In its coverage of the Syrian crunch, the fledgling Al Jazeera America cable news channel provided viewers with content that oft resembled what Americans saw on other U.Due south. cable news outlets, co-ordinate to a new written report by the Pew Enquiry Centre.

The showdown over Syrian arab republic'due south chemic weapons is the first mega-story to break since Al Jazeera America'south much-publicized launch on Aug. 20. Ane major question was whether the aqueduct-an adjunct of the Qatar-based Al Jazeera network-would present news largely through a U.South. perspective or provide an alternative, more global, view of events. The findings in this written report suggest that if Syrian coverage is any indication, Al Jazeera America is targeting its programming at the domestic U.S. audience its owner has long tried to attain.

The analysis of cable coverage during a crucial week in the Syrian arab republic story found that in a number of areas-where stories originated, the focus of stories, fundamental letters in stories and the mix of reporting and opinion-Al Jazeera America was largely in sync with its U.S. cable news competitors, most often CNN.

Like CNN, MSNBC and Trick News, Al Jazeera America devoted the biggest chunk of Syrian arab republic coverage to the debate over whether the U.Due south. should become militarily involved in the conflict that pits the government of Bashar al-Assad confronting an array of rebel forces. The nearly common message conveyed in Al Jazeera's coverage-that the U.S. should get involved in the disharmonize-was also the No. 1 message on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. BBC News America news programming, some of which originates in London, was more than of an outlier in its coverage of Syria.

The sources cited most often in coverage by the U.Southward. cablevision channels-American politicians and policymakers-were also by far the almost frequent in Al Jazeera America's coverage. And every bit was the case with CNN, Pull a fast one on News and MSNBC, the overwhelming majority of Al Jazeera America's coverage originated from the two main U.Due south. news hubs-Washington, D.C., and New York Metropolis.

In some of the coverage there was evidence of Al Jazeera America's international roots. The channel framed more of its stories, albeit a small minority, effectually the humanitarian crisis in the region acquired by the Syrian civil war. In addition, more of its stories originated from Mideast countries (other than Syria) than its cable competitors.

For this report, The Pew Research Centre examined daytime and prime-time coverage of the showdown over Syria'south apply of chemical weapons on the Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC, Al Jazeera America and BBC America. Al Jazeera America launched with availability in just over xl meg U.S. homes, and during its first week on the air, drew viewership in the tens of thousands-a substantially smaller audience than its competitors. The period analyzed started on Monday, Aug. 26, the mean solar day Secretary of State John Kerry accused the Syrian government of using chemical weapons confronting its people, and extended through Sat, Aug. 31, the twenty-four hours President Obama announced he would enquire Congress to authorize a military strike. In total, 321 stories and well-nigh 21 hours of Syria coverage found on talk and news-oriented cablevision shows were analyzed. Researchers looked at the framing, or focus, of the stories; the mix of reporting versus opinion; the datelines where coverage originated; central messages that were present in stories; the types of sources used; and the programming format. (See methodology)

Among the findings in this report:

  • A breakdown of coverage of the Syrian crunch during the period studied reveals that CNN, by far, spent the most time on the subject-nigh 381 minutes or nearly six-and-a-half hours of programming. Al Jazeera America outpaced Fox News, 273 minutes to 220. And MSNBC ranked final, at 194 minutes. Because BBC America airs few news programs than the other cable outlets, 1-third fewer hours were analyzed in the report. Nonetheless, BBC America spent as much fourth dimension on Syria as MSNBC, at 194 minutes.
  • Close to half of the Al Jazeera America stories on the Syrian crunch (43%) focused on the U.S-axial debate over whether this country should get militarily involved in Syrian arab republic. That puts the aqueduct in the middle of the cable spectrum, higher than BBC America (25%) and CNN (36%), but below the more partisan-oriented cable networks, MSNBC (62%) and Play tricks News (64%).
  • The message that was conveyed most oft in Al Jazeera America'southward coverage of Syria was that the U.Due south. should respond militarily, appearing in 43% of the outlet's stories. That was very close to the breakdown on CNN, Fob News (both 45%) and BBC America (42%). Only MSNBC, at 64%, had a markedly higher number.
  • Despite having admission to more than 60 international Al Jazeera network bureaus, virtually three-quarters (76%) of Al Jazeera America stories originated from Washington, D.C., or New York City. That is slightly college than CNN (71%) and lower than MSNBC (85%) or Fox News (94%). Just nineteen% of BBC America's coverage originated from those ii cities compared with 42% coming from London.
  • In its utilize of sources, Al Jazeera America often tracked closely with CNN. President Obama or members of his assistants showed upwards in 66% of Al Jazeera America stories compared with 59% on CNN. Syrian sources were cited in 26% of Al Jazeera America stories and 24% on CNN. On both channels, congressional representatives were sources in xvi% of the stories.
  • In improver to Al Jazeera's coverage, some broader findings in the overall cablevision coverage stood out. While a number of polls bear witness that a large bulk of the U.S. public is against military machine activity confronting Syria, in the calendar week studied, the overall percentage of cablevision stories conveying a bulletin that America should get involved (47% ) solidly outnumbered stories with letters counseling against a strike (27%).
  • While the complex Syrian crisis includes a variety of key players and issues, 2-thirds of the overall cable coverage was framed around iii topics-the debate over U.S. involvement (44% of the stories), chemical weapons themselves (fourteen%) and scenarios for an American armed services response (nine%). Stories focused on the Syrian government or the views of Syrian citizens accounted for 7%.

The Focus of Syria Coverage

Once the U.South. government accused the Assad regime of using chemical weapons-an action President Obama had previously identified as a "ruddy line" not to be crossed-the cardinal question was whether the U.Due south. would answer militarily. In the coverage studied, the fence over that question was the dominant focus on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News-also as on Al Jazeera America.

Overall, the argue over whether U.S. should go militarily involved in the Syrian conflict, combined with a discussion of the military machine scenarios, accounted for nearly half the coverage on Al Jazeera America (47% of the stories) and CNN (48%). Those frames were more dominant on Fox News (77%) and MSNBC (67%), largely because those channels-with their heavy diet of politics-focused more on the Washington-axial contend over a U.S. response. On BBC America, which paid considerably more attention to London's function in the crisis, they accounted for merely 29%.

The topic of the use of chemic weapons figured into each aqueduct's coverage, with 13% of Al Jazeera America's stories framed around that consequence. That was somewhat less than CNN (19%), but more than than BBC America (10%) and Fox News (eight%).

Two other story frames that offered a Syrian perspective on events-the views of Syrian citizens and a focus on that nation's government-played a smaller function in the coverage. And that was true for Al Jazeera America too. Together, they were the focus of 7% of its stories, less than on both CNN (12%) and the BBC America (10%), just considerably more than on MSNBC (3%) or Play a trick on News (0%). In this instance, Al Jazeera's roots in the Mideast did not translate into significantly more framing from the Syrian perspective.

In two areas, however, Al Jazeera America did focus its stories effectually a more global and less U.South.-oriented perspective. Six percent of its stories were framed around the humanitarian crisis in the region caused by the conflict that has taken more than 100,000 lives. That was more than whatsoever of its cable rivals.

This greater focus on humanitarian coverage stood out on the Aug. xxx edition of Al Jazeera America's nightly 10 p.g. show, "Consider This," which aired a 12-minute long story on weather condition for the about two million Syrian refugees living in neighboring countries such as Turkey and Lebanon.

In addition, 9% of Al Jazeera America stories nigh Syria were framed around other countries' views of the disharmonize (non including England). Of the U.S. cable channels, CNN was closest at v% while BBC America devoted even more attention to the subject (15%).

Messages in the Syrian arab republic Coverage

Just as Al Jazeera America shared the big three U.S. cable channels' focus on whether the U.South. would answer militarily, so too did information technology share the messages conveyed about that result. This report examined the key messages or sentiments that were present in the stories about Syria, and on Al Jazeera America-forth with CNN and Fox News-sentiments in favor of armed services intervention far outnumbered those opposed to a armed services response.

The pct of stories that included the message that the U.S. and its allies should get militarily involved was 43% on Al Jazeera America, 45% on CNN and 45% on Play a trick on News.

