Communication for Development
Discursive Representations of
‘Development Aid’ in the British and
Ethiopian Print Media
ABSTRACT
This study was aimed at investigating how ‘development aid’ is represented in British and Ethiopian newspapers. To this end, the Daily Mail, the Times, the Guardian, the Reporter, Addis Fortune and Addis Standard newspapers were selected as a case from the British and Ethiopian print media. The most relevant theoretical framework to the topic, the discourse theory has been employed as a theoretical framework. Qualitative data gathering techniques of case study and review of documents were employed to undertake the study. Using a purposive sampling technique, 18 newspaper articles were selected for analysis. The data set of news articles (n = 6) was analyzed using Carvalho’s approach for analyzing media texts. The study found that ‘development aid’ has been represented in numerous ways in the print media. The British print media represents ‘development aid’ as an unnecessary waste of money with no tangible benefits for Britain. In contrast, the Ethiopian print media represents ‘development aid’ as a means to solve the problems of ‘poor’ countries. The study also found that newspapers not only provide a platform for these representations but also contribute to shaping public understanding on the issue. The study has revealed that there is a partnership between newspapers and powerful actors such as politicians and media proprietors that resulted in influence on how the print media represents development issues. The study revealed that the views of politicians, media figures, and other powerful social actors have largely been (re) presented in the print media. The study has concluded that reporting of the investigated newspapers was influenced by official sources, media proprietors’ interest, and self-censorship. This paper discusses the representational dynamics of these findings and argues that the print media representations appear to detach donor country citizens from ‘development’, representing it as a problem of ‘poor countries’.
Keywords: CDA, discourse analysis, media text analysis, print media, representation,
Table of Contents
1 Introduction, Chapter 1 ... 3
2 Literature Review, Chapter 2... 7
3 Theory and Methodology, Chapter 3 ... 8
4 Analysis, Chapter 4 ... 15
5 Conclusion, Chapter 5 ... 26
1 INTRODUCTION, CHAPTER 1
This introductory chapter provides a general description of the thesis work. It covers the following: research topic, overview, research purpose, research questions, research design, reasons for personal interest and the outline of the structure of the study.
1.1 News media and development
In today’s society, news has a social, a political and educational role. News organizations play an important role in this process and have an impact on society. Despite the rise of social media as the main distribution platform for news, news organizations continue to provide people with the knowledge they need to be informed, readers and viewers.
There is a strong news media interest in reporting about ‘development’ stories. On the other hand, there is an increasing concern that news organizations are being used by powerful social actors to (re) shape the story of ‘development’. The issue has grown in importance in light of recent developments where the news media has increased its role and influence in (re) shaping the attitudes of readers and viewers.
In my view, how ‘development aid’ stories are brought to the audience is very important. My argument is that reading and viewing news is directly linked with public engagement. A well-informed public can have a positive impact on ‘development’ efforts in developing countries. Hence, having independent news organizations is critical to building an informed public. News media is a major area of interest within the field of communication for development. A key aspect of news media is that it is at the heart of our understanding of how social meanings are generated and reproduced. News media plays an important role in sharing and shaping meaning about ‘development’. Hence, examining the language and discourse of the news media is an important area within the field of communication for development.
In the past two decades, a number of researchers have examined the language and discourse of the print media. In recent years, there has been a high interest in examining the role of news actors and media power in news reports. Although some research has been carried out on perceptions of ‘development’ in the print media, little is known about how the print media (re) presents ‘development aid’ to the public. This indicates the need to understand the various representations of ‘development aid’ that exist among the print media.
1.2. An overview of the Ethiopian media landscape
Most of the media in Ethiopia are controlled by the state. The state controls the TV and radio station (EBC) and the newspapers such as Addis Zemen. The second group of the media such as FBC is controlled and owned by the ruling party. The third groups of media outlets are the one that represents the private media. I group these media outlets into two categories: the pro-government that are openly supporting the state such as The Reporter and Addis Fortune. In the second category, we find independent or critical media outlets such as Addis Standard. Due to severe restrictions on the independent media in Ethiopia, the diaspora media has emerged as an alternative media platform. I categorize these media outlets into three groups. One is the foreign media outlets such as the BBC, VOA, and DW. They are well financed by their respective states and have correspondents in Ethiopia. The second diaspora media is the community radio stations run by volunteers who are active in Ethiopian politics. The third group is what I called the public media. These are emerging media outlets such as ESAT,
OMN, and BBN that are publicly funded through fundraising. 1.3. An overview of development and media reporting
Throughout this paper, the term ‘development’ will be used to refer to “problems of poverty and social deprivation, and the various agencies and processes seeking to address these problems” (Denskus, 2013). It is through development aid that we address these enduring problems and without the continued delivery of development aid, it is impossible to meet the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals. Thus, the case for development aid is clear and compelling. Yet most people are unaware that ‘development aid’ has reduced global poverty and has helped in saving millions of lives in the developing countries. It has helped in reducing inequalities, eliminating extreme poverty, and building a more equitable world. There are uncertainties that aid to developing countries is an act of pure generosity, with no tangible benefits for the donor. The main problem is a lack of information. In times of crisis, the coverage on ‘development aid’ in the print media increases. However, in peaceful times, stories on ‘development’ are absent. This could be due to lack of interest in ‘development aid’ stories as they are often considered ‘conventional’ and not newsworthy. That is why those of us in the development communication field must work hard to improve communication with the public by representing how ‘development aid’ works, the progress it has achieved and the current trend in ‘development’.
The first contemporary trend in ‘development’ is that the role of the state in ‘development’ is increasing in the global South. For instance, the government in Ethiopia is creating a developmental state, a practice that looks like the Chinese way of doing things. The second contemporary trend is that ‘development’ is becoming separated from the ideas of democracy and human rights. In other words, authoritarian states are no more worried about good governance, democratic government, and human rights.
The third trend in ‘development’ is that inequality in many countries of the global South is increasing and as a result, international migration has become a trend. For instance, Ethiopia is a country which has a rapidly growing rural and urban inequality. The same is true of most countries in Africa where most people are trying to migrate to developed countries.
Enns et al. (2014) cited by Sims (2015, p. 14) argued that “global development institutions have again failed to listen to disparate voices from the global South that are calling for a rethinking of development.” I agree with the author in this regard and I have reflected about this failure to listen to an alternative narrative to development on the conclusion part of this paper.
