Garbage as news

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A comparative study of the selection factors

of foreign news across journalism cultures

Rosalyn Saab / 10375015

Journalism and Media - University of Amsterdam

Supervised by dr. Mirjam Prenger

Completed in June 2016

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1. Introduction

In July 2015 the ‘garbage crisis’ began in Lebanon. The government did not extend the contract of the private company in charge of garbage collection just as Lebanon’s main landfill went beyond its capacity and could no longer process any more waste. Within a few weeks time, 9,000 tons of garbage accumulated in residential streets, along the highway and on mountaintops (Al Akhbar, 2015). As a result, large protests erupted in the country, with calls varying from the resignation of the minister of environment to a complete overhaul of Lebanon’s system of government.

Understandably, the garbage crisis was the top news in Lebanon in the months following its eruption. On the other hand, the crisis has also gained the attention of the international media. When Lebanon in the last few years has mostly been in the news about topics concerning the Syrian war, the Islamic State and the refugee crisis, it is surprising to see that the garbage crisis is seemingly also considered to be interesting and relevant enough internationally. An article published about the garbage crisis by The New York Times, for example, was even chosen as one of the fifteen best articles written by the newspaper’s reporters in 2015 (Tierney, 2015).

This being said, the garbage crisis has been reported differently across different countries and newspapers. Previous research has often focused on an analysis of the foreign coverage of an entire nation at a particular point in time. Alternatively, when comparing the coverage of different nations, the tendency has been to compare the coverage of developed countries with that of developing countries.

This study seeks to add to previous studies on international news flow by comparing journalism cultures of different nations, newsrooms and individual journalists based on a single foreign news event – the Lebanese garbage crisis. The coverage of the crisis by one quality newspaper and one popular newspaper in France (Le Monde)1_{, the United} States (The New York Times and New York Post) and the Netherlands (de Volkskrant and de Telegraaf) will be examined. By means of a content analysis the total amount and type of coverage of the different newspapers will be analyzed. Subsequently,

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journalists who contributed to the coverage on the garbage crisis will be interviewed to gain more insight into the factors that led to the decision to publish stories on this topic. Based on this content analysis and subsequent interviews with journalists, the journalism cultures of the newspapers will be compared based on the three levels of aggregation proposed by Hanitzsch and Donsbach (2012). These levels include a comparison of the journalistic milieus, by looking at individual journalists, a comparison of organizational journalism cultures, by looking at entire newsrooms, and a comparison of national journalism cultures, by looking at differences in the selection of news of entire nations. This level will focus on differences caused by varying degrees of proximity to the foreign country in question. Additionally, the garbage crisis and its newsworthiness will be analyzed in order to discover whether event-oriented factors affected news selection by different newspapers in this case.

On the level of journalistic milieus, this study seeks to determine the influence of individual journalists in having coverage on the garbage crisis placed in the newspaper they work for. Individual journalists and their interests and values have been found to play a role in whether certain foreign news is selected while other news is not. In terms of organizational journalism cultures, the influence of a newspaper’s guidelines and missions in deeming this foreign event as newsworthy will be examined. An additional focus here will be put on differences in the coverage of popular and quality newspapers. This will be used to compare the autonomy of the individual journalist to the restrictions placed on journalists by the organization they work for.

On the level of journalism cultures of an entire nation, the effect of a nation’s proximity to Lebanon as a whole will be analyzed. Specifically, this section will compare the cultural and historical proximity of France, the United States and the Netherlands to Lebanon in order to determine whether a greater sense of proximity correlates with more extensive coverage. Additionally, defining features of French, US and Dutch journalistic styles will be discussed in order to determine if differences can be attributed to such national journalism cultures.

Finally, attention will be placed on the details of the case study at hand in order to establish the effect of event-oriented factors on the international coverage of the garbage crisis. The event-oriented theory of story selection puts forth the idea that

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events and their characteristics determine story selection. Considering that the garbage crisis generated widespread protests in Lebanon, particular focus will be put on the newsworthiness of foreign protest movements.

Based on the case of the Lebanese garbage crisis, this thesis will explore the overarching question of how and why the coverage of the Lebanese garbage crisis differed across journalism cultures and what it was about the garbage crisis that caused its interest in the foreign press. As related to this specific case, the current study seeks to examine how individual journalists, organizational cultures, a nation’s proximity to Lebanon, and finally the inherent characteristics of the garbage crisis in Lebanon affected exposure of the garbage crisis in foreign newspapers.

By analyzing a relatively small case study of the Lebanese garbage crisis, a better idea can be gained on the mechanisms that come into play with the selection of foreign news by domestic news media. It is generally accepted that news consumers express less interest in foreign news than in domestic news (Shoemaker, Cohen, Seo & Johnson, 2012). There is also evidence to suggest that the amount of foreign news coverage, specifically hard news, has been shrinking in many countries in recent years (Hanusch, 2014). Nonetheless, many studies have shown that a country’s exposure to foreign news plays a role in setting the public agenda, and that foreign media coverage influences consumer’ attitudes and opinions concerning foreign countries (Shoemaker et al., 2012). This study will thus make a contribution to the selection factors that come into force across nations and media organizations that could well affect how consumers view foreign cultures.

This thesis will first provide a theoretical framework where previous research on foreign news selection criteria will be discussed. The emphasis will be placed on research already done on foreign news selection patterns in the United States, France and the Netherlands as well as research on proximity and the freedom of individual journalists in news selection. Theories on the event-oriented approach to news selection will also be tackled. Subsequently, the methodology will be explained in order to clarify the different variables that are part of the content analysis. Since this is a mixed methods study and interviews will be conducted to reflect on the results of the content analysis, the structure and purpose of the interviews will also be explained. Finally, the results

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and a discussion of the major implications of this study’s findings will be presented, in addition to limitations of the current study and suggestions for future research.