On Aug. 28, Play tricks News interviewed one strategist who advocated for a major war machine response, including the imposition of a no-wing zone and "the introduction of drones to brainstorm killing, decapitating Syrian military leadership."

Conversely, the message that the country should non strike Syrian arab republic militarily appeared in 24% on Al Jazeera America stories, 23% of CNN'due south and 20% of Fox News stories. In all iii cases, messages favoring U.S. military activeness outnumbered those opposed by most a 2:1 ratio.

Those ratios were dissimilar, however, on BBC America, where the message in favor of U.S. involvement (42% of stories) barely exceeded the sentiment to avoid military action (40%). And on MSNBC, messages favoring military activity appeared in 64% of the stories, but a substantial per centum (39%) also conveyed sentiments confronting U.S. intervention.

One of those expressing opposition to a U.S. military response was Democratic Congressman Jim McDermott of Washington State. During an Aug. 29 edition of the Al Jazeera evening newscast, McDermott said, "We have not had one phone call in my office in support of attacking Syria. Everybody is opposed to the United States going into activity."

This study also tracked a number of letters in the coverage that were somewhat disquisitional of the U.Southward. or sent upward warning flags almost possible military action. And in most of these cases, the messages in Al Jazeera America's coverage did non offering a harsher or more skeptical view of the U.S. than its rivals.

The idea that the U.S. and its allies don't understand the complexities of the Middle East, for example, was negligible on Al Jazeera America (0%) equally was the case on most cable news channels. (It did register in ane% of the CNN stories). The daunting idea that there are no good options for the U.S. in this crisis appeared in 4% of the new channel'due south stories compared with 5% on Flim-flam News, 6% on CNN and 21% on MSNBC.

Another red flag message involved comparisons to the state of affairs in Iraq in 2003, when allegations almost weapons of mass destruction (which proved to be non-existent) were a major reason the U.South. attacked Saddam Hussein. The bulletin that the Iraq experience should make the nation more wary of U.S. intelligence assessments was marginally higher on Al Jazeera America (10%) than on Play a joke on News (9%) and CNN (vii%) and considerably less frequent than on BBC America (21%) and MSNBC (28%).

During the Aug. 28 edition of the BBC World News, the importance of learning the lessons of Republic of iraq was driven home by former UK ambassador to the United States, Sir Christopher Meyer. "We've been here before," he said. "So I remember the prime minister [David Cameron], and President Obama for that matter, must deliver a very high level of certitude about the evidence."

Another worrisome sentiment, that U.South. military involvement would last longer than anticipated, appeared in only 3% of the stories Al Jazeera America, the same level equally MSNBC and slightly lower than Pull a fast one on News (5%) and CNN (4%). Over again, it is BBC America, at thirteen%, that is the outlier, rather than Al Jazeera America.

The cautionary message that a U.S entry into the Syrian conflict would pb to larger Mideast bug appeared in 16% of Al Jazeera America stories, followed closely by CNN (14%) and and then past MSNBC (ten%) and Trick News (8%). And that was far lower than the frequency of that message on BBC America (31%).

During an Aug. 31 broadcast on Al Jazeera America, contributor Mike Viquerie made that signal in discussing a letter from Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Martin Dempsey, alarm of possible consequences of military activeness. "You are taking the hat off all of these disparate elements-Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, on reverse sides of this thing, Islamic republic of iran, Syria, the regional conflagration that never seems to end," Viquerie said.

Sources in the Syria Stories

Equally was the case with CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, by far the nearly prominent sources cited in Al Jazeera America'south coverage for the week were the U.S. leaders at the epicenter of the crisis-Barack Obama and members of his administration. Those individuals were cited as sources in two-thirds of Al Jazeera America's coverage, making them somewhat more prevalent than on CNN (59%) and MSNBC (54%) and somewhat less prevalent than on Flim-flam News (75%).

Key administration sources were amongst the harshest critics of the Assad government. In remarks on Aug. 26, Secretarial assistant of State John Kerry declared that the "indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the killing of women and children and innocent bystanders by chemic weapons is a moral obscenity."