1.3. An overview of the UK aid
According to Mathews (2016), 37 percent of the UK’s aid is “lost” because it is dispersed through multilateral organizations, and wasted on inappropriate projects, due to lack of transparency, corrupt practices, inefficient management, and implementation.
Mathews stated that the U.K.’s aid spends continues to increase despite the recent declines in the aid budgets of 12 of the world’s biggest donor countries, including the United States. He also noted how the recent aid policy review in the U.K has recommended strengthening the link between aid and national interest, as well as broadening the definitional scope of aid to include refugees, humanitarian crises, peacekeeping and other security issues.
According to Mathews, these reforms would translate into around 28 percent of U.K. aid being dispersed by government departments outside DfID by 2020. The apparent danger is that, as Mathews noted, development by itself will cease to be the core objective of foreign aid. Angus Deaton, in an article in The Telegraph, stated: “most overseas development aid is a waste and even destructive use of money”. He further noted that aid is “as much about us and burnishing our humanitarian credentials, as for them”. It is noteworthy that popular misperceptions about aid reinforce a negative narrative that makes development aid budgets politically vulnerable.
1.4. Research purpose
The purpose of the present study was to investigate representations of ‘development aid’ in the printed media discourse. The specific objective of the study was to critically examine how ‘development aid’ is represented in British and Ethiopian newspapers.
1.5. Research questions
This study seeks to address the following research questions: How is ‘development aid’ represented in the print media? What views were advanced by different social actors?
How are the views of different actors represented in the print media?
1.6. Research design
This study follows a case-study technique, with in-depth analysis of news stories and articles (n=18) that are found on the internet. The research data in this thesis is drawn from six selected British and Ethiopian printed media. These news stories and articles are chosen purposely. Carvalho’s approach for analyzing media texts was used in the data analysis.
1.7. Reasons for personal interest
I became interested in printed media discourse after reading stories about misused foreign aid in the British press. In late 2016, the DfID stopped funding to an Ethiopian ‘development’ project that was working on girl empowerment. Yegna (pronounced (yen-ya) is a group of five girls that uses music, drama and other multimedia platforms to ‘empower’ girls through storylines. In my view, the print media criticism has contributed to the stopping of the fund. Thus, I became interested in examining how the print media represents 'development aid’.
1.8. Outline of the structure of the study
The overall structure of the study takes the form of five chapters, including the introductory chapter. Chapter two discusses the literature review and looks at the existing research on discourse analysis of the media. The third chapter is concerned with the theory and methodology used for this study. The fourth chapter explores the research questions by applying the theoretical framework to the empirical data. The final chapter presents the findings of the study and gives a brief critique of the findings.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW, CHAPTER 2
This chapter reviews the theoretical and empirical studies related to the thesis topic under investigation. It combines summary and discussion as well as reflections on the variety of existing research and positions in the field of discourse analysis of the media.
Much of the current literature on discourse analysis of the media pays particular attention to media texts. As a case in point, Wodak and Busch (2004) noted that “more than 40% of the papers published in the leading journal Discourse & Society are based on media texts” (p.106). Various authors such as Fowler and Bell, Gamson, Jäger and Link, Fairclough, Van Dijk, Wodak, and Carvalho have studied the media language related to media discourse.
Gamson (1989) has analyzed press representation of nuclear power. Fowler and Bell (1991) has studied the language and structures of news. Similarly, Fairclough (1992) has studied the linguistic features of media texts in his work related to media discourse. Fisher (1997) has studied the popular press coverage of military gender policies in the UK and the US.
Van Dijk (1991, 1993. 1995) has explored the various discourses found in newspaper articles related to immigration, asylum seekers, and racism. His works have explored how certain social actors, such as politicians contribute to the perpetuation of racism and the continuation of western culture dominance (Van Dijk 1991, p. 254).
Jäger and Link (1993) have studied the discourses found in newspapers issued by right-wing groups. Wodak (1999) has also explored the discourses in her studies on nationalism, anti-Semitism, and neo-racism. McComan and Shanahan (1999) has analyzed the US press coverage of climate change using media discourse analysis. Carvalho (2000) has also studied the British press representation of climate change using media discourse analysis.
Apart from media texts, a number of authors have also studied on the (audio) visual aspects of media discourse. Fairclough used examples from British television and radio in his analysis (1995, pp. 6–7). Ekström (2001) have analyzed political interviews on television using critical discourse analysis. Gruber (2004) have analyzed talk shows on radio from a CDA perspective. Chouliaraki have analyzed television footage of the September 11 attack (2004) and the Iraq war (2005) from a CDA perspective. Some authors like Kress and Van Leeuwen (2001) and Wodak (2004) have also explored the (audio) visual aspects of media discourse in their studies.
3 THEORY AND METHODOLOGY, CHAPTER 3
In this chapter, the theoretical framework for this study is articulated which involves key concepts such as discourse, social power, access, and ideology. In addition, the research method is discussed which covers the following: discourse analysis approach, analytical tools, and methodological reflections.
3.1. Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework for this study is discourse analysis. According to Van Dijk (1995), discourse analysis is a domain of study in the humanities and social sciences that systematically examines the structures and functions of text and talk in their social, political, and cultural contexts (p.10).
He stated: “Applied to the study of mass communication, this approach claims that in order to understand the role of the news media and their ‘messages’, one needs to pay detailed attention to the structures and strategies of such discourses and to the ways these relate to institutional arrangements, on the one hand, and to the audience, on the other hand” (Ibid). Similarly, Carvalho (2000), discourse analysis offers an important potential for interpretation and understanding of texts and their wider relation to social contexts (p.5). He argues that: if the goal is to understand how meanings assigned through language to reality are a crucial basis for social and political interaction and to look at the subtle ways in which those meanings are achieved, discourse analysis offers an important potential (p.37).
3.1.2. Discourse - Theoretical Perspectives
Discourse has various meanings and definitions. According to Hajer (1995) cited by Korpi (2013, p.8), discourse is an ensemble of ideas, concepts, and categories through which meaning is given to social and physical phenomena. For Joye (2009), “discourses create representations of the world that reflect as well as actively construct reality by ascribing meanings to our world, identities and social relations” (p. 49).
For Fairclough (1995), “discourse is the use of language seen as a form of social practice” (p.7). For Foucault discourse is about the production of knowledge through language. Foucault cited in Hall (2013, p. 29) argued that “...since all social practices entail meaning
According to Hall (2013, p. 27), “meaning often depends on larger units of analysis – narratives, statements, groups of images, whole discourses which operate across a variety of texts, areas of knowledge about a subject which have acquired widespread authority.” Hall noted that the meaning we take, as viewers, readers or audiences, is never exactly the meaning which has been given by the speaker or writer or by other viewers (p.17).
