOX 43082

LUBBOCK, TX 79409 [email protected]

(806) 742-6500 EXT. 253 (806) 742-1085

AND SHAHIRA FAHMY

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

TUCSON, AZ [email protected]

Thomas J. Johnson (Ph.D., University of Washington) is the Marshall and Sharleen Formby Regents' Professor, College of Mass Communications at Texas Tech University. His research interests include political communication and new media communication technology effects.

Shahira Fahmy (Ph.D., University of Missouri) is an associate professor in the School of Journalism at University of Arizona. Her research interests include new media, political communication and visual coverage of war and terrorism in the Middle East. Manuscript accepted for publication in International Communication Research Journal. January 2010.

Who is Winning the Hearts and Minds of the Arab Public? - 1

Who is Winning the Hearts and Minds of the Arab Public?

An examination of how Arab viewers judge the credibility of Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra and local Arab stations

Abstract / This study surveys Arab satellite television users through a questionnaire posted on

Al-Jazeera’s Arab-language website to examine how credible they judge Al-Jazeera, Al-

Arabiya, Al-Hurra and local Arab stations. More specifically, this study compares and contrasts

the degree to which Al-Jazeera users judge the satellite networks in terms of depth, accuracy,

fairness, believability, trustworthiness and expertise. It also examines the degree to which

support for press freedoms, ideology, demographic, political measures and reliance predict

credibility of Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra and local Arab stations.

Keywords / Credibility/ Al-Jazeera / Al-Arabiya / Al-Hurra / local Arab stations, Arab media.


Who is Winning the Hearts and Minds of the Arab Public? An examination of how Arab viewers judge the credibility of Al-Jazeera, Al-

Arabiya, Al-Hurra and local Arab stations

Al-Jazeera emerged as the dominant voice in Arab public discourse for opening its lines

to the Arab people and providing them a forum to voice their views. The station has also been

recognized as the CNN of the Arab World for its refusal to parrot the official line of Arab

government officials and its commitment to accuracy and balance while at the same time

showing an Arab perspective on the news (el-Nawawy 2003; el-Nawawy & Iskandar 2002;

Lynch, 2006). However, by 2004 the supremacy of Al-Jazeera was challenged by the emergence

of several satellite competitors including the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya and the U.S.-sponsored

Arabic language satellite station Al-Hurra.

While several studies have surveyed Arab audiences to examine the credibility of both

Al-Jazeera (Auter et. al, 2004, 2005; Johnson & Fahmy, 2008, 2009) and its U.S. competitor Al-

Hurra (Dabbous, & Nasser, 2009; el-Nawawy, 2007; Telhami, 2005, 2009; Wise, 2005), less

attention has been paid to credibility of Al-Arabiya, even though in some parts of the Middle

East, its ratings have surpassed Al-Jazeera (Snyder, 2006a, 2006b). Few studies have

systematically compared and contrasted credibility of Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra

(However, see Dabbous & Nasser, 2009) and local Arab media and no study could be found that

has examined what factors predict credibility of these Arab satellite stations.

This study surveys Arab satellite television users through a questionnaire posted on Al-

Jazeera’s Arab-language website to examine how credible they judge Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya,

Al-Hurra and local Arab stations. More specifically, this study compares and contrasts the

degree to which Al-Jazeera viewers judge the satellite networks in terms of depth, accuracy,


fairness, believability, trustworthiness and expertise. It also examines the degree to which

attitudes toward press freedom, demographics and political measures correlate with credibility of

Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra and local Arab stations.

Source and Sponsor Credibility

Early persuasion research found that expertise and trustworthiness were the two main

factors influencing credibility of a source (Hovland et al., 1949, 1953). Expertise referred to the

degree to which the audience consider someone qualified to know the truth of a topic, while

trustworthiness referred to the degree to which the audience perceived the person was motivated

to tell the truth about that subject.

The emergence of the Internet focused attention on source credibility as well as expanded

the definition of what is considered a source (Metzger et al., 2003). Internet researchers

considered the websites themselves as sources of information.

Studies by Johnson and Kaye (1998, 2002) found that differences between online and

traditional versions of the same source were not significantly different, as people focused on the

credibility of the source itself rather than the way information is delivered. Other studies have

suggested that different news organizations are rated differently for credibility (Pew Center for

People and the Press, 2006).