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2. Case study: The Lebanese garbage crisis

In order to gain a better idea of the case being used for analysis in this study, an overview will be given of the Lebanese garbage crisis. A specific focus will be put on the coverage of Lebanon’s leading English-language newspaper, The Daily Star. In total, The Daily Star published almost 350 articles about the garbage crisis between 1 July 2015 and 31 December 2016. The timeline below presents the key events of the Lebanese garbage crisis during the time period under investigation:

The garbage crisis in Lebanon began officially in July 2015, as a result of the closure of the Naameh landfill – the country’s biggest landfill – on July 17. The landfill had been used to dispose of most of the garbage of Beirut and Mount Lebanon – two of the country’s six governorates. Waste management company Sukleen had sent over 3,000

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tons of garbage from Beirut and Mount Lebanon to the Naameh landfill per day. The Naameh landfill was opened in 1996 as a temporary solution and was designed to receive a maximum of 1,000 tons per day. The landfill’s closure was not a surprise and occurred in tandem with the expiration of the contract of Sukleen.

As a result of anger over their town being used as the largest site of garbage disposal, Naameh residents had threatened to protest if the dump did not close down. Earlier in 2015 the government had promised Naameh residents that the landfill would shut and that an alternative would be found (Issa, 2015). In the meantime, no other municipality in the country agreed to host a new landfill and there were also no bids to take over Sukleen’s contract to collect the country’s waste before the impending closure of the landfill.

The Daily Star had reported on the dismay of Naameh residents towards the smell of the garbage dump as early as July 2013 (Abou Jaoude, 2013). At that time residents were already calling for the closure of the landfill and the mayor of Naameh warned that “if Sukleen stops collecting garbage for even 24 hours, the entire country will be flooded with garbage” (2013). Two years later, in the midst of the summer, this prophecy unfolded itself. Sukleen suspended its garbage collection in Beirut and Mount Lebanon days after the closure of the Naameh landfill (Issa, 2015). Only a few days in, trash was spilling out of garbage dumps around the two governorates. Municipalities thought of their own solutions in Sukleen’s absence and began dumping garbage in empty lots by the sea and next to roads.

One of the first demonstrations took place in Downtown Beirut after trash had not been collected for the third consecutive day (Hasan and Issa, 2015). By the end of July 2015, the Lebanese government had come up with makeshift solutions and resumed trash collection, although this garbage was consequently dumped in open spaces including the Beirut River and abandoned bus depots (Knutsen, 2015). This sparked the initiation of the “You Stink” campaign. Hundreds of activists, citizens and environmentalists started a protest movement to demand a sustainable resolution to the garbage crisis. This protest highlighted not only dismay at the garbage crisis, but more so the underlying dismay at the political failure in solving the crisis. Even more than failure in solving the garbage crisis, the demonstrations revealed an intense anger about the

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failure of the Lebanese government to provide basic services. In her article, Knutsen (2015) quotes a radio host and civil society activist as saying: “It’s not just about garbage. It’s about corruption, too.”

Large demonstrations continued into the next month, with thousands of protesters heading to Downtown Beirut on August 8 2015. Protesters called on Lebanon’s Environment Minister Mohammad Machnouk to resign. Protesters also showed pictures and videos of garbage being dumped in valleys and under bridges (The Daily Star, 2015). The first report of violence during a demonstration came on August 20 2015, when police forcibly dispersed a demonstration. As Issa (2015b) reports: “The protesters threw objects at the police, and the police fired back with water cannons. The demonstrators then used a metal barricade to hook onto a barbed wire barrier to try to pull it down.” Violent demonstrations continued in the following days, with 75 people, including protesters and security forces, being injured on one night. Several protesters said the police violence had motivated them to come, to show their alliance with fellow citizens against the government’s corruption (Nashed, 2015).

With protests continuing in the following months, though on a smaller scale, a new focus in the crisis’s coverage was the health risks of the accumulating garbage. As the rainy season arrived in Lebanon in late October, the country’s streets were submerged in a river of garbage after heavy rainfall, carrying risks of water used in households being contaminated. Osseiran (2015) reports on the first of such incidents in The Daily Star, saying that “winter has come and the heavy rains have transformed Beirut’s streets into rivers of filth, with no solution to the crisis in sight.” The following passage from his article provides an idea of the magnitude of the effects of the rainfall in tandem with the amounts of uncollected garbage:

Torrential rains mingled with sewage water swept garbage into the homes and shops of the residents of Bab al-Tabbaneh in Tripoli. The wheat market was especially damaged. Youths were able to open drainage pipes after clearing them of garbage bags.

A civil society calling itself “Against Diseases” even organized a protest against diseases caused by the ongoing trash crisis (The Daily Star, 2015b). By the end of December 2015, five months into the crisis, it was estimated that 100,000 tons of garbage had accumulated in open dumps in Beirut and Mount Lebanon (Issa & Aboulmona, 2015). At

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this point the government also proposed a new plan of exporting Lebanon’s accumulated trash. Two companies, one Dutch and one British, would handle the export operations for 18 months. The deal was met with much criticism, particularly due the high costs allocated to exporting trash, and because the decision was being made being closed-doors and with little indication of the destination of the export (Issa, 2016). With the Dutch company retracting its cooperation, the latest plan, as of February 2016, was for the British company to assist in exporting all garbage less than 45 days old to Russia (Issa, 2016b).

This outline will be interesting to compare with the analysis of coverage by international newspapers in order to examine which events were and were not reported on and why. It will also be interesting to explore the waves in reporting and whether interest in the crisis waned after some time or not.

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3. Theoretical framework

The following section will propose several research questions and hypotheses based upon three sets of theories put forth in existing literature. The first of these theories revolves around the influence of proximity and national journalism cultures on news selection. The second set of theories will take into account existing literature on the interplay between individual and organizational influences on news selection. Finally, event-oriented factors surrounding news events will be discussed. For each theory, several research questions will be proposed. In some cases, previous literature provides enough grounds to propose hypotheses for these questions. Other research questions do not lend themselves to providing hypotheses and will thus be limited to the proposition of questions. This exception specifically refers to questions such as RQ5 below, which focus entirely on how the journalists interviewed perceived factors influencing their decision-making and thus cannot be hypothesized without having met the interviewees.

3.1. Proximity and national journalism cultures

Arguably one of the most instrumental studies on the factors that influence the flow of foreign news is that of Galtung and Ruge (1965). The crux of this study was to distinguish the factors that led to events abroad becoming news. The study identifies twelve conditions that an event must satisfy in order to become news: frequency; threshold; unambiguity; meaningfulness; cultural proximity; consonance; unexpectedness; continuity; composition; reference to elite nations; reference to elite people; reference to persons; and reference to something negative. Since this study a stream of revisions and amendments to this list have appeared but in essence the news factors have stayed relatively consistent, albeit given different labels or grouping several factors together under a different name.

