Features of Syrian crises in 1973-1982 and the 2011-2014 Syrian civil war coverage in The New York Times: a diachronic analysis

This article is a part of research on specific characteristics of media coverage of a set of dual complexes of crises and conflicts which had place in the same areas but in different periods of time and under different systems of international relations. The considerable distinctions of the world and national political discourse in the researched periods, which were conditioned by the international situation, stereotypes and cognitive features of authors and audience of periodicals, caused the different particularities of media coverage. The analysis of these particularities allows identifying key purposes, objectives and intentions of information impact actors, as well as those methods and instruments used to influence public opinion. The primary objective of this article is the identification of the characteristics of media coverage of Syrian crises in 1973-1982 and 2011-2014 in the American periodical The New York Times, and their comparison. Interpretative content analysis, elements of quantitative content analysis and discourse analysis were used as methods of research. In the first analyzed case, the time frame is from February 1, 1973 to February 28, 1982. In the second case, the time frame is from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2014. The most notable characteristics of the researched events media coverage are the following. First, in the period of 1973-1982, The New York Times paid less attention the world politics and events in other states than in 2011-2014 as we can see on the assumption of quantitative and percentage correlation of the total number of articles and the number of articles which mention Syria. Second, the system of images changed, partly in connection with the negative attitude to radical Islam in Western public opinion established by the beginning of the 21st century, partly because of the changes in the situation in the Middle East in particular and on the world political arena in general. Third, the key international problem in the Middle East and North Africa, which was of current interest and formed regional and world agenda, was a complex of contradictions among Israel and the neighboring Arab states in 1973-1982. Thereby most mentions of Syria were in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict development. Fourth, the influence of the conflict in 2011-2014 on the policies of Western states are considered and analyzed in no less detail than the conflict itself: topics of the USA and world community intervention in Syria and actions of world leaders towards the warring parties, of prospects of the further Islam radicalization and religious extremism dissemination, embracing the territory of the Western countries, of refugees from the conflict area are broadly covered. In turn, it reflects the considerably growing dependence of world powers on events happening in other regions under the circumstances of globalization. Accordingly, the coverage of such events for the internal audience, shaping of a certain viewpoint become much more important.

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