From the view of the above-mentioned authors, it can be said that language means power. Whatever kind of language one analyzes, one will see how it is used by some people to extend power over others. As Hall noted, some people had more power to speak about some subjects than others (p.27). To put it another way, the power to represent things in particular ways is a matter of how language is used.
3.1.3. Social power
Social or institutional power is an important factor in the analysis of media discourse. Van Dijk (1995) defines social power as a “social relation between groups or institutions, involving the control of by (more) powerful group (and its members) of the actions and the minds of (the members) a less powerful group” (p. 10). He argues that power is based on special access to valued social resources, such as force, wealth, income, knowledge, or status.
Van Dijk noted that the media have the potential to control the minds of readers or viewers. Fairclough (1995b) also defines media as the power “to influence knowledge, beliefs, values, social relations, and social identities” (p.2). According to Van Dijk, “social groups may be attributed social power by their active or passive access to various forms of public, other influential discourse, such as those of the mass media, scholarship, or political and corporate decision-making” (p.12). He argues that controlling the means of mass communication is one of the crucial conditions of social power in contemporary information societies.
For Van Dijk, ‘ordinary people’ “have no direct influence on news content, nor are they the major actors of news reports” (p.13). He argues that access to dialogues with politicians or professionals for ‘ordinary people’ is usually constrained in many ways. In other words, ‘ordinary people’ do not have an active role in shaping media discourse.
On the other hand, Van Dijk noted that elite groups and institutions have preferential access to important discourses and communicative events. He further noted that powerful social actors such as politicians have more controlled access to different properties of text and talk and have the power to impose limitations and constraints on access to important discourses.
If such powerful groups or institutions are able to control the patterns of media access, according to van Dijk, they are by definition more powerful than the media. On the other hand, he said, those media that are able to control access to media discourse may, in turn, play their own role in the power structure. He noted that major news media may themselves be institutions of elite power and dominance, with respect to other elite institutions.
3.1.4. Ideology
Ideology is an important factor regarding media discourse. According to Van Dijk (1998), “ideologies allow people, as group members, to organize the multitude of social beliefs about what is the case, good or bad, right or wrong, for them, and to act accordingly” (p. 8).
Van Dijk argues that ideology is “the fundamental beliefs underlying the social representations shared by a group, featuring norms and values which may be used or abused by each social group to impose, defend or struggle for its own interests” (2011, p. 193).
For Fairclough (1995), “ideologies are propositions that generally figure as implicit assumptions in texts, which contribute to producing or reproducing unequal relations of power, relations of domination” (1995b, p. 14). He argues that ideology shapes media output and contribute to reproducing social relations of domination and exploitation.
The news media has a power in formulating ideology in public discourse. Various authors have noted that the media legitimize the dominant ideology that operates in a society. Fowler (1991) noted that “newspapers reproduce the attitudes of the powerful” (p.23). For Fowler, “anything that is said or written about the world is articulated from a particular ideological position” and hence “the world of the press is a world skewed and judged” (pp.10-11).
For Van Dijk, "if there is one notion often related to ideology it is that of power" (2000, p.25). For Carvalho (2000), ideology influences the selection and representation of objects, actors, the language, and the discursive strategies employed in a text (p.26). For Malkawi (2012), “media communicates its own view of social reality, and, thus, influences the mind of others” (p. 22). Therefore, it can be said that there is a close relationship between ideology and power. It can also be said that it is through an ideology that the exercise of power is accomplished. Together the views of the above authors provide important insights into the role of (social) power and ideology in news reports and media discourse.
3.2. Methodological Framework 3.2.1. Discourse Analysis Method
To date, various methods have been used to analyze news discourse. Van Dijk’s approach to discourse analysis, frame analysis, and narrative analysis are the three approaches to analyzing media texts that are quite influential and widespread.
The use of Critical Discourse Analysis is a well-established approach in discourse analysis of the media. According to Carpentier (2007), CDA has become the ground for some of the theories that focus on the studying and analyzing written texts (p.275). He noted that the underlying aim of these theories is examining the language and discourse of the press.
In CDA, media are seen as important public spaces and media discourse is studied as a site of power and social struggle (Wodak and Busch 2004, p. 109). Similarly, Philips and Jørgensen noted that CDA “investigate and analyze power relations in society” (2000, p.2).
One advantage of the CDA is that it is interested in questions of power abuse or domination. As Van Dijk (2001) stated, CDA focuses on “social problems and especially on the role of discourse in the production and reproduction of power abuse or domination” (p.96). Similarly, Fairclough and Wodak noted that “CDA intervenes in social life by supporting dominated groups in their struggle against unjust power relations" (1997, p. 258).
However, there are certain drawbacks associated with the use of CDA. According to Carvalho, one of the disadvantages of critical discourse analysis is that it does not address issues such as the discursive manipulation of reality by different social actors.
For this study, I followed the methodology proposed by Carvalho. Her approach was chosen because it integrates the three mainstream approaches to the discourse analysis of media texts and also addresses the role of social actors in media discourse. She argues that a good method of discourse analysis has to account the social actors’ intervention and the journalists’ intervention (2000, p.19). The main focus of this paper is in investigating the social power of the media.
Carvalho emphasizes the use of Van Dijk’s approach, and the concepts of frame and narrative. She thinks of these three types of analysis of media discourse as “conceptual tools that allow the researcher to ‘discover’ various aspects of the text, and that helps to understand the social construction of different (social) objects” (p.11).
As Carvalho suggests, analyzing media texts means focusing on some of the dimensions of the text, most importantly, on how objects, social actors, language, discursive strategies, and ideological standpoints are broadly articulated in the issue under investigation. Thus, in this paper, I focused on the following six steps:
(1) Surface descriptors and structure
The first step involves identifying the surface elements and the structural organization of the text. Carvalho suggests weighing the headline and the first few paragraphs of the article differently from the rest of the text.
(2) Objects
The second step involves identifying the broader and specific topics or themes that are constructed in the article. According to Carvalho, clearly identifying objects of discourse is an important step towards deconstructing and understanding the role of discourses.
(3) Social actors
This step, according to Carvalho, involves identifying the individuals or institutions that are quoted or referred to in the articles. He stressed that it is important to study how social actors are represented and analyze their discursive strategies in the construction of reality.