It is apparent that most factors proposed by Galtung and Ruge are event-oriented. As Chang, Shoemaker and Bredlinger (1987) explain, there are two approaches towards explaining the determinants of international news coverage: event-oriented and context-oriented. The event-oriented approach takes into account characteristics such

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as the negative nature of the events and the degree of deviance, irrespective of external forces. As explained by Jones, van Aelst & Vliegenthart (2011), the event-oriented factors are those that are intrinsic to events. The context-oriented approach on the other hand, as the name suggests, looks at foreign news and its relationship with contextual factors such as economic relations, cultural similarity and geographical proximity. Considering the fact that this study will focus on one specific event, the Lebanese garbage crisis, contextual factors will be interesting to compare as deviance can be expected with these factors across journalism cultures.

As mentioned, this study will specifically look at the effect of proximity as it can account for variations per country being investigated. Another factor that cannot be left unmentioned is the effect of the overarching differences between the national reporting cultures of each country being investigated.

To start with, the factor of proximity will be examined. Previous studies have attempted to discover whether shared, overarching journalism cultures exist per country or region. With specific regard to journalism cultures as they relate to the selection of foreign news, research is limited to studies about American trends in foreign news selection while there is very limited similar research available on France and the Netherlands. As McQuail has said (1992), attempting to identify a journalism culture on a macro-level, by making conclusions about the media system of an entire country, is an unusual choice given the size and complexity of media systems. Taking into account that the current study is analyzing only two newspapers per country, macro-level analysis would yield unrepresentative conclusions on a national level.

By looking into the proximity between the nation reporting and the nation in which the events have occurred, a better idea can be attained of why the foreign reporting on the same event can vary depending on the country reporting it. This contextual factor is one that was already deemed to be important by Galtung and Ruge under the label cultural

proximity (1965). They put forth the argument that news is more easily selected when it

is familiar and culturally similar. The culturally distant, on the other hand, “will be passed by more easily and not be noticed” (p.67). For the purpose of this study, a more expansive definition of proximity will be used, comprising of historical and cultural factors including a common language, historical relationship, such as mother

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country-colony status, the amount of migration between nations, (Chang, Shoemaker & Brendlinger, 1987), the physical distance between nations, and commercial relations (Schulz, 1976).

Clear correlations have been found between the proximity of two nations and the amount of foreign news coverage (Westerstahl and Johansson, 1994). In specific, the higher the proximity between nations, the more reporting there will be. This can be explained by the fact that stories are more likely to be selected as foreign news if readers and editors can identify with the story (Schramm, 1949). In their study on foreign coverage in Canadian newspapers, Kariel and Rosenvall (1983) found a significant relationship between cultural affinity and the amount of news about the country with which Canada has such an affinity. In this specific case, Canadian French-language newspapers favored news from Francophone countries whereas Canadian English-language papers favored news from the United Kingdom. In another study on how the Greek press covered the 1988 presidential campaign in the United States, cultural proximity between the two nations at the time was also found to be an influential news factor (Zaharopoulos, 1990). In this case, there seemed to be special interest in the presidential campaign because the son of Greek emigrants was one of the two candidates, which sparked more interest to both editors and readers in Greece.

As already mentioned, historical affinity has also been found to affect the amount of foreign coverage on certain countries. In a comparative study on the reporting of the US and European media on the Middle East (Goldfarb, 2001), it was concluded that extensive coverage of certain countries and topics can partly be accounted for by looking at the historical relationship between the two countries. France, for example, was found to report extensively on North Africa, reflecting its imperial hegemony in Algiers, Morocco and Tunisia. Considering that France also has many immigrants from these countries who also read the papers, “it makes sense that newspapers in Europe take their immigrants’ interests into account when selecting stories” (Goldfarb, 2001, p.112). Goldfarb additionally explained coverage by French newspapers on Syria and Lebanon as the result of French rule post-World War I.

Based on the above observations from previous studies on cultural and historical proximity, the following research questions are posed:

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Research Question 1 (RQ1): How can cultural and historical proximity explain differences

in the type and amount of reporting on the Lebanese garbage crisis by US, French and Dutch newspapers?

Research Question 2 (RQ2): Did journalists have this affinity between their country of

origin and Lebanon in mind when selecting or proposing stories about the Lebanese garbage crisis?

In order to be able to reflect on these questions after content analysis of all newspaper coverage and interviews with journalists, a brief overview of each country’s relationship with Lebanon will be discussed.

Of the three countries involved, France can be said to have the most extensive historical relationship with Lebanon. France is a former colonial power of Lebanon and held a mandate over the country, which was then part of Syria, between 1922 and 1943. Due to this colonization, Lebanon adopted French as one of its three official languages. A large part of the population currently still speaks French and there are still many schools that are based on the French education system. The two countries enjoy friendly relations and France provides substantial economic support to Lebanon. Since the start of the Lebanese civil war there has also been an increase in Lebanese migrants in France. It is thus expected that there is a special interest in reporting on Lebanon in French newspapers because of the large group of Lebanese migrants and descendants living in France.

The United States and the Netherlands both have close ties with Lebanon, but do not have a historical relationship with the country comparable to that of France. Similar to France, the United States has a relatively large Lebanese-American community. Approximately 1.5 million Arabs were registered as living in the United States based on a government census between 2006 and 2010 (Asi & Beaulieu, 2013). According to this census, the majority of Arab households in the United States are Lebanese, totaling almost half a million (485,917). On the other hand, the Netherlands has a relatively small Lebanese community – in 2015 only about 5,600 people of Lebanese origin (first and second generation) were living in the Netherlands (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek,

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2015). The United States and Lebanon share one official language, English, although Arabic and French are still more commonly used in Lebanon. The Netherlands on the other hand does not share any official language with Lebanon and only has a small Lebanese community.