Credibility in the Arab World

Until the mid90s, Arab people had little reason to trust the information they received

from their media as Arab governments held a monopoly over television. Arab governments

believed that television should promote national development goals. Therefore, television

stations operated within ministries of information and were funded by the government (Rugh,

2004). Journalists enjoyed few press rights because they were perceived as part of the


government bureaucracy and should be working on behalf of the government (Fahmy &

Johnson, 2007b; Lynch, 2006; Rugh, 2004).

Scholars suggest the rise of satellite news networks, most notably Al-Jazeera, in the wake

of the Gulf War not only has caused Arab governments to encourage more Western style of news

gathering and presentations, but have also served as a political and cultural phenomenon that

have transformed the Arab region (el-Naway & Iskandar, 2002; Rugh, 2004; Seib, 2007).

Satellite news networks such Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya and Al-Hurra news have adopted a

more Western style broadcasting style with state-of-the art technology, advertising as a source of

revenue, and broadcasting a wide range of news and public affairs programming shows, as well

as entertainment and family-oriented offerings (Ayish, 2001; Seib, 2007).

Credibility of Al-Jazeera

As credibility scholars have demonstrated, credibility is a perception held by the

audience, not a trait inherent in a medium (Berlo et al., 1969). Therefore, credibility perceptions

can vary widely depending on who is asked. This seems particularly true for Al-Jazeera.

Al-Jazeera is condemned as a news source by both Arab governments and coalition

countries alike. Arab governments criticize Al-Jazeera for negative coverage of Arab leaders, for

interviewing Israeli and Western officials, and for covering taboo topics such as sex, polygamy

and government corruption (Jamal & Melkote, 2008; Zayani & Ayish, 2006).

Similarly, Western governments have accused Al-Jazeera of presenting the news,

particularly Iraq War stories, from a pro-Arab perspective, (Zayani & Ayish, 2006) and for

ignoring journalistic values by presenting graphic images of civilians injured or killed by

coalition forces (Fahmy & Johnson 2007a). Worse, coalition governments claim that the network

has aided terrorists because it has frequently aired tapes from Osama bin Laden and by al-Qaeda


intermediaries (Seib, 2007). On the other hand, Al-Jazeera has been hailed by supporters as the

CNN of the Arab World for being one of the most important news organizations and a leading

political actor in the world today (Miles, 2005; Seib, 2007). The English-language version of Al-

Jazeera has been touted as a potential conciliatory medium that covers contentious issues as a

way conducive to cooperation, negotiation and reconciliation (el-Nawawy & Powers, 2008).

Although Al-Jazeera has been criticized by some for being less critical of the Qatar

government, which provides it with its funding (Zayani & Ayish 2006), Al-Jazeera has won a

loyal following as the first Arab news source to offer Arab viewers a largely uncensored 24-hour

news service that has provided them the opportunity to express their views through live phone-in

shows (el-Nawawy & Iskandar, 2002; Zayani & Ayish 2006). Consequently, studies have found

that Al-Jazeera ranks extremely high in credibility among Arab audiences (Association for

International Broadcasting, 2008; Auter et al., 2004), even more than CNN or the BBC (Johnson

& Fahmy, 2008, 2009).

Al-Hurra and Credibility

Al-Hurra, along with radio station Radio Sawa, were created as part of a large-scale

public diplomacy effort to improve America’s image in the Middle East, increase understanding

of American society and culture, and to explain U.S. foreign policy (el-Nawawy, 2007).

Al-Hurra (which means The Free One in Arabic) has pledged to provide fresh

perspectives on the news. However, political observers debate how successful Al-Hurra has been

in winning the hearts and minds of the Arab audience because Arab viewers are savvy media

consumers who can pick from hundreds of satellite channels (Wise, 2005). Critics claim that

Arab viewers will always hold Al-Hurra’s credibility under suspicion because it is funded by the

United States and therefore is perceived as a propaganda station created to sell the ideas of the


U.S. government (el-Nawawy, 2007; Wise 2005). Al-Hurra’s approach of detached objectivity

may hold little appeal for Arab audiences, particularly on issues such as the Palestinian/Israeli

conflict, where audiences will seek out sources to support their convictions (el-Nawawy, 2007).