(4) Language and rhetoric
This step involves identifying the key concepts and of their relationship to wider cultural and ideological frameworks. Carvalho suggests looking at the vocabulary, the writing style, metaphors and other figures of the style used in the articles. She also suggests looking at the formulations advanced by social actors and the journalist’s own discourse.
(5) Framing as a discursive strategy
This step involves identifying the use of framing as a discursive strategy in the construction of texts. Carvalho suggests looking at how social actors frame reality in the articles.
(6) Ideological standpoints
This step involves identifying ideological standpoints in the text. Carvalho suggests looking at both the political and normative ideological standpoints.
3.2.2. Sampling process and selection criteria
My empirical material was a selection of newspaper articles. A total of six newspapers were selected. First, three UK newspapers were sampled: The Daily Mail, The Times, and The
Guardian. Then, three Ethiopian newspapers were sampled: Addis Standard, The Reporter, and Addis Fortune. The reason for sampling these papers is discussed below.
18 newspaper articles were collected from three British and three Ethiopian newspapers. Some of the articles revealed aspects that should be analyzed to answer the research questions while some did not present much information even though they were centered on development. Hence, one newspaper article was selected for analysis from each of the six newspapers. A purposive sampling method was used in handpicking interesting articles.
The newspaper articles are news reports and were written by different journalists. The majority of the articles were selected by typing in the keywords “development aid”, “development aid and Ethiopia” into each newspaper website search tools. In the case of The Guardian, I used The Guardian Open Platform to access the articles. In the case of The Daily Mail and The Times, I used PressReader to access the news stories.
The British newspapers were selected because they represent two different political-ideological commitments. The Guardian supports the Labour Party and The Daily Mail and The Times support the Conservative Party (Smith, 2017). The newspapers from Ethiopia were selected because they represent different political allegiances.
The Reporter and Addis Fortune, both weekly semi-independent English newspapers, are
openly supporting the current government. Addis Standard, a monthly news magazine, is an independent media which has influential access to the minds of many Ethiopians.
I was supposed to analyze 18 newspapers but due to time and financial constraints, I was forced to analyze only six news articles. In addition, I was supposed to look at the print edition of the individual newspapers. However, I couldn’t get access to the print edition of the newspapers due to financial constraints. All the newspapers required that one has to subscribe or pay in order to access the previous print editions.
4 ANALYSIS, CHAPTER 4
In this chapter, the empirical analysis of six newspaper articles is discussed. The analysis of the selected articles was done according to the procedure of Carvalho (2000). Throughout the analysis, I explored the surface descriptors; themes; social actors; language and rhetoric; discursive strategies and ideological standpoints of the selected newspaper articles.
4.1. Surface descriptors and structural organization
In a first stage of the analysis, I looked at the ‘surface’ elements and the structural organization of the articles (n=6). The authors of the articles are news journalists, senior editors, political editors and social affairs correspondents.
Article 1: ‘Aid: NOW they’re Listening’ was published in The Daily Mail on January 6, 2017, and its authors were Larisa Brown and Jason Groves.
Article 2: ‘Plug is pulled on £5m aid for girl band in Ethiopia’ was published in The Times on January 7, 2017, and its author was Francis Elliot.
Article 3: ‘Ethiopian music scheme loses UK aid funding after press criticism’ was published in
The Guardian on January 7, 2017, and its author was Nicola Slawson.
Article 4: ‘Yegna, DfID part ways under pressure’ was published in Addis Fortune on January 10, 2017, and its author was Menna Asrat.
Article 5: ‘Yegna to continue after DfID split-up’ was published in The Reporter on January 14, 2017, and its author was Mihret Aschalew.
Article 6: ‘UK Minister launches economic development strategy on visit to Ethiopia’ was published in Addis Standard on February 1, 2017, and its author was Tsedale Lemma.
The articles have 733, 533, 904, 480, 565 and 609 words respectively. The size of the Daily Mail and the Guardian articles are above the average of the remaining articles (563 words). It clearly reflects the value the newspapers give to the decision by the UK Department for International Development (DfID) to stop funding Yegna.
The Daily Mail article has appeared on the front page of the paper which is the most important
location in a newspaper. It clearly indicates the importance given by the paper to DFfD’s decision to ‘pull the plug’ on its funding. As Carvalho (2000, p.21) has noted, “The different impacts of publishing an article on page 1 or page 20 are quite obvious”.
Similarly, Van Dijk (1995, p.10) has also noted that the content and form of a headline in the press may subtly influence the interpretation and hence the persuasive effects of news reports among the readers. This is true for the headline of The Daily Mail article: “Aid: Now they’re listening,” which was in capital letters and later become the reported story.
The headline and the first few paragraphs of the majority of the articles (4) give emphasis on how ministers (DfID) ‘pulled the plug’ on a ‘pop group’ (a ‘girl band’, ‘an NGO’ ‘a charity’) and how that decision had been influenced by negative press campaign. The headline and the first few paragraphs of the Reporter article give emphasis to the DFID’s new Economic Development Strategy launched by Ms. Priti Patel in Ethiopia.
Figure 1: The headline of the Daily Mail newspaper: "Aid: NOW they're listening" 4.2. Objects/Themes
The broader themes constructed in the articles are poverty, international development aid effectiveness and the political vulnerability of British development aid budget.
The more specific themes constructed in the articles are: (1) British development aid money is spent on development projects that aren’t worthwhile, (2) British politicians and media campaign ended DfID’s support to a development project, and (3) Britain's development aid budget helps poor countries to create jobs and is in the UK interest.
The implicit themes in the articles are: Poverty would not be eradicated without development aid and Britain has a role to play in the fight against global poverty.
4.3. Social Actors
The major social actors quoted and referred in the articles are the following: British taxpayers, British Members of Parliament (MPs), the UK Department for International Development (DfID), the Daily Mail, Yenga, Girl Effect, Ms Priti Patel, Mr Nigel Evans, Mr Andrew Rosindell, Mr David Nuttall, Ms Lisa Duffy, Ms Kate Osamor, Ms Farah Ramzan, Ms Selome Taddese, Mr Lemn Sissay, the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI), British Embassy in Addis Ababa, Leila Hussien, EmergMango PLC.
The majority of these actors are politicians, government officials, media outlets and well-connected individuals. This is an indicator of the preferred sources for the authors of the articles and of the articles’ main framing of the ‘development aid’.
The perspective of the conservative MPs seems to dominate The Daily Mail and The Times articles. The repetition of references to specific actors such as David Nuttall, Lisa Duffy and Nigel Evans, the space awarded to representing them, and the fact that the authors’ account of the funding cancellation follows the views of these actors shows the predominant ‘framing power’ of these powerful social actors.
