At Christmas 2006 Ethiopia declared war to Somalian Islamists, in heavy combats thousands of people have been killed within few days. Newspaper readers in some western countries could have expected the war, others might have been surprised. This essay tries to sum up the results of an explorative study on the news coverage in the online editions of four newspapers in four countries. The study analyses the articles about Somalia in the online editions of The Times (London/United Kingdom), Dagens Nyheter (Stockholm/Sweden), Los Angeles Times (United States) and Süddeutsche Zeitung (Munich/Germany) within the calendar year 2006. Even the first cursory analysis of the articles could show that readers in the four different countries were informed quite differently, every newspaper presented its own (hi)story of the war in Somalia. When the readers of the Los Angeles Times on December 21st have been confronted for the first time with a longer article about the situation in Somalia, Dagens Nyheter since January 2006 had already published 65 articles about Somalia. This essay sums up the most obvious differences in the coverage of the Somalia war, tries to find reasons for the unequal approaches and leads to the question, if it is necessary at all to cover the various ‘wars of others’.
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- Abstract
- Keywords
- Introduction
- What happened in Somalia? - An attempted reconstruction...
- Theoretical Background: An (al)most similar systems design..
- Period and object of investigation .....
- More or less counting articles......
- No news is good news? Different pictures of the same war.
- Different Self-conceptions - ‘objective' journalists or ‘activists'?
- Not our cup of coffee? - The wars of 'others'
- Expensive and dangerous – restrictions of war journalism ..
- Conclusion: Is less really more?
- References
- Appendix - List of analysed Articles.
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This essay examines the news coverage of the 2006 war in Somalia by four Western newspapers: The Times, Dagens Nyheter, Los Angeles Times, and Süddeutsche Zeitung. It aims to analyze the differences in coverage and explore the reasons behind them, ultimately questioning the necessity of covering 'wars of others'.
- News coverage of the 2006 Somali war in Western media
- Comparative analysis of news coverage across different countries
- Impact of journalistic self-conception on news coverage
- The role of Western media in covering conflicts in Africa
- The challenges and limitations of war journalism
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
- Abstract: The essay presents a study exploring the news coverage of the 2006 Somali war in four Western newspapers. It highlights significant differences in coverage and seeks to explain the unequal approaches.
- Introduction: The essay sets the scene for the study, highlighting the limited coverage of the Somali war in Western media despite the availability of information. It introduces the concept of 'wars of others' and emphasizes the need for comparative studies to better understand international news coverage.
- What happened in Somalia? – An attempted reconstruction: This section provides a brief overview of the political events leading up to the 2006 Somali war, drawing on information from official sources and the researched newspapers. It explains the complex political landscape in Somalia, including the role of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and the Transitional Federal Government (TNG).
- Theoretical Background: An (al)most similar systems design..: This section outlines the theoretical framework used in the study. It draws on comparative analysis to examine the similarities and differences in news coverage across different countries.
- Period and object of investigation .....: This section details the scope of the study, specifying the period and object of investigation. It outlines the specific newspapers and online editions analyzed within the calendar year 2006.
- More or less counting articles......: This section presents a quantitative analysis of the articles published in the selected newspapers, highlighting significant differences in coverage across the four countries.
- No news is good news? Different pictures of the same war.: This section explores the variations in news coverage, demonstrating how different newspapers presented varying narratives of the Somali war. It highlights the uneven level of attention paid to the conflict by each newspaper.
Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
The study focuses on the news coverage of the 2006 Somali war, examining its portrayal in Western media. Key terms include Somalia, news, Africa, war, journalism, comparative analysis, self-conception, and 'wars of others'.
- Quote paper
- Stefan Fößel (Author), 2007, Somalia 2006 – Just another forgotten war on a forgotten continent? A comparative study on the coverage by newspapers in four western countries, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/73168