There are no objective data about audience size of different Arab media (Jamal &

Metkote, 2008; Rugh, 2004), and this is apparent in surveys of the Al-Hurra audience. For

instance, Ipsos-Stat, a research company hired by the Broadcasting Board of Governors that

supervises Al-Hurra, found in April 2005 that an average of 29 percent of adults had watched Al-

Hurra in the last week. AC Nielsen surveys indicate that more than 27 million viewers turn into

the channel at least once a week, which would put its audience above Al-Arabiya. (See Table 4)

But other studies suggest if people are regular viewers of Al-Hurra it is for the entertainment

content, not the news. For instance, Zogby International found in June 2004 that no one picked

Al-Hurra as the main source of news and information and only 3.8 percent rated it second.

(Baylouyni, 2005). When the Maryland University and Zogby International Poll (2009) asked

Arab respondents in 2009 which broadcast station they watch to find out about international

news, about 0.5 percent listed Al-Hurra. While 60 percent of those surveyed said they watched

Al-Jazeera news regularly (5 times or more a week), only 9 percent said they were regular Al-

Hurra news viewers.

At least two studies have directly examined credibility of Al-Hurra. Dabbous and

Nasser (2009) compared Al-Hurra’s credibility to Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya and found that

people judged Al-Hurra the least credible and it had the lowest viewership. Also, Al-Hurra

viewership did not predict a positive attitude toward the United States, lending fuel to claims that

Al-Hurra is not an effective instrument of diplomacy.


El-Nawawy (2007) surveyed students from Morocco, Kuwait, Jordan, Palestine and the

United Arab Emirates (UAE) using 12 measures to gauge Al-Hurra credibility. Al-Hurra rated

relatively low for credibility. However, heavy users of Al-Hurra were more likely to judge it as

credible. Students said their attitudes toward U.S. foreign policy have worsened since they began

watching Al-Hurra, however. Thus, it is unclear whether Al-Hurra has achieved its primary aim

of shifting perceptions of Arabic audiences in favor of U.S. policy.

Al-Arabiya and Credibility

The all-news channel Al-Arabiya was launched in March 2003 by Saudi Arabia’s Middle

East Broadcasting Centre to compete with Al-Jazeera for the pan-Arabic audience. Because Al-

Arabiya positioned itself as a moderate alternative to Al-Jazeera (al-Saggaf, 2006), some polls

have suggested that it has surpassed Al-Jazeera in terms of audience (Snyder, 2006a, 2006b).

However, because Al-Jazeera is perceived as better able to present the Arab perspective on the

news, Al-Arabiya still trails Al-Jazeera is terms of credibility (Ayish, 2004).

Scholars say that in many ways, Al-Arabiya was modeled on Al-Jazeera. Al-Arabiya was

designed to be an independent voice, trying to provide multiple perspectives on the news with an

emphasis on news of interest to Arab viewers (Zayani & Ayish, 2006). However, in other ways

Al-Arabiya positioned itself as an alternative and as a counterweight to Al-Jazeera. It has

avoided the talk shows that have generated many of the criticisms leveled at Al-Jazeera (Lynch,

2006), sticking to hourly news bulletins, commentaries, business, sports and documentaries

(Zayani & Ayish, 2006).

Audience polls by IPSOS-STAT suggest that Al-Arabiya has surpassed Al-Jazeera in the

ratings among Arab audiences by 2006 (Snyder, 2006a, 2006b). Network officials credit its gain

both to adding family-oriented content in the morning and for a series of exclusive interviews


and controversial interview topics (Snyder, 2006a). But several critics have questioned the

IPSOS-STAT findings. For instance, Al-Arabiya has a competitive advantage because it can be

picked up by roof antennas, while Al-Jazeera requires a satellite hookup (Snyder, 2006a). Also

viewership does not necessarily transfer into preference. Polls by University of Maryland/Zogby

International (Telhami 2009) indicated that Al-Jazeera is the first choice for international news

among 55 percent of the audience, far and away the most popular network, with 10 percent

selecting Al-Arabiya.

Scholars debate whether a surge in number of people turning to Al-Arabiya equals high

levels of credibility. Ayish (2004), in a study of UAE students, found Al-Arabiya ranked a

distant third beyond Al-Jazeera and Abu Dhabi Television. On the other hand, studies by the

Arab Advisors group (2004) found Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya were rated as equally credible.

Credibility and Press Freedom

Only a few studies have examined the link between press freedom and media credibility,

and most have examined this connection in democratic press systems (e.g., Andsager, Wyatt &

Martin, 2004; Blake & Wyatt, 2002; Wyatt, Andsager & Bodle, 1994; Wyatt, Smith & Andsager,

1996). Studies that have examined the relationship between press freedom and credibility in an

Arab context have reported conflicting results. While studies indicate that people from the

Middle East generally cherish press freedom, support for press freedom did not predict

credibility of Al-Jazeera (Johnson & Fahmy, 2009).