On the other hand, the perspectives of Ms. Priti Patel, the International Development Secretary; Ms. Kate Osamor, the Shadow International Development Secretary; Ms. Farah Ramzan, Girl Effect’s Chief Executive; and Ms. Solome Taddese, the Managing Director of Yegna, seems to dominate the majority of the newspaper articles (4). Their views regarding DfID’s role in development aid and the decision to spend money on Yegna were (re) presented by the authors both in the form of quotes and references.
It is worth to note that the predominant ‘framing power’ of these individuals and institutions (social actors) in relation to the funding cancellation is crucially conceded by the authors of the articles. As Carvalho (2000, p.23) has stated, “Journalists hold a major power of discursive construction of social, political or environmental issues.”
4.4. Language and rhetoric
In The Daily Mail and The Times articles, the language and rhetoric the authors use create a negative representation of the use of development aid money to developing countries. The headline’s expressions ‘plug is pulled on £5million aid to girl band’, and ‘Britain scraps
£9million foreign aid for Ethiopia's Spice Girls’, highlight that funding to the ‘pop group’ was a
The language used in the articles seems to reflect a sense of anger that public money has been wasted. Particularly, strong language such as: “blood boiling waste of taxpayers' money” serves to reinforce the reckless waste of aid money. Hence, there appears to be a strong depiction of UK development aid in Ethiopia as being used in ‘the wrong way’.
The importance of the decision reached in ‘pulling the plug’ is reinforced by repeatedly classifying it as the ‘victory for the British taxpayer and common sense’ (four times). Tory MP Andrew Rosindell described the decision as ‘a victory for common sense’. His strategy of framing the funding cut as a victory for common sense is in line with other Tory MPs who also described it a ‘great victory for common sense.’
By drawing upon emotional and ‘blood boiling’ phrases, ‘development aid’ is presented as an unnecessary waste of British money at a time when social care is in crisis. Lisa Duffy states in an article in The Daily Mail: “Our government needs to look at the amount of money wasted on aid while home priorities are short of cash”.
The other thing noted is the repeated use of a word ‘Ethiopian Spice Girls’. It is employed three times, contributing to a depiction of Yegna as a ‘girl band’. The Independent, BBC, and The
Express described Yegna as an ‘Ethiopian girl band’, while, The Daily Mail, The Telegraph, and The Mirror described Yegna as ‘Ethiopia’s Spice Girls’.
In my view, the description of Yegna as being like the ‘Spice Girls’ is deliberate. As Van Dijk has noted, the content and form of a headline in the press may subtly influence the interpretation and hence the persuasive effects of news reports among the readers (1995, p.10). Leyla Hussein states in an article in The Guardian: “It’s really sad that The Daily Mail has reduced them to the Ethiopian Spice Girls, which is not what they are about.” Shadow International Development Secretary Kate Osamor states in an article in The Guardian:
“Headlines describing the group as a pop band were ‘sensationalist’… sensationalist, headline-grabbing stories of waste and corruption have become an ever increasing staple of British
newspapers over recent months”.
Solome Taddese states in an article in The Reporter: “There was a misunderstanding of considering Yegna as Ethiopia’s Spice Girls”. Solome points that the attempt by the British print media to describe Yegna as Ethiopia’s Spice Girls “is either a misunderstanding or a deliberate misrepresentation of facts”.
By using language that enables the questioning of aid efforts to ‘vanity projects’, a sense that the development aid budget is completely wasted is facilitated: “It is fantastic news that this money will now be diverted from vanity projects to saving lives”.
The next thing to note is the repeated use of the word ‘NGO’ in the majority of the articles (4). It is employed many times, contributing to a depiction of Yegna as a charity organization. The truth is that, EmergMango PLC is the company that runs Yegna.
4.5. Rhetoric
The rhetoric of The Daily Mail and The Times articles is the rhetoric of the conservative MPs who believe that ‘the UK should not use public money for development projects’. They seem to re-produce the perspectives of these actors and wrote for legitimating their perspective with respect to the use of ‘foreign aid budget’. The rhetoric of the conservative MPs is that DfID ends its support after The Daily Mail exposed waste in ‘public money’.
The rhetoric of the other articles reflects the rhetoric of Girl Effect and EmergMango PLC. They seem to reproduce the views of these social actors and wrote for legitimating their perspective with respect to the ‘pioneering work’ of Yegna. The authors of the articles believe that Yegna has been the subject of a negative press campaign by The Daily Mail.
The headline’s expressions ‘Ethiopian music scheme loses UK aid funding after press criticism’, ‘Yegna, DfID part ways under pressure’ strongly highlight that DfID’s decision to cut the funding was influenced by the press campaign on Yegna.
The first paragraph of The Guardian article states: ‘an NGO that uses music and radio to spread
awareness about girls’ rights in Ethiopia has lost its UK aid funding after a negative press campaign’. The rhetoric of the authors is that a press campaign has persuaded the DfID to
stopped funding a development project.
It is noteworthy that The Daily Mail had repeatedly campaigned against the Yegna project. Lisa Duffy states in an article in The Daily Mail: “well done to The Daily Mail for highlighting just how our money has been wasted”. The DfID, on the other hand, has denied that the decision to stop the funding had been influenced by a press campaign.
In his reflections on the poor state of development journalism, Denskus (2017) noted how
The Daily Mail campaign against ‘wasteful’ foreign aid has a real impact as the DfID later
He noted that the Mail’s campaign was taken up by the mainstream media such as the BBC who were willing to amplify it. According to Denskus, this shows how the Mail’s discourse is ‘poisoning’ the debate around development in the UK.
The International development Secretary Priti Patel stated in an article in The Guardian that the funding for Yegna was ‘pulled’ following a review of the project. The DfID spokesperson in an article on The Guardian, The SUN, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail stated:
“We judge there are more effective ways to invest UK aid… the government will deliver even better results for the world's poorest and value for taxpayers' money”
Denskus (2017) noted that rather than responding to Yegna, the DfID spokesperson appears to share a meaningless and contextless statement by using ‘buzzwords’ such as to ‘the world’s poorest’ and the ‘taxpayers’ money’.
Figure 2: Anti-foreign aid campaign by the Daily Mail
According to Van Dijk, those media organizations that are able to control access to media discourse can play their own role in the power structure and can themselves be institutions of ‘dominance’ with respect to other powerful actors.