Overall, despite its largely ongoing conflict and turmoil, Lebanon is considered to be the country with the most pro-western orientation in the Middle East. With its diversity in religions and the fact that it not only has Arabic but also French and English as official languages, western countries might have a general affinity towards Lebanon over other countries in the region. This could explain why all three countries have reported on the issue. Considering its historical ties, the current status of Lebanon as a Francophone country and the large Lebanese diaspora, France can be said to have the most affinity with Lebanon. Based on past research and the overview of each country’s relationship with Lebanon, the following hypotheses can be made:

Hypothesis 1 (H1): Based on the cultural and historical affinity of France to Lebanon, it is

expected that French newspapers will have more articles published and more extensive coverage of the Lebanese garbage crisis. The Netherlands, with its limited affinity to Lebanon is expected to have the least extensive coverage.

Hypothesis 2 (H2): Journalists and editors consider affinity with Lebanon to be a primary

factor in the selection of the Lebanese garbage crisis as foreign news.

In addition to possible variations caused by a country’s proximity to Lebanon, this study will seek to determine whether variation in coverage of the same event can be explained by different national journalism cultures. This level, as explained by Hanitzsch and Donsbach (2012), reflects the historical differences between journalists from different countries. In this case, a short overview will be given of the defining features of French, US and Dutch journalism cultures.

Relevant for this study is to determine whether each of the three countries has a specific journalistic style. Berkowitz and Eko (2011), in their comparison of the cultural contexts of French and American journalism, explain that French journalism is considered to be a literary journalism that places more emphasis on analysis and guiding readers’ opinions

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than on the recitation of factual news events. They say that at French newspapers it is a reporter’s job to pass judgment on a news event. The authors continue to explain specifically about French newspaper Le Monde that it is noted for the strength of its editorial analysis. Similarly, Mancini concurs that southern European journalism, including France and Italy, has a “greater emphasis on interpretation and commentary than factual reporting” (as cited in Esser & Umbricht, 2013, p.991). This is very much contrary to the American approach which holds the “worship of facts”, as Albert calls it, very high (as cited in Berkowitz and Eko, 2011, p. 69). Schudson similarly says about the

Anglo-American model that it “emphasizes the importance of being objective,

detached and neutral in the recording of the news” (as cited in Esser & Umbricht, 2013, p.990). The Corporatist model, which includes the Benelux and thus the Netherlands, typifies a system that, according to Hallin and Mancini, has a “growing emphasis on neutral professionalism and information-oriented journalism” (as cited in Esser & Umbricht, 2013, p.992). It will thus be interesting to determine through the content analysis of the coverage whether the French coverage was more analytical and the Dutch and American coverage more factual and news-oriented.

3.2. Journalism cultures: individual vs. organizational

Apart from the contextual factor of proximity, individual journalists have also been found to be an influencing factor that may help explain variations in foreign reporting on specific topics. According to Hanitzsch and Donsbach (2012), journalism cultures and news selection can be studied by looking at journalistic milieus, referring to individual journalists or groups of journalists. This is in line with one of four overarching theories mentioned by Gans (1979) in his compilation of factors that commonly explain story-selection. The journalist-centered theory, he quotes, refers to individual journalists and their professional news judgment shaping the news.

Along the same lines, Reich and Hanitzsch (2013) have studied the extent of journalists’ autonomy. When speaking of journalistic professional autonomy they refer to the freedom of journalists to work and make decisions without interference, domination and regulation. As Reich and Hanitzsch explain, one of the ways in which this autonomy manifests itself is “the extent to which journalists are free to decide on the stories they

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cover or edit, as well as the selection of story angles, sources, and narrative frames” (2013, p.136).

In specific, and relevant to the current study, individual journalists can account for differential distribution of foreign news events across nations and newsrooms. Journalists may simply be interested in some topics and not in others (Shoemaker, Cohen, Seo & Johnson, 2012). Interesting to the current study, past research has looked specifically into journalists’ practices and motivations in protest coverage. As found by Tenenboim-Weinblatt (2014) in his study on the factors that shaped the coverage of Israeli protests, journalists reporting on the topic largely identified with the social protest movement. They often also connected ideas of social justice and economic policies to their own situations. Moreover, their presence in Israel at the first stage, or beginning of, the protests had an effect on their eagerness to write on the events. Journalists characterized the first stage of the social movement as a period of high-level excitement. However, this feeling of excitement surrounding the protests declined during the second wave of protests, and accordingly most journalists indicated that the influence of their individual positions and conditions was eliminated at this later stage. Another aspect of individual journalists’ power is the position they hold, whether as foreign correspondents or as desk journalists. Foreign correspondents reside in the country they report on, and are thus accepted to have a better understanding of that country than a desk journalist would have. De Swert and Wouters (2011) studied the impact of foreign correspondents on the coverage of China in Belgian television news. They found that the decision to assign a foreign correspondent led to an increase in the attention given to China. This was particularly apparent when where were no major events taking place in China. This finding is paired with the finding that foreign correspondents were more prone to “quote ordinary people, experts and civil society actors, gave more verbal and visual attention to daily life in China, and allowed for more color and tone in his reports” (p.343). Despite these results, correspondents in this study only appeared in one fifth of the China-related items, partly due to the fact that it is much easier and cheaper to use wire stories from agencies. In the current study, four of five journalists interviewed were foreign correspondents, and one was a desk reporter. It will be interesting to take possible varying degrees of autonomy into account and their influence on the coverage into account.

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Contrary to the effect of individual journalists’ motivations and interests on news selection, the organization to which journalists report can shape news selection. Gans himself sees limits in the power of individual journalists to select stories independently. In noting that journalists are more often bound to the parameters of an organization, he says:

Journalists rarely make selection decisions on overtly ideological grounds; rather, they work within organizations which provide them with only a limited amount of leeway in selection decisions, which is further reduced by their allegiance to professionally shared values (1979, p.79).

The limits on this professional autonomy are multifold, and range from the level of the individual journalist to the level of the organization for which a journalist works, to the society (Reich and Hanitzsch, 2013). Along each of these levels, the limits can be empirically grounded or perceived by journalists themselves. Journalists may, for example, be limited in the stories they select because the organization they work for simply does not lend itself to certain topics. In this case, examining the news organization and its editorial policy and missions can provide insights on the limits of journalists’ autonomy with regard to story selection.