Support has been mixed among Western scholars for the claim that attitudes toward press

freedom and credibility is directly linked to freedom of the press. Some studies have suggested

that those who judged the media low in credibility were more likely to agree that the media


abuse the First Amendment and that newspapers sometimes have too much freedom of the press,

a finding supported by other credibility studies (i.e. Gaziano & McGrath, 1986).

Other studies have failed to find a strong relationship between credibility and press

freedom. Blake and Wyatt (2002) examined the relationship between confidence of the press and

civic tolerance between 1980 and 1987, and failed to find a relationship in most years. The

authors contend these findings suggested that support for freedom of the press is more tied to

attitudes about balancing free speech rights against other rights than credibility.

However, Blake and Wyatt (2002) suggest that freedom of press may not predict

credibility in the United States because First Amendment rights are taken for granted. Support

for press freedom may be stronger in the Middle East where journalists have enjoyed few

freedoms (See Fahmy & Johnson, 2007b; Pew Center for People and the Press, 2003).

While Johnson and Fahmy (2008) found that Al-Jazeera viewers strongly believed that

Arab media should be free to criticize the government and that Al-Jazeera contributes to press

freedom in the Middle East, press freedom did not predict attitudes toward credibility of Al-

Jazeera. The authors speculated that one reason press freedom did not predict credibility is that

Al-Jazeera viewers believed the press enjoys few freedoms in the Middle East.

Credibility and Political Variables

Few studies have examined the effects of most political variables on traditional measures

of credibility. However, Johnson and Kaye (2002) reported that political variables, with the

exception of trust, were weakly linked with online credibility.

Johnson and Fahmy (2008) examined the influence of political activity, political interest

and ideology on credibility of Al-Jazeera, but none of these measures proved significant. El-

Nawawy did not directly examine political variables, but did indicate that heavy Al-Hurra use


was linked to support for U.S. foreign policy, which suggests political ideology of Al-Hurra

viewers could be linked to Al-Hurra credibility.

Credibility and Demographics

Credibility studies conducted in the West found that while males with high education and

income are the heaviest information consumers, this group is less likely to judge the media as

credible (Mulder 1981). On the other hand, women, as well as those who are younger and less

educated, are more likely to judge television as credible (Metzger et al., 2003).

Auter, Arafa and Al-Jaber (2005) reported the average Al-Jazeera viewer tends to be

young, highly educated, male and Muslim. A recent study by Allied Media Corp (2007), posted

on Al-Jazeera website, also found that most viewers were young, with a low income, and

Muslim, However, Allied Media Corp found a closer gender divide (66 percent male) and found

viewers were less educated (29 percent had a university degree or above) than the studies by

Auter and associates (2005).

Based on earlier demographic studies of Al-Jazeera, it would appear that most

characteristics associated with high credibility (i.e. being a male with a high income) would not

be linked with high credibility of Al-Jazeera. Indeed, Johnson and Fahmy (2008, 2009)

discovered demographics had little influence on credibility. Young users of both the Arabic and

English-language Al-Jazeera website judged the satellite network credible, but no other

demographic variable proved significant.

Research Questions and Hypothesis

RQ1: To what degree will Al-Jazeera viewers perceive Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra and local Arab stations as expert sources, as well as trustworthy, in depth, accurate, fair and believable? H1: Al-Jazeera will be judged as significantly more credible than Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra and local Arab stations.


RQ2: To what degree will credibility of Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra and local Arab stations correlate with press freedom, political variables (political ideology, level of political interest and level of political activity) and demographic variables (gender, age, education and income)?

Method

An Arabic-language survey examining the credibility of Al-Jazeera viewers was posted

on Al-Jazeera website’s Arab language (http://www.aljazeera.net). The hyperlink was posted for

three weeks – from September 21, 2004 to October 12, 2004. The authors were not able to

secure links on the Al-Arabiya and Al-Hurra websites. This study did not attempt to secure links

on the numerous local Arab stations. Local Arab stations are terrestrial rather than satellite

stations that serve a specific geographic area and remain largely under the control of that

country’s government (Arab Advisors Group 2009).

The questionnaire was first written in English and then translated into Arabic and once

more back-translated into English. Back-translation was done to ensure accurate translation and

cultural compatibility in the Arab culture. The questionnaire was then pre-tested to ensure

collecting valid and reliable data.