In my view, this is true for The Daily Mail who shaped and strategized its anti-foreign aid campaign coverage to defeat those it opposed. The headline on one of its article says it all: “Victory for Mail as ministers axe Ethiopian Spice Girls’ £9.2 million handout from Britain”. On the other hand, Girl Effect’s chief executive states in an article on The Guardian: “our aim had been willfully misrepresented”. The Director of Yegna in an article on The Reporter states: “new ideas such as Yegna are sometimes willfully misrepresented”. Metaphors like ‘incessantly campaigned’ and ‘wilfully misrepresented’ seems to indicate that the negative press campaign coverage has apparently convinced the DfID to withdraw its funding to Yegna.
4.5. Discursive strategies and processes 4.5.1 Framing as discursive strategy
The analysis reveals that the articles frame ‘development aid’ in positive, negative and mixed terms. The majority of the British newspaper articles express ‘development aid’ in negative ways. This may not be surprising given the critical discourse surrounding aid over the past decade. Meanwhile, the Ethiopian newspaper articles express ‘aid’ in positive ways.
It is worth noting that some of the articles communicate both positive and negative framings of ‘development aid’. This highlights the complexity of the arguments surrounding ‘development aid’ and indicates the tendency of the print media to represent both sides of arguments.
‘Development aid’ appears to be expressed in positive terms most strongly when framed as a necessity for the Ethiopian people to get out of poverty. By presenting Ethiopia as a country “in desperate need of help” due to poverty, ‘development aid’ appear to be presented as a source of salvation for the poor people of the country.
For instance, the British Embassy in Addis Ababa states in an article in The Reporter: “there is no task more urgent than defeating poverty”. Within this framing, the value of aid appears to be emphasized for the benefit of those suffering from poverty, implying: “aid is crucial to help poor developing countries get out of poverty”.
On one hand, ‘development aid’ is presented to have helped millions of people in Ethiopia: “UK aid funding has helped to create 60,000 jobs and investment opportunities for UK firms”. This arguably seeks to reinforce legitimisation for British aid efforts to Ethiopia. For instance, the DfID Minster Priti Patel states in an article in The Reporter: “the UK puts trade and jobs at the heart of the fight against poverty”.
On the other hand, ‘Development aid’ is presented as a future investment to ensure Britain’s ‘trade and investment opportunities’. In other words, Britain's aid budget helps to create jobs and is in the UK interest. This appears to contrast subtly with framings of ‘development aid’ as a successful effort, which seem to stress the benefits of ‘aid’ for British interests.
‘Development aid’ is even linked to having the potential to reduce immigration, as it is claimed that without aid funding, poverty can bring instability to the UK, in the form of mass migration and refugee crisis. Hence, development aid to Ethiopia appears to be framed primarily to assure British taxpayers that aid is not wasted and it is in UKs’ own interest, in both security and economic terms, to help fund development programs.
These positive framings contrast directly with the negative portrayals of ‘development aid’ in Ethiopia. The findings from the analysis suggest that British ‘development aid’ to Ethiopia is framed as a waste in the right-wing British print media. The language used to describe this framing appears to imply that aid has not only been wasted but unjustified.
Andrew Malone in an article on The Daily Mail stated: “if there were awards for the most wasteful, ludicrous and patronizing projects to ‘save’ Africa, the Ethiopian Spice Girls would claim the undisputed crown”. Whilst one project appears to be drawn upon in depicting this waste the criticism implied seems to be directed at the ‘development aid’. As Carvalho noted framing involves bringing in or leaving out certain aspects of a pictured reality (2000, p.16).
4.5.2 Narrativization as discursive strategy
The main media narrative of the right-wing British newspapers is that aid budget is ‘wasted’ on things that are ‘band-aids’. This arguably seeks to reinforce legitimisation of the British right-wing MPs standing regarding ‘aid money’.
The right-wing MPs believe that aid money is ‘wasted’ on ‘vanity projects’ while home priorities are short of cash. In my view, the narrative of the conservative MPs is that Britain is having its own social problems and aid money should be spent to save lives.
For instance, Tory MP David Nuttall in an article in The Daily Mail states: “It is fantastic news that this money will now be diverted from vanity projects to saving lives”. This depiction arguably supports a framing of ‘development aid’ which appears to present aid as a waste and as unjustified. This seems to be the most negative portrayal of ‘development aid’ in the analyzed right-wing British newspapers.
4.5.3 Politicization as a discursive strategy
By drawing upon emotional and blood-boiling arguments, ‘development aid’ is presented as not only an unnecessary waste of British money but as a failure of British politics: “the UK gives £1bn to brutal Ethiopian regime”, says the headline of The Times article written by Jerome Starkey on 29.10.2014. Starkey states that British development aid money has been used to force people from their homes. He points that some aid ends up doing more harm than good.
On 17.02.2017, The SUN carried an article headlined: “Ministers handed out more than £1m of taxpayers’ cash to train up Ethiopian security officials”, by Lynn Davidson. Davidson states that the UK is funding the security sector in Ethiopia despite the country holding a British citizen in
On 15.07.2014, The Times carried an article headlined “Ethiopian claims UK funded brutality”, by Frances Gibb. Gibb points the contradictions between UK’s aid programme stated intentions and real actions. He has linked aid funding to human rights abuses.
By drawing upon emotional arguments, ‘development aid’ is presented as a problem of British politics. Reacting to the funding cut of Yegna, Solome stated in an article on The Reporter:
“The decision was purely political that followed Brexit. So it had to do with the changes in British internal politics after the country voted to leave the EU. The view that Britain’s aid for
developing countries should be for emergency relief assistance purposes, and not for empowerment projects, is prevailing. This is a shift to right-wing politics”.
Solome in an article on the Addis Fortune states that: “the DfID will no longer support Yegna due to the pressure from British parliamentarians.” From the analysis above it is evident that whilst there are some positive representations of ‘development aid’ in the articles, negative representations of ‘development aid’ dominate the majority of the newspaper articles.
4.6. Ideological standpoints
When we look at the political standpoints of the authors, the authors of The Daily Mail and The
Times articles are clearly on the side of the right-wing political parties in the UK. It is easy to
detect instances of ideological biases in the two articles. The idea that aid money should be spent in Britain is clearly present in these two articles. The right-wing MP’s perspective dominates the entire article in the case of The Daily Mail article.
Strong support to the right-wing politics is also evident when the paper hailed the decision stop funding the five-member girl band as a ‘great victory for common sense’: “British taxpayers will no longer fund Ethiopia’s version of the Spice Girls, admitting foreign aid could be spent better elsewhere, ministers pulled the plug on the five-strong girl band last night.”