Studying the limiting factor of the organization on journalistic autonomy falls in line with the study of organizational journalism cultures as proposed by Hanitzsch and Donsbach (2012). Likewise, Gans presents the organization-centered theory of story-selection. This theory is guided by the belief that the structure and inherent values of a news organization determine the stories that make it into the news.

In order to gain more insight into the degree of autonomy journalists covering the Lebanese garbage crisis had, the following research question is proposed:

Research Question 3 (RQ3): How did journalists experience their professional autonomy

in selecting the garbage crisis as news?

In light of the abovementioned literature on the limiting factor of the organization in which journalists work, the following research questions are proposed:

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Research Question 4 (RQ4): How can the editorial lines and missions of the different

newspapers investigated explain differences in the amount and type of coverage on the Lebanese garbage crisis?

Research Question 5 (RQ5): To what extent did journalists perceive their organization’s

structure as a limiting or accommodating factor with regard to placing news about the Lebanese garbage crisis?

In order to gain insight into these questions after content analysis of the coverage of all newspapers and interviews with journalists, an overview of each organization’s structure and missions will be presented. As mentioned earlier, one aspect taken into consideration is whether the coverage also differed between quality and tabloid newspapers. While tabloid newspapers were easy to distinguish in the United States and the Netherlands, France does not have a similar tabloid-style daily newspaper. For this reason, in the case of France only one newspaper, Le Monde, was analyzed.

Profile: De Volkskrant, the Netherlands

De Volkskrant is a daily Dutch morning newspaper founded in 1919. The newspaper is considered to be one of the leading quality newspapers in the Netherlands. On its profile online profile, de Volkskrant is described as being “intelligent, influential and accessible” (De Persgroep, 2016). The same webpage describes the readers of the paper as highly educated and engaged, curious and interested in the world around them. They are hedonists who are interested in art, culture, literature, science and politics. De Volkskrant aims to deliver quality national and foreign news.

Belgian publishing company De Persgroep owns the newspaper. Dekker (2015) reports that in 2014, de Volkskrant had a print circulation of 221,000; a decline of three percent compared to 2013. He also notes that the newspaper saw an increase in digital subscribers, totaling 65,000 in 2014 compared to 49,000 in the same period one year earlier. According to De Persgroep (2016), the newspaper has on average 775,000 readers per day and its website has over 1.6 million unique visitors each month.

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Profile: De Telegraaf, the Netherlands

Dutch daily newspaper De Telegraaf was founded in 1893 and is currently the best-read newspaper in the Netherlands. According to numbers provided by the newspaper, De Telegraaf has 1.9 million readers daily (TMG, 2015). The same report shows that the print edition of the newspaper had a circulation of approximately 456,000 in 2014. Digitally, the number of subscribers doubled in 2014 compared to the same period in the previous year, reaching 135,000.

The newspaper is part of Telegraaf Media Groep (TMG), which is one of the largest media concerns in the Netherlands. In addition to De Telegraaf, TMG owns several other regional newspapers, radio channels and magazines. In its latest annual report, TMG says that its main aim is to offer consumers news and entertainment at every time of the day and in all available distribution channels (TMG,

As stated on its website, de Telegraaf’s readers generally have extensive work experience and fields including management and procurement (TMG, 2015). Readers are most interested in topics relating to sales, finance, technology and health. The website itself states that the newspaper serves a range of profiles, young and old, male and female. Although both its online and print versions contain sections designated exclusively to foreign news stories, in its profile the newspaper does not mention any commitment to international coverage or its readers’ interest in this area.

De Telegraaf is generally considered to be tabloid journalism. This is typified by the paper’s use of large headlines and pictures. Moreover, the newspaper often opts for more sensationally written articles than other Dutch quality newspapers.

Profile: The New York Times, the United States

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper published since 1851. It is owned by the New York Times Company and has its headquarters in New York City. The company also provides an international edition of The New York Times for global audiences and websites NYTimes.com and international.nytimes.com. Taking into

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account that one facet of the current study will be looking into national journalism cultures, The International New York Times will not be covered.

As stated on its website, The New York Times’ core purpose is “to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news and information” to readers who are “educated, affluent an influential” (The New York Times, 2016).

Nieman Lab reports that the print version of The New York Times had a daily circulation of 625,000 in 2014 (Doctor, 2015). In comparison, the newspaper reached 1 million digital-only subscribers in 2015. The Times’ website receives an average of 65.8 million unique visitors each month.

Profile: The New York Post, the United States

Founded in 1801 by Alexander Hamilton, The New York Post is America’s oldest continuously published newspaper. Rubert Murdoch’s Newscorp owns The New York Post. On the company’s website, the daily newspaper is described as one of America’s “most provocative, impactful, and beloved news brands” (Newscorp, 2016). The newspaper has its headquarters in New York City, whose residents are also its target audience. Its audience is described on the website of Newscorp as “affluent and influential”. Of the newspapers taken into account in the current study, The New York Post is the only one that does not have a distinct international news section on its website or in print – international news is rather merged with national coverage under the “news” section.

The New York Post is a top ten US newspaper in circulation with coverage that is focused on “sensational local coverage, celebrity gossip, and sports” (Sterling, 2009, p. 1017). On its website, the newspaper claims a daily circulation of 424,721 in 2015 and a monthly average of 24 million unique visitors to its website (The New York Post, 2016). Profile: Le Monde, France

Le Monde is a daily French evening newspaper, published in Paris since 1944. In a portrait of the newspaper published by Le Monde, the international section is referred

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to as the cornerstone of the daily newspaper (Fottorino, 2009). The same article mentions that the name of the newspaper, which translates into “The World” was not chosen by chance – a main aim of the newspaper is to inform its readers of major diplomatic, political and societal news from around the globe. They do this mainly through the help of their pool of correspondents and their foreign desk. The majority of Le Monde’s readers (43%) are executives and entrepreneurs, followed by pensioners and students (37%) (Fottorino, 2009).

The French circulation audit office for newspapers reports that in 2015 the print version of the newspaper had a circulation of about 268,000 in France (ACPM L’Alliance, 2016). The same report notes that Le Monde’s website, LeMonde.fr, received a total of over 64.3 million visitors in March 2016.