The survey’s respondents were Al-Jazeera television viewers who seek more information

from the Al-Jazeera Arabic website. Using an online questionnaire proved to be the preferred

method for this study as it allowed the researchers to directly survey Al-Jazeera viewers who

spoke Arabic. Attempting to select a group of Arab viewers through traditional means would be

almost impossible because of the limited degree of freedom enjoyed in the Arab world. (Rugh,

2004). This study’s respondents, therefore, can be classified as a purposive sample of Al-Jazeera

viewers who have access to the Internet. Results therefore may not be represented of the larger

population and care must be taken not to generalize the results to the population at large.


Measures

Credibility, To compare the overall credibility of Al-Jazeera with the overall credibility

of Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra and local Arab stations and to examine the degree to which press

freedom, political variables, and demographics predict the credibility of all four TV outlets,

summated indices measuring media credibility was made up of the following six items:

believability; fairness; accuracy; depth of information; trustworthiness and expertise. The

response options for each item was a five-point scale that ranged from not at all to very. The

Cronbach alphas testing the reliability of the credibility indices were as follows: Al-Jazeera .90;

Al-Arabiya .88; Al-Hurra .92; local Arab stations .93.

Press Freedom. To test the relationship between the overall credibility of the stations

examined and press freedom, a press freedom index was computed. The index was composed of

two measures. The Cronbach alpha testing the reliability of the press freedom scale was .64.

Respondents were asked to state their level of agreement with statements dealing with the

following: whether Arab media should be allowed to publish free from government control and

whether Arab media should be allowed to freely criticize their governments. The five-point scale

for the two measures ranged from strongly agree to strongly disagree.

Political Variables. Measures of political activity and political interest were also

employed. Respondents were asked to rate their level of political activity and their level of

political interest on a scale that ranged from 0 to 10. Respondents were also asked to report

whether they politically viewed themselves as very liberal; liberal; independent; conservative or

very conservative.

Demographic Variables. A set of background questions used for descriptive and


comparison purposes were used. This study specifically examined associations between

credibility and gender, age, education and income.

Data Analysis

The data were analyzed in three stages. First, frequencies and means were run on the six

credibility measures of Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra and local Arab stations. Second, paired

sample t-tests were computed to test whether Al-Jazeera was judged as significantly more

credible than Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra and local Arab stations. Third, a series of correlation

analyses examined relationships between the credibility of Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra and

local Arab stations and attitudes toward press freedom, political variables (political ideology,

level of political interest and level of political activity) and demographic variables (gender, age,

education and income).

Results

A total of 646 usable responses were analyzed for this study. Geographically,

respondents completed the survey from 53 different countries, with 97.6 percent of the

respondents indicating backgrounds from 20 Arab countries and two Muslim countries

(Afghanistan and Pakistan).

In this study, 47.2 percent of Al-Jazeera users were between 25 and 35 with a mean of

32. Males greatly outnumbered females (89 to 11 percent). The vast majority (95 percent)

reported they were Muslims, three percent reported they were Christians and less than one

percent reported they were Jewish. In terms of income, 55 percent reported an annual income

that ranged between $1001 and $25,000. Almost one-fifths (19 percent) indicated an annual

income of less than $1000. Few of the respondents (3.6 percent) indicated an annual income

more than $100,000. Respondents strongly agreed the Arab media should be allowed to publish


free from government control (M = 4.5) and should be allowed to freely criticize their

governments (M = 4.73). On a scale from 1 to 10, press freedom in the Arab world scored low

(M = 2.82) and press freedom in the United States scored average (M = 5.35). In other words,

results show press freedom in the United States, although average, is perceived to be higher than

press freedom in the Arab world.

Credibility of Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra and local Arab stations

The first research question asked to what degree will Al-Jazeera viewers perceive Al-

Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra and local Arab stations as expert sources, as well as trustworthy,

in depth, accurate, fair and believable. Table 1 shows responses concerning credibility measures

of all four network-stations. Overall, respondents rated the six credibility measures of Al-

Jazeera higher than credibility measures for Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra and local Arab stations. The

mean scores for the believability, accuracy, and depth of information, trustworthiness and

expertise of Al-Jazeera television news were larger than 4.0, which corresponded with

considerable. Only the score for fairness dipped below 4 (M = 3.77). Al-Arabiya ranked second

with mean scores that were less than 4, corresponding with considerable. The U.S.-sponsored Al-

Hurra station ranked third, overall. The mean scores for the believability, fairness, accuracy, and

depth of information, trustworthiness of Al-Hurra TV were lower than 2.0, which corresponded

with little. Al-Hurra trustworthiness scored the lowest mean overall (M = 1.44), which was

between the not at all and the little response categories. Only the score for Al-Hurra expertise

exceeded 2 (M = 2.09), which corresponded with little. Overall, local Arab stations ranked last

and scored lowest on five of the credibility measures examined.