The paper states that the move by ministers to withdraw British funding is a victory for its campaign to highlight waste in the aid budget at a time when social care is in crisis. Ukip’s spokesperson on international development states in The Daily Mail article: ‘Well done to The
Daily Mail for highlighting just how our money has been wasted.’
According to Smith (2017), The Daily Mail and The Times are seen as the right-wing papers in Britain. Right-wing papers such as The Daily Mail have been calling the UK government to spend more on local charities and less on development aid.
The authors of The Daily Mail article are known critics of the development aid budget. They tend to believe that they shouldn’t have to pay for someone else’s education or health service and taxpayer’s money should buy better education and health service for UK citizens. Hence, the right-wing ideology seems to dominate in the article.
The right-wing parties in the UK believe that ‘development aid’ should not be a priority. They are skeptical of the UK aid to developing countries and are dedicated to ‘keep’ charity at home. For instance, Tory MP David Nuttall in an article on The Daily Mail states: “We must continue to ensure that taxpayers get real value for money.” In other words, the conservative MPs want the money to help address social problems in the UK.
The UKIP spokeswoman Lisa Duffy states in an article in The Daily Mail: “Our government needs to look at the amount of money wasted on aid while home priorities are short of cash. By reducing the foreign aid budget we can look after the priorities here in our country”. Hence, it could be said that the authors of some of the articles have tried to shape the presentation of the news stories to suit the political opinion of the right-wing political parties in the UK.
Ideologically, The Guardian article is on the side of the left-wing political parties in the UK. The left-wing parties’ perspective dominates almost the entire article. According to Smith (2017), the Guardian is seen as Britain’s left-wing newspaper.
The main left-wing parties in the UK believe that the UK should support people less well off, he further stated. The Guardian article also supports and reinforces the redistribution of power, wealth, and opportunity. The idea that taxpayer’s money can be used to support those who cannot support themselves is clearly present in The Guardian article.
The ideological standpoints of the remaining authors are fundamentally left-wing ideas. These authors believe that empowerment of girls is a key to accelerating development and the UK has a vital role to play in reducing global poverty.
The majority of the social actors quoted in the analyzed articles believe that Yegna is implementing a development project meant to ‘empower’ girls in Ethiopia. The International Development Secretary Priti Patel states in an article on The Guardian: “Yegna is combating
forced child marriage, violence and teen pregnancies” and it provided ‘good value for money’.
The inclusion of these facts serves to create a meaning that this development project becomes the target of the right-wing media organizations and conservative MPs who wants the government to
In The Guardian, Addis Fortune and The Reporter articles, a reference to the Girl Effect’ reactions has been highlighted which seems to have an impact in the broader construction of the discourse by the authors. Girl Effect has constructed Yegna as a ‘highly innovative and effective programme’ for combating poverty. However, this strategy did not get much receptivity in The
Daily Mail article.
A reference to the Girl Effect’ reactions seems to be there only ‘for the record’, with no impact in the broader construction of the discourse by the authors. What is absent in The Daily Mail article is the fact that Yenga is seen as a media platform through which messages about development can be communicated. The exclusion of this fact serves the creation of a meaning that the decision to end the funding was not the result of a negative press campaign.
What is absent in the majority of the articles is that Yenga have received criticism from The Independent Commission on Aid Impact (ICAI) for being ineffective and expensive. The ICAI have warned to the UK government to stop funding Yegna as it performed poorly against its criteria for “effectiveness and value for money”. The exclusion of facts serves the creation of a meaning that media criticism ended the funding of a development project that was changing the lives of young women’s in Ethiopia.
The journalists have different normative standpoints in their reporting of the issue. The author of
The Guardian article tends to speak from a liberal standpoint but managed to balance views from
different social actors. This contributes to a better understanding of her coverage of the issue. The normative standpoint of the authors of the remaining articles seems to rely more on the political-ideological sympathies. They used phrases that are not value free despite the fact that
5 CONCLUSION, CHAPTER 5
This chapter contains the summary of the main findings, putting analysis and discussion into perspective and the final comments to the research questions.
The findings of this study show that the ‘political class’ such as politicians, journalists, editors, and media proprietors affect how the print media represents development issues. The analysis reveals that ‘development aid’ is represented in positive, negative and mixed terms in the print media. In the British print media, ‘development aid’ appears to have been represented in predominantly negative terms. Most of the articles appear to critique not only aid efforts but also ‘development aid’ as an endeavor. It is worth noting that British print media coverage on ‘development aid’ fluctuates with the political climate.
On the other hand, there has been a positive representation of ‘development aid’ in the Ethiopian print media. Most of the articles represent ‘development aid’ as a means to solve the problems of ‘poor’ countries. They portrayed ‘development aid’ as an important effort and focus on the benefits aid efforts have for Ethiopia. It is worth noting that the current political context in Ethiopia has influenced the newspapers’ representation of ‘development aid’.
The analysis has revealed that politicians, media proprietors, and other powerful social actors control how development issues are covered in the print media. The analysis has also revealed that there is a partnership between newspapers and other powerful actors such as politicians and that resulted in influence on how the print media represents development issues.
How development stories are brought to the audience is very important. When readers read the headlines ‘UK pay £4m to fund Ethiopian Spice Girls, Plug is pulled on £5m aid to girl band’, they start to ask why DfID is funding a girl band. This is the line the Daily Mail and other British newspapers have been using for the last four years and appear to ultimately have been the cause of DfID’s decision to stop funding Yegna. It can be concluded that this type of coverage has influenced public opinion and led to a cut in funding.
When readers read the headline ‘UK gives £1bn to brutal Ethiopian regime’ they start to ask why they should invest in ‘development aid’. This is the line The Times and other British newspapers have been using for the last six years and appear to ultimately have influenced public opinion. It could be said that this type of coverage has also led to DfID’s decision stop funding the Protection of Basic Services (PBS) Programme.
The analysis revealed that powerful groups and institutions influence the representation of ‘development aid’ and have more access to represent their views in the print media. Some of the politicians, campaigners, activists and journalists seem to have a view that development issues are not only the concern of poor countries and argue that development affects us all. For powerful social actors like the DfID and some Tory MPs, it is in UKs’ own interest, in both security and economic terms, to help fund development projects.