Based on the above summaries of the various newspapers to be investigated in the current research, the following hypothesis is proposed:

Hypothesis 4 (H4): Based on the editorial lines and mission statements of the different

newspapers investigated, the two tabloid-style newspapers, De Telegraaf and The New York Post, are expected to have less and more sensational coverage on the Lebanese garbage crisis. Amongst the quality newspapers, Le Monde is expected to have the most coverage on the garbage crisis due to its more outspoken stance towards international coverage.

3.3. Event-oriented factors and the characteristics of foreign news

The final theory of news selection that will be examined, as put forth by Gans, is the event-centered theory. Earlier, the idea of cultural proximity as a contextual theory of news selection was discussed, which falls under Gans’ theory of forces outside the organization accounting for story selection. The possible influence of the journalist- and organization-centered theories on the selection of the Lebanese garbage crisis as foreign news has also been discussed. This section will look into existing literature on the event-centered theory of story selection. Moreover, the garbage crisis itself will be assessed in order to gain a better idea of its peculiarities and how they may have rendered the events interesting enough for an international public.

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As the name suggests, the event-centered theory of story selection centers on the idea that features of particular events determine whether or not they will be selected as news (Gans, 1979). Whereas previous mentioned theories have focused on the effect of journalists’ autonomy in selecting or neglecting events, or the restrictions in news selection due to an organization’s inherent structure, this theory focuses entirely on the nature of the events themselves. As explained by Chang, Shoemaker and Bredlinger (1987), “characteristics of foreign events such as the degree of deviance and the negative nature of the events determine whether they will be covered in the mass media” (p.400).

This section will explore theories of event-oriented factors, with a focus on protest movements. Based on the literature on this topic, subsequent content analysis and interviews with journalists will seek to answer the following question:

Research Question 6 (RQ6): To what extent did event-oriented factors surrounding the

Lebanese garbage crisis influence its selection as foreign news?

In their study on the determinants of international news coverage, Chang, Shoemaker and Bredlinger (1987) identified several values to which foreign events reported on by the US media commonly adhere. One of the most important predictors was the deviance of the international event: events are more likely to be covered in the US media as their degree of deviance increases. Two particular scales of deviance were found to be especially important predictors and were explained as following:

(a) Potential for social change deviance – the extent to which the event threatens the status quo in the country in which the event occurs; and (b) normative deviance – the extent to which the event, if it had occurred in the United States, would have broken US norms (399-400).

As is the case with domestic news, foreign news is very often about conflict, and social conflict in specific. Foreign conflicts must be more severe than those in domestic news and need to pass a higher editorial threshold of newsworthiness. They must therefore be “relatively more complex, intense, and difficult to solve” (Shoemaker, Cohen, Seo, &

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Johnson, 2012, p.344). Gans (1979) also mentions the value attributed by American news media to social disorder, and protests specifically, as they are an indication of abnormality. He found that foreign stories are limited to violent political disorder while domestic news also keeps track of nonviolent, nonpolitical protests. Interestingly, though without elaborating further on the idea, Gans also mentions that: “’Waste’ is always an evil, whatever the amount” (p.43).

Previous research has looked into the determinants of international press coverage about protests in particular. In congruence with the event-oriented approach of news selection, specific characteristics of a protest have been found to affect their likelihood of being reported. In what has been coined “event intensity”, key event characteristics such as the size, violence, and duration have been found to have positive effects on reporting (Mueller, 1997). In specific, a common observation has been that “the press is more likely to report protest events that are more violent, involve more people, and persist longer” (p. 823). To illustrate the above point on the importance of the size of a protest, Fenby (as cited in Mueller, 1997, p.824) says based a study of international wire services:

Agencies like big numbers. A demonstration of 1,000 people would not get onto the wire. A demonstration of 10,000 might merit a paragraph or two, if the protest were about something interesting internationally. A demonstration of 100,000 would merit a full study, whatever the cause of their protest.

Based on the above review of literature on the effect of event-oriented factors on the selection of foreign news, and particularly protest-related news, the following hypothesis is proposed:

Hypothesis 6 (H6): Factors including the deviance of the Lebanese garbage crisis, the

size of the protests and the occurrence of violent incidents contributed to the reporting of the crisis by foreign news media.

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4. Methodology

4.1. Mixed Methods

While this study could have been limited to a quantitative content analysis, a mixed methods study was chosen. This type of research has developed rapidly in the last decade and distinguishes itself from more common research where exclusively quantitative or qualitative methods are used (Denscombe, 2008). As Denscombe describes in his review of mixed methods studies, researchers make use of mixed methods for varying reasons. These include the aim to improve the accuracy of their data and to provide a more complete picture by combining information from different kinds of data or sources. Another reason this method has been used is to avoid biases intrinsic to single-method approaches – “as a way of compensating specific strengths and weaknesses associated with particular methods” (Denscombe, 2008, p. 272). Finally, mixed methods have been used to develop the analysis more extensively by building on initial findings using contrasting types of data and methods.

The current study has used a mixed methods approach, combining quantitative content analysis with qualitative interviews. This method was chosen due to the reasons outlined above. Using only one of the methods would not have been enough to test the hypotheses at hand. In any case, interviews could not have been done without content analysis. Moreover, content analysis alone would merely portray characteristics of the media landscape surrounding the coverage of the Lebanese garbage crisis, but would provide limited insight as to why certain differences exist between countries, newsrooms and individual journalists. The interviews with journalists based on the results of the quantitative content analysis serve to strengthen and develop the findings of the content analysis.

Different opinions exist on the notion of combining quantitative and qualitative methodology. Specifically, views differ on whether qualitative and quantitative methods “can be integrated, combined, or used in tandem” (Denscombe, 2008, p. 273). Some researchers believe that the two methodologies are incompatible and thus should be used in parallel rather than be combined if used in a single study (e.g., Morse, 2003).

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On the other hand, researchers have combined the two after highlighting the similarities between quantitative and qualitative methods. Taking note of these different opinions on mixed-methods research, the current study was not limited to a single approach. Rather than solely providing conclusions after both methods have been tested, initial conclusions will be made on the basis of the content analysis, which will subsequently be used to analyze more extensively the results of the interviews with journalists.