Respondents used different criteria in judging the four networks. Al-Jazeera and local

Arab stations were rated highest on level of expertise, although Al-Jazeera was rated


considerably higher on that measure. Al-Arabiya and Al-Hurra, on the other hand, were rated

highest for depth of information. Similarly, while believability was the second highest measure

for Al-Jazeera, it was no higher than fourth for any other network.

Our hypothesis that predicted Al-Jazeera would be judged as significantly more credible

than Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra and local Arab stations was supported. As shown in table 2 for each

of the three-paired items, the overall mean for Al-Jazeera credibility was larger than the overall

means for Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra and local Arab stations. All were statistically significant at the

p < .001 level. The mean differences between both Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya and Al-Arabiya

and Al-Hurra were larger than the mean difference between Al-Hurra and local Arab stations.

Factors Related to Media Credibility

Research question two examined to what degree credibility of Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya,

Al-Hurra and local Arab stations will correlate with press freedom, political variables (political

ideology, level of political interest and level of political activity) and demographic variables

(gender, age, education and income).

As shown in table 3, the relationship between press freedom and credibility of Al-Jazeera

was statistically significant (r = .098 p <.05). Results indicated the more respondents believed

that Arab media should be allowed to publish free from government control and that Arab media

should be allowed to freely criticize their governments the more they assessed Al-Jazeera as a

credible source of news. Results also showed significant relationships between how respondents

viewed press freedom and credibility of Al-Hurra (r = -.135 p <.05) and local Arab stations (r = -

.259 p <.01). These relationships were in the opposite direction, however. The more respondents

believed in press freedom the less they assessed the credibility of Al-Hurra and local Arab


stations. In terms of Al-Arabiya, our findings indicated no significant relationship between press

freedom views and its perceived credibility (r = -.068 p >.05).

Regarding the relationship between political variables and perceived credibility of Al-

Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra and local Arab stations, results showed only one significant

correlation. The level of political interest was positively correlated with the perceived credibility

of Al-Jazeera (r = .147 p >.01). The level of political interest, however, was not related to

perceived credibility of Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra and local Arab stations. Further, all other political

variables examined, including political ideology and level of political activity, were not related

to perceived credibility of all four news outlets examined. Finally, results showed that

demographic variables of gender, age, education and income were not related to how

respondents assessed the credibility of the four sources.

Discussion

While studies have examined the credibility of both Al-Jazeera (Auter et. al, 2004, 2005;

Johnson & Fahmy, 2008, 2009) and Al-Hurra (el-Nawawy, 2007; Telhami, 2005; Wise, 2005),

less attention has been paid to credibility of Al-Arabiya. No studies could be found that has both

systematically compared and contrasted credibility of Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra and

local Arab media as well as what factors predict the credibility of these Arab satellite stations.

In a span of a little more than 10 years Al-Jazeera has transformed Arab politics and

culture and has become a critical political player in the region and an agent of democratic change

in the Middle East (Powers & Gilboa, 2007). Al-Jazeera has built a strong following among

Arab-language viewers by being the first Arab news source to offer viewers a largely uncensored

24-hour news service that has provided Arabs a forum to express their views through live phone-

in shows (el-Nawawy & Iskandar 2002).


Al-Jazeera viewers judge the satellite network as highly credible. These results support

other studies that have found that Al-Jazeera viewers judged the network as credible (Auter et al.

2004; Johnson & Fahmy, 2008, 2009). Seib (2007) suggests Arab audiences do not necessarily

use the same standards as Western ones in judging credibility. An Arab source is perceived as

credible if the information is gathered independently from government control and if the news is

told by Arabs for other Arabs and is presented from an Arabic perspective (See Fahmy &

Johnson, 2007a). Indeed, a study of why people used or avoided Al-Jazeera found out that while

they sought out the satellite channel because it was a credible source that helped them judge how

well Arab government officials are performing, those who avoided Al-Jazeera did so because it

presented views they disagreed with (Jamal & Melkote, 2008).