According to these actors, poverty is an urgent problem faced by poor countries and therefore, it has to be dealt with by trade and jobs. Their approach is based on aid-trade-investment deals with an argument that aid can ‘directly’ impact on development through targeting it to agricultural, energy, infrastructure, and more recently manufacturing sectors. In my perspective, this view focus on the benefits ‘development aid’ to poor countries has for rich countries. On the one hand, aid is presented as a means for promoting development among poor countries, while on the other, it is presented as a means to ensure that developed country citizens get good ‘value for money’. In my view, value for money is the primary objective, not mutual benefit.
For instance, the DfID has an approach of working with multinational companies to promote development in the global south. However, this approach has been criticized for entrenching inequality. According to Smith (2016), the U.K.’s aid budget has faced criticism for targeting non-development activities such as for a chain of private schools in Africa.
My view is that poverty is about lacking power over those social resources that one need to live a decent life. If powerful groups or institutions control those social resources then the poor cannot live a decent life. Using aid money to build industrial parks and private schools in the global south will not bring benefits to the poorest sections of society. It may create a good value for money but it will not bring better results for poor people in developing countries. Thus, for me, development is about equitable and sustainable resource use.
Aid activists argue that instead of supporting poor people to access to services, aid money is used as a means of assisting the efforts of multinational companies to expand their markets in the global south. They argue that aid has become a chance for the political right to extend economic neo-liberalism. This is in line with what Cox cited in Korpi (2013, p.8) said: states function as agencies of the global economy, by adjusting their national economic policies and practices to better fit global economic liberalism. Hall also noted the power dynamics involved in a global market-driven system with which development operates hand-in-hand (2013, p. 7).
On the contrary, some of the politicians, activists, and journalists seem to have a view that aid money is not being used as effectively as it could be. On one hand, there is a perception that aid to developing countries is a waste of money. On the other hand, there is a perception that the aid money has been used for human rights abuse. To put it another way, the existing aid programs are blamed to promote ‘development’ at the expense of human rights, which is crucial for ‘development’.
The first groups of actors want to reduce the development aid budget and look after the home priorities. They have forced the other powerful social actors to cut aid budgets altogether. The second group has criticized development aid for undermining democracy. These actors press for more effective aid, not cut it altogether. They argue that ‘development aid’ is being used to restrict freedoms, violate human rights, and stifle democracy (Oakland Institute 2013, p.27).
According to these social actors, ‘development aid’ is important for achieving ‘development’ goals but it should be conditional on recipient countries agreeing to democratic reforms, especially human rights. This view is based on aid and human rights deals with an argument that ‘development aid’ can ‘directly’ impact on ‘development’ via improvements in human rights, good governance, and empowerment.
I agree with the view of these social actors. A growing body of empirical evidence suggests that ‘development aid’ is allocated to authoritarian states who are no more worried about good governance, democratic government, and human rights. Civil society and human rights groups such as the Oakland Institute has produced various reports and stories on how small-scale farmers and indigenous communities in Ethiopia were being forced off their land by agri-business companies that were part of the DfID-funded PBS Programme.
Powerful social actors like the DfID do not agree with this view. The DfID spokesperson on The
Times article stated: “to suggest that agencies like DfID should never work on the ground with
people whose governments have been accused of human rights abuses would be to deal those people a double blow”. Deaton in an article in the Telegraph states: “Often there are unintended consequences when the bad guys need to be paid off in order for you to help the people who are in desperate need. This can just perpetuate the murder and carnage”.
According to Alam (2007), donor agencies invariably declare themselves to be non-political and yet the very act of giving aid is strongly political. I agree with her view as it is impossible not to be political. One has to take a stance. That is why development is becoming separated from the idea
The study has revealed that the views of ‘ordinary people’ have not been represented in the print media. For instance, many people in Ethiopia believe that Yegna is organized by the elites and funded by the British to reduce the birth rate, instill global mindset, destroy cultural and moral values, increase consumerism and destroy Ethiopia. This seems to be in line with what McEwan said: “development agencies have rarely considered how the people they label as poor themselves view issues of poverty, development, and well-being” (2009: 132).
Most of the investigated newspaper articles have not mentioned how aid money has been misused by powerful elites. My view is that Yegna is run by a politically connected person who once managed the state-run TV station and worked as a government spokesperson. The state officials have permitted her to implement a development project although the civil society law states that a private business company is not allowed to operate as a charity.
It can be said that facts were easily lost where both the authors of the articles and the newspapers mislead readers with misleading stories. The topics covered in news media “get attention and shape the perception of certain events” (Manche 2016). It is good to note that some of the journalists have tried “to create awareness and show people where the money is going, without ignoring the human aspect of these issues” (Goslinga 2014).
This study concludes that the investigated newspapers’ discursive representation of development aid is influenced by powerful social actors’ interests. This suggests that politicians, media proprietors, and other social actors have the power to manipulate how development issues are covered in the print media. As Pieterse put it: “A core dilemma of development cooperation is how to balance power and emancipation, or how to sustain advanced countries’ privileges while promoting or endorsing social justice” (2010, p. 216).
Recommendation for further study
This study provided little information about comparative and historical analysis, an important area for further study. If I were to conduct this study again, I would go for a full application of Carvalho’s method to be able to compare the article with other articles and capture the historical context of the discourses. Hence, further study would benefit from applying the whole method. First, it is important to conduct a comparative analysis and look at the various representations of an issue at the time of the writing of a specific article. It would be very helpful to compare the article with other articles written by different authors, both in the same newspaper or others.
As Carvalho noted the comparison of press depictions of reality leads to a better assessment of the intervention of journalists (or other authors) on that reality, and of their critical reading of the discursive strategies of social actors.
As far as this author has been able to establish, no research to date has focused on the way in which development issues are comparatively assessed. As my thesis examiner, Helen Hambly-Odame has noted, there are some promising examples of how it can be addressed. She pointed out that there are some initiatives underway in this area that may be interesting to look at.
It is important to look at some of the articles that were published earlier, as they give us a wider picture of each newspaper’s discourse on a particular issue. As Carvalho has noted, it would be very helpful to look at the sequence of discursive constructions of an issue and assess how they were reconstructed and reproduced.
According to Carvalho analysis of the historical context of a particular discourse contributes to a better understanding of the discourses of different social actors. She noted that, it would be very helpful to look at how ideological differences between newspapers in the representation of an issue are historically constituted.
Finally, this study gathered little background information about the political and cultural landscape of the countries that are under investigation. I therefore, suggest the need for collecting background information about the cultural and political landscape as it would help in understanding complex, interconnected and on-going problems.
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