4.1.1. Content Analysis

This study will begin by conducting a content analysis of all articles relating to the garbage crisis in Lebanon in the six newspapers examined. The aim of this analysis was to determine the amount and type of coverage each newspaper provided about the garbage crisis. Content analysis, as described by Denscombe (2014), can be used to investigate any form of text, sound or pictures. This method quantifies the content of the text at hand, whether this is text in the form of speech transcripts, the content of children’s books, or as in the current study, newspaper articles. The first step of content analysis is to choose an appropriate sample of texts or images. If any form of sampling is involved, this must be justified.

In the current study, all newspaper coverage online and in print by selected newspapers in the Netherlands, France and the United States on the garbage crisis was analyzed. This includes articles, photographs and audiovisual material about the Lebanese garbage crisis. All articles were found using the newspapers’ own archives and online database LexisNexis. Articles include those published exclusively online and not in print. The period of analysis was July 17, a few days before Lebanon’s landfill shut down, until 30 December, before the interviews with journalists were conducted. During analysis, the trash crisis in Lebanon had not yet been resolved.

Overall, there was no sampling involved due to the fact that the current investigation is confined to a single case study, thus making it feasible to analyze all relevant coverage in the specified time period. In the case of The New York Times, several articles were excluded, though, namely those that appeared online in their news agency feed. On the “World” section of the New York Times’ website, a live feed lists links to articles published by news agencies The Associated Press and Reuters. As there is no selection

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process involved with the placing of these articles and they are removed after several days, this coverage has been excluded from content analysis.

In content analysis, as explained by Denscombe (2014), relevant categories must be developed. In the current study, a quantitative content analysis was done, which is described by Berelson as being “a research technique for the objective, systematic, and quantitative description of the manifest content of communication” (1952, p.18). Manifest content, as opposed to implied content, focuses on the formal properties such as word frequencies, time counts and space measurements. The variables that were examined in this study are based on those of Zaharopoulos (1990) in his study on cultural proximity in international news coverage. Similar to the current study, Zaharopoulos conducted a content analysis of all newspaper coverage relating to one case – an American presidential campaign.

Variables that were examined in the articles of the six newspapers in this study include: • print/online source;

• the page number the article appeared on; • source of the item;

• length;

• section of the newspaper; • type of item;

• topic covered;

• presence of photographs.

A template of the table used to record results for each newspaper can be found in Chapter 8.2. For the variable “topic covered”, articles will be coded in terms of whether the protest event was the dominant focus or merely mentioned. The section of the newspaper was determined by whether the article appeared in the international news section or another section. The source of the item, when provided, was categorized as written by a news agency (such as AP, AFP or Reuters), by the international desk, or by a named foreign desk reporter or stationed foreign correspondent. The length of the articles was noted by means of a total word count. In articles where the garbage crisis was not the focus of the article but where merely a reference was made to the topic,

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only the section in which the topic is covered was calculated in the word count. The variable presence of pictures was analyzed by looking at whether and how many pictures were included in an article. On the variable type of item, each article was placed in one of the following categories: news, analysis, feature, interview, digital column or pictorial. The specifications of each of these types of articles are outline in the Appendix, in Chapter 8.1.

Given that most articles were found through LexisNexis, variables such as the page number, section of the newspaper, source and word count were readily available. The other variables were examined manually. All information was logged into an Excel workbook, with a separate sheet per newspaper.

The aim of this quantitative analysis is to gain a better idea of variances in the amount and type of coverage of the different newspapers examined. Eventually, the aim is to investigate whether characteristics of journalism cultures can be identified across the different countries and organizations that are taken into account. Results of the content analysis can be used to test several of the proposed hypotheses. H1, for example, on the effect of the three countries’ affinity with Lebanon and the amount of coverage on the garbage crisis can be tested by looking at the total articles, total amount of words published, and the type of articles published.

4.1.2. Semi-structured Interviews

Following, and on the basis of, the content analysis, interviews were conducted with journalists who contributed to reporting about the garbage crisis. For the purpose of this study, semi-structured interviews were conducted. As described by Cohen and Crabtree (2006), semi-structured interviews are a formal exchange between the interviewer and respondent. The interviewer develops a list of questions and topics that need to be covered during the conversation. Contrary to a structured interview, during a semi-structured interview the interviewer can stray from the guide and ask follow-up questions on the basis of answers provided.

Benefits of semi-structured interviews are multifold, particularly in comparative research. Questions can be prepared beforehand, once the researcher already has a clear

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overview of the topic at hand. This leaves the time to prepare questions that are specific and relevant to the research questions and hypotheses. Setting up an interview guide also provides clarity to the interviewers and is useful in providing comparative data considering the same guide is used for all journalists. However, the possibility to ask additional questions to the guide during the conversation allows for the elaboration of insights and new ways to understand the topic. This method also allows for the journalists to elaborate on topics or propose new topics that they consider relevant. This can be useful in the current study considering the fact that the respondents are journalists who have written about the very topic that is being researched. A limitation is that conversations may stray to areas outside the scope of this study, but the confined research questions and hypotheses were kept in mind throughout the interviews in order to minimize effects of this limitation.

Interviews were conducted with Remco Andersen (de Volkskrant), Irene de Zwaan (de Volkskrant), Hwaida Saad (The New York Times), Benjamin Barthe (Le Monde), and Laure Stephan (Le Monde). Interviewees were chosen because they have all written on the topic of the Lebanese garbage crisis for their respective newspapers. They are therefore in a position to provide a first-hand account of the process that preceded the placing of these articles. De Telegraaf and The New York Post both did not respond to interview requests. Therefore, the two tabloid newspapers were only taken into account based on their coverage through content analysis.

All interviews, except for the interview with Irene de Zwaan, were conducted in person in Beirut, Lebanon, and were recorded and subsequently transcribed. The interview with Irene de Zwaan was conducted by phone in the Netherlands and was not recorded, but was rather transcribed in real time as accurately as possible during the phone call. Interviews lasted an average of 45 minutes. The question guide used for each of the interviews can be found in Chapter 8.3. Below is a brief introduction to each of the journalists interviewed:

Remco Andersen

Remco Andersen was the Middle East correspondent for Dutch daily newspaper de Volkskrant between 2011 and 2016. As a freelance journalist, he also wrote for other newspapers and radio programs in this time. With an initial base in Damascus, Syria, he

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was subsequently based in Beirut, Lebanon. He was awarded the prize of best freelance foreign correspondent in the Netherlands in 2014.