Al-Jazeera satisfied the standards of credibility that Seib (2007) claims is used by Arab

audiences and therefore, not surprisingly, it rated as the most credible station. Though Al-

Jazeera is funded by the government of Qatar, it is perceived as the most independent voice in

the Middle East, while Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra and local Arab stations are perceived as being

controlled by Saudi Arabia, other Arab governments (Ayish, 2004; Fahmy & Johnson, 2007b;

Rugh, 2004) or the United States (el-Nawawy, 2007; al-Seggaf, 2004). Studies also found that

respondents often rely on the reputation of the source sponsor in gauging credibility (i.e.

Metzger, et al., 2003), which undoubtedly hurt the reputation of Al-Hurra, that is sponsored by

the United States and is therefore perceived as a propaganda tool for the U.S. government (el-

Nawawy, 2007; al-Seggaf, 2004; Wise 2005). Furthermore, Al-Hurra adheres to the more

Western approach of detached objectivity, an unappealing position for Arab audiences who look

for passionate support for Arab causes (Zayani & Ayish, 2006).


Researchers since the seminar works of Hovland and associates (1949, 1953) have argued

that the two main elements of source credibility are expertise (the degree the communicator is

viewed as an authority on the issue) and truthfulness (the confidence respondents have that the

source will tell the truth). When Johnson and Fahmy (2008) compared the credibility of Al-

Jazeera, CNN and the BBC they found that all three sources were judged high for expertise.

Both CNN and the BBC were networks established long before Al-Jazeera. Al-Jazeera viewers,

however, questioned the authoritativeness of CNN and the BBC news reports. Both CNN and the

BBC recorded some of their lowest credibility scores for truthfulness as undoubtedly Al-Jazeera

viewers believed that CNN and the BBC filter news through a Western lens. Consequently, CNN

and the BBC also scored below average on accuracy and fairness.

But among Arab satellite networks, Al-Jazeera was the trailblazer. It was the one to

introduce 24-hour news based in part on the Western model of slick presentation and showing

different sides of the issues as well as presenting news on Arabs from an Arabic perspective (el-

Nawawy & Iskandar 2002). Al-Jazeera’s success spurred on several imitators, most notably Al-

Arabiya, which not only copied much of Al-Jazeera’s style, but also hired away many of the

network’s top people (Zayani & Ayish, 2006). But respondents in our study clearly perceive Al-

Jazeera’s competitors as pale imitators. The gap between Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya is largest

on level of expertise. Believability, which is the most common individual measure of credibility

used by scholars (Metzger et al., 2003), ranked second among credibility traits for Al-Jazeera

and no higher than fourth for any other network. Therefore, perceptions of Al-Jazeera’s high

level of expertise helped produce perceptions that the network is believable and therefore more

fair, accurate and in depth. Because credibility lies in the perception of the audience rather than

being a characteristic inherent in the source (Berlo et. al 1969), our results do not demonstrate


that Al-Jazeera is more credible than Al-Arabiya and Al-Hurra. Rather our results show viewers

of Al-Jazeera perceive that network as more credible than its two Arabic-language competitors

and local Arab stations. A study of regular Al-Arabiya or Al-Hurra viewers would undoubtedly

yield different results.

This study correlated credibility of Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya and Al-Hurra with attitudes

toward press freedom, political and demographic variables. Press freedom proved the only

consistent predictor of media credibility with those who valued press freedom judging Al-

Jazeera as more credible and Al-Hurra and local Arab stations as less credible. These results run

counter to studies of the U.S. media where scholars suggest that the public develops its attitudes

toward press freedom independently from how one judges source credibility (Blake & Wyatt

2002). Respondents in this study clearly valued press freedom as they strongly argued that Arab

media should be allowed to publish free from government control and that Arab media should be

allowed to freely criticize their governments. Respondents in this study also lamented that

despite the rise of satellite networks, little press freedom exists in the Arab world (M = 2.82 on a

10-point scale).

The fact that Al-Jazeera does not suffer under the weight of direct government control may

promote more support for press freedoms as viewers can compare the largely uncensored

coverage of Al-Jazeera with the more tightly managed content in local Arab media. This

parallels studies (Jamal & Melkote; 2008; Abdurahim, al-Kandari, & Haque, 2008) that

discovered that a main reason people sought out Al-Jazeera was because it provided uncensored

information and is free to discuss any political perspective and criticize Arab officials for

misconduct. On the other hand, Al Hurra is funded by the U.S. government and is not perceived

as a free voice but a puppet of the U.S. government (el-Nawawy, 2007; al-Seggaf, 2004; Wise


2005). Therefore because both the content of local Arab media and Al-Hurra are perceived as

heavily controlled, those who value press freedom judge these sources low in credibility.

