Breaking the language barrier? Comparing TV news frames across texts in different languages

This article examines two factors which have become increasingly important in today’s multi-channel international media environment, but which add significant extra levels of complexity to framing analysis: language differences and tone of voice. Through case studies examining English and Arabic language television news reports, the article considers some of the difficulties facing researchers who aim to compare spoken texts in different languages about the same events. In particular, the author focuses on the different cultural understandings of the appropriateness of emotive language in Arabic and English language journalism, and argues that in order to analyse the framing of stories in television news it is necessary to take account of the role of reporter tone in building frames. By comparing Al Jazeera’s and the BBC’s coverage of the 2011 Arab uprisings, the article aims to bridge some methodological gaps in this area, and to advance the reliability and validity of studies that attempt to compare news frames of the same events in different languages. It also considers the additional challenge of comparing tones of voice, particularly if they fluctuate throughout the story. Ultimately, the article proposes ways of going beyond literal understandings of both language and tone in order to establish the impact of both on the construction of news frames