Irene de Zwaan

Irene de Zwaan is a Dutch journalist who has been working for the online platform of de Volkskrant since 2013. She is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. De Zwaan also writes for the print version of the newspaper regularly, focusing mainly on the Middle East. Previously, she has worked as a freelancer for magazine HP/De Tijd and public broadcasting association BNN.

Hwaida Saad

Since 2008, Hwaida Saad has been working as reporter, news assistant and interpreter for the Beirut Bureau of the New York Times. Saad is a Lebanese national who has lived through the country’s civil war and has been covering the Syrian war since its outbreak in 2011.

Benjamin Barthe

Benjamin Barthe is a French journalist who has been working at the Middle East desk of Le Monde since 2011. Since 2014, he has been reporting from the ground in Beirut, Lebanon. Between 2002 and 2011 he was based in Ramallah as a freelance correspondent for Le Monde, L’Express and Radio Suisse Romande.

Laure Stephan

Laure Stephan is a French freelance journalist who has been working for Le Monde since 2010. Stephan is based in Lebanon and covers the Middle East. She also works for Radio France Internationale and Radio Television Suisse. Before Beirut, Lebanon, she was based in Rome, Italy.

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5. Results

5.1. Main findings content analysis

A content analysis has been done of all coverage published by Le Monde, The New York Times, de Volkskrant, de Telegraaf and The New York Post. The results of this content analysis will be used as a basis for the interviews with journalists who have contributed to the coverage in question. The main findings of this content analysis will be presented here, followed by a preliminary analysis and conclusions.

5.1.1. Amount of coverage

A first look will be put on the amount of coverage produced by the newspapers between July and December 2015. In total, the five newspapers investigated published 53 articles about the garbage crisis. Le Monde published the most articles (20), followed by The New York Times (17), de Volkskrant (12), de Telegraaf (3), and lastly The New York Post, who published only one article about the topic. This pattern also holds for the total amount of words published, with Le Monde having published the most words on the garbage crisis and The New York Post the least.

Figure 2 represents the distribution of the coverage per article over the period of analysis from July until December 2015. Interestingly, almost 50% of all articles that appeared between July and the end of December 2015 were published in August. In

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this month, The New York times published ten articles – the most that the newspaper published about the garbage crisis than in any other month as well as the highest number of articles in a single month across all newspapers analyzed. November was the least popular, with only 2% of all articles published in that month. In terms of consistency, Le Monde was the only newspaper that published articles in each of the six months taken into account. In that sense, The New York Post was the least consistent, having published only one article throughout the period of analysis, in September. Le Monde was the newspaper that published the first article in the given period of analysis, on 17 July 2015, as well as the last, on 22 December 2015.

5.1.2. Placement of coverage

Placement of coverage includes whether the article was placed online, in print, or both, as well as on which page number it appeared if in print and in which section of the newspaper. Starting off with the section of the newspaper – as was mentioned earlier all newspapers except for The New York Post had a dedicated section for international news in print and online. The only article published by The New York Post on the garbage crisis appeared online and was placed in the “News” section of their website. For the remaining four newspapers that do have international sections on their website, often given the label “World”, 80% of all print and online coverage was placed in this section. Of these four newspapers, De Telegraaf had the highest percentage, having all their articles on the topic placed in their “World” section. De Volkskrant, with 67%, showed the lowest percentage of articles placed in their “World” section. The New York Times had 71% of their articles placed in the “World” section, and also had the most varied placement of articles, covering 5 different sections. Le Monde was the only newspaper to have published a few of its articles on the garbage crisis in their environmental section “Planète”.

The distribution of the articles over online, print or both can be seen in Figure 3 below. In terms of the placement of articles online or in print, the most variation was found at Le Monde. The newspaper had 45% of its coverage placed only online, 25% only in print, and 30% both in print and online. The New York Times on the other hand had 59% of its articles placed both online and in print. Taking into account that the remaining 41% of its articles were placed only online, this means that The New York

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Times had no articles that were not published online after being published in print. De Volkskrant had the highest percentage of articles published solely online, at 83%. 8% of it’s remaining coverage appeared solely in print, and another 8% both in print and online. De Telegraaf had 67% of its articles published only in print, and the remaining only online, while The New York Post only published one article online.

The page numbers were looked at for articles published in print. Across all newspapers almost all articles that were published in print were placed in the “World” section, and thus appeared in the pre-defined sections of the newspaper. An exception is de Volkskrant, which had only two articles printed about the garbage crisis in print, both of which were not included in the newspaper’s “World” section. Rather, they were published in the “Ten Eerste” section. This section, on the second and most prominent page of the newspaper, is considered to be a place for the most important news of the day.

5.1.3. Type of coverage

Type of coverage encompasses the variables type of article, source, whether the garbage crisis was the focus of the coverage or if a reference was merely made to the

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crisis, and whether photos were included in the article. To start with the variable “focus/reference”, De Volkskrant and The New York Post were the only newspapers that exclusively had articles in which the garbage crisis was the focus of the article. The other newspapers had between one and three articles in which the garbage crisis was mentioned but was not the main focus of the article. An example of this from De Telegraaf is an article from 7 August in which the garbage crisis is mentioned in the context of a heat wave in the Middle East. In The New York Times, the garbage crisis was mentioned in several briefing articles summarizing important news from around the world.

Figure 4 presents the distribution of the type of coverage per newspaper. Looking at the categories the articles would fall under, both tabloid-style newspapers, The New York Post and De Telegraaf, only published news articles. Amongst the quality newspapers, Le Monde had the most analytical coverage, with 45% of all articles falling under this category. The New York Times and de Volkskrant had 29% and 25% analytical articles, respectively, as well as about 50% of both newspapers’ coverage amounting to news articles. The New York Times and de Volkskrant were the only two newspapers to publish digital columns about the garbage crisis online, which were compilations of videos, tweets, photos and other social media updates on the crisis.

Garbage as news - A comparative study of the selection factors of foreign news across journalism cultures

Garbage as News