This paper addresses the issue of western representation of pan-Arab networks and their images in the wake of 9-11 through a case study of U.S. media’s representation of al-Jazeera.
Postmodernist theorists categorize the emergence of al-Jazeera’s images on western media as part of the global phenomena of media ‘contra-flow’, defined as non-western media flows which counter the previously established one-way information flow from western to non-western countries. Furthermore, the post-modernist argument asserts that counter-flowing networks such as al-Jazeera have the ability to refine the traditional wartime news reporting angle of U.S. media, thus bringing the Arab aspect to the American newsroom. In contrast, political economists such as Chomsky argue that U.S. media uses al-Jazeera for American propagandistic purposes.
To address this debate, my research analyzes U.S. media’s representation of al-Jazeera through elements such as U.S. anchors’ contextualization of al-Jazeera’s images, issues of intercultural translation, image selection and cases in which U.S. media have ignored renowned images that were broadcast by al-Jazeera.
In this paper, I argue that contemporary global intercultural communication discourse needs revision with the emergence of the pan-Arab ‘wartime news contra-flow’, and in turn, I suggest a redefinition of the term ‘contra-flow’.

Keywords

• Contra-Flow
• Al-Jazeera
• Polarization
• Hybridization
• Heterogenization
• Global Network Society

(30 min. Conference Paper, English)