The Social and Psychological Dimensions of Arab Media Discourse Related to Objectivity
Hassan Ali Abdullah Al-Momani

Abstract
The main purpose of this study is to highlight the social and psychological dimensions of Arab media discourse related to the ethical norm of objectivity in journalism. First, the paper explains the sociological and psychological bases of objectivity as an ethical norm in Western journalism, with particular attention to the way objectivity is related to truth and independence. Second, the paper provides background on Arab media, including English-language media. Next, the paper uses discourse analysis to examine selected English-language and Arabic-language news stories appearing in Arab media to compare how the ethics of objectivity are influenced by the social and psychological dimensions of Arab media discourse. The English-language texts are expected to be more “objective” than Arabic-language texts because of their concern with international public opinion, which highly values the ethics of objectivity.

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