Limitations

The purpose of this study was to compare and contrast credibility perceptions of Al-

Jazeera with those of Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra and local Arab stations through an online survey

posted on Al-Jazeera Arabic-language Website. In a largely oral society, where it would be

difficult to survey by traditional techniques and where people may be afraid to voice their real

opinions because of fear of retribution from their authoritarian governments, an online survey

posted on an Arabic-language website may be the best way to reach Arab television viewers who

speak Arabic. However Internet penetration in Arab countries is still relatively low. Because this

study relied on a self-selected sample of those who visit Al-Jazeera website, results may not be

representative of all Al-Jazeera users. Also, Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra and local Arab stations

undoubtedly attract different audiences than Al-Jazeera. Further research, therefore, needs to be

conducted on a more neutral Arabic site to get a clearer sense of how the Arab audience judges

these three networks and local Arab stations in terms of credibility.

This study used a host of variables to explore what predicts credibility of the three

satellite networks and local Arab stations. Only support for press freedom and political interest

predicted credibility of any of the sources. Future studies could include other variables, such as

confidence in government institutions and political trust, which have been linked both to

credibility and to press freedom (Blake & Wyatt, 2002). Presumably the less viewers trust their

government, and by extension the less they trust information by their government-controlled

media, the more likely they would be to watch Al-Jazeera and perhaps Al-Arabiya and rate the

networks as credible. On the other hand, the less they trust their own governments and the U.S.


government, the less they are likely to rely on local Arab stations and the U.S.-sponsored channel

Al-Hurra.

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Table 1 Mean scores results for questions regarding credibility measures of Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra and local Arab stations (N=646). Believability Fairness Accuracy Depth of

Information Trust-worthiness

Expertise Overall Credibility Index

Al-Jazeera

4.36 3.77 4.30 4.32 4.28 4.55 4.26

Al-Arabiya 3.22 2.75 3.24 3.26 2.89 3.21 3.10

Al-Hurra 1.58 1.55 1.87 1.96 1.44 2.09 1.74

Local Arab Stations

1.55 1.55 1.65 1.65 1.57 1.78 1.63

(Note: 1=Not at all; 2=little; 3= Somewhat; 4= Considerable; 5=Very much) Table 2 Differences between the credibility index of Al-Jazeera, and the credibility indexes of Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra and local Arab stations (N=646). Mean Difference

T-Score Sign

Al-Arabiya 1.16 21.96 .000

Al-Hurra 2.52 37.80 .000

Local Arab Stations

2.63 39.90 .000

(Note: 1=Not at all; 2=little; 3= Somewhat; 4= Considerable; 5=Very much) (Note: Mean differences are the credibility index of Al-Jazeera minus the credibility indexes of other satellite channels examined above)


Table 3: Pearson correlation coefficients for the association of the credibility indexes of Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra and Local Arab stations with press freedom index, political and demographic variables (N=646). Variables Al-Jazeera Al-Arabiya Al-Hurra Local Arab

Stations

Press Freedom

.098*

-.068

-.135*

-.259**

Political Variables

Political Ideology

Level of Political Interest

Level of Political Activity

.055

.147**

.026

-.049

-.017

.001

-.009

-.006

-.007

.072

-.009

.016

Demographics

Gender

Age

Education

Income

.009

.068

-.003

.000

.018

-.017

.004

-.007

-.010

.053

-.051

.004

.010

.048

.038

.018

(Note: * correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed); ** correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) Table 4: Pertinent information on each news network examined.

Year Established

Estimated

Audience Size

Funding

Based City/Country

Al-Jazeera

1996 40 million Emir of Qatar Doha/Qatar

Al-Arabiya 2003 24 million Mainly from Saudi Arabia

Dubai/U.A.E.

Al-Hurra 2004 27 million* U.S. Congress Washington Area/U.S.A.

Sources: Allied Media research available at http://www.allied-media.com (Note: *Circulation figures for Al-Hurra come from AC Nielsen http://www.jameskglassman.com/?p=180)

Documents

Shahira Fahmy 2008