• Driving Ban Lifted: Representation of Saudi Arabian Women on American and Saudi Arabian Newspapers and Twitter, 70th annual International Communication Association (ICA) Conference, Australia, 20.
Driving Ban Lifted: Representation of Saudi Women on
American and Saudi Arabia Newspapers and Twitter
Abstract
This study explores and compares the representation of Saudi women in both American and Saudi
newspapers. Also, the study examines the differences between traditional newspapers and social media (Twitter) in the media coverage of Saudi women in the news during the driving ban lifted. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze four newspapers, Al-Jazirah, Al-Riyadh, The Washington Post, and The New York Times that covered Saudi women on the news during the driving ban lifted from September 20, 2017, to June 30, 2018. A total of 682 articles were analyzed by using content analysis of visual and written depictions. The findings indicate that the written depiction of Saudi Arabia women driving during the ban lifted was more positive in Saudi Arabia newspapers and the Twitter official accounts of newspapers. The written depiction of American newspapers and the Twitter official accounts of newspapers was framed negatively as usually western media depicted Muslims women as victims, less power, or less voice. It can be confirmed that western media still represent Muslims women negatively, even with a positive context. Moreover, Unusually, the visual depiction of Saudi women driving is more passive than active and more uncertain in Saudi newspapers than in U.S. newspapers.
Keywords: Social Media, Twitter, Muslim/Islam, Arabic Women, Saudi Arabia Women Driving, Framing
Driving Ban Lifted: Representation of Saudi Women on
American and Saudi Arabia Newspapers and Twitter
Abstract