Just the source of mayhap the near noteworthy pronouncement during the week studied in this written report was Obama himself, who surprised many past seeking a congressional vote.

"I'g ready to act in the face of this outrage," he stated on Aug. 31. "Today I'g request Congress to ship a message to the world that we are ready to move frontwards together equally 1 nation."

Another meaning category of sources came from the U.Due south. congressional ranks, many of whom were hitting the cablevision excursion to weigh in on the situation. Those sources showed up in the aforementioned pct of stories on both Al Jazeera America and CNN (16%). They appeared considerably more often in coverage on Pull a fast one on News (36%) and MSNBC (38%).

Even earlier Obama announced he would seek congressional dominance for military activeness, members of Congress were weighing in. Speaking on CNN's Situation Room on Aug. 28, Democratic Congressman Eliot Engel of New York endorsed an attack, proverb "We stand up for democracy and nosotros stand up for not assuasive innocent civilians, including children, to be gassed."

On the other side of the alley, Republican Scott Rigell of Virginia told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on Aug. 27 that the president needed to go to Capitol Hill, proverb Obama "had a duty to call Congress back into session." Those sentiments were echoed in an eastward-mail bulletin co-authored by Business firm Speaker John Boehner. "Under the Constitution, the responsibility to declare war lies with Congress," he said.

In some other sign that the new entrant into the cable competition was focusing on a U.S. perspective of events, fully 26% of its stories featured a erstwhile U.S. diplomat or former or electric current U.S. armed forces personnel as a source, more than any of its rivals.MSNBC was next, at xviii%. None of the channels made much use of ordinary U.S. citizens as sources, only Al Jazeera America and Fox News had the nigh, at 3%.

Some of the military personnel who spoke to the issue expressed reservations almost a limited missile strike on Syria. On CNN, one-time Navy officer Christopher Harmer stated that "a limited strike in the absence of service of a strategic objective is the worst of all options…Our strategic interests go far beyond simply seeing Assad finish using his air force to set on civilians…and I don't come across what the point is if nosotros're non going all in on one side or the other."

A number of Syrian sources-including authorities and military officials, rebels and ordinary citizens-were cited in the coverage. All totaled, they appeared in 26% of the Al Jazeera America stories. CNN was close at 21%, well ahead of Fox News (11%) and MSNBC (5%). Overall, they were cited most often on BBC America, appearing in more than one-tertiary (38%) of its stories.

When it came to sources from Mideast countries other than Syria, Al Jazeera used a higher proportion (9%) than its U.South. rivals. CNN was next, at half-dozen%, with both Fox News and MSNBC citing those sources in 5% of their stories.

Where Stories Originated

In the run-upwards to its launch, Al Jazeera America trumpeted the fact that aside from v overseas news bureaus of its own, the outlet would have access to 65 international bureaus in the broader Al Jazeera network. Just in the Syria coverage studied, the young news channel relied heavily on stories that originated from two U.Due south. locations-Washington, D.C., and New York.

From Aug. 25-31, fully 76% of Al Jazeera America's stories originated from those two cities, modestly more CNN (71%) and iv times more BBC America (19%). The ii channels that by and large focus almost intently on U.S. politics, MSNBC (85%) and Flim-flam News (94%), were even more than U.S.-focused in their datelines.

The number of datelines originating in Syria may accept largely been a function of which outlets were able to get admission to the state of war-torn country, where media coverage is severely restricted. Here, BBC America and CNN led the manner with 17% and ten% of their stories respectively coming from Syria, compared with Al Jazeera America, at 1%.

At the same time, Al Jazeera America did produce the highest pct of coverage that emanated from a group of Syria's Mideast neighbors-from Turkey to Jordan to Egypt. Fully fifteen% of the channel'southward stories had datelines originating there, with about of them (9%) coming from Lebanon. CNN and MSNBC were next at 10%, while Fox News had the everyman percentage of Mideast datelines (vi%), all of which came from Israel.

Another 4% of Al Jazeera America's stories originated from a country that proved to exist a key thespian in the crisis-Russia. That was more than any other cablevision outlet as well BBC America, at half-dozen%.

Reporting vs. Stance and Programming Format

I manner Al Jazeera America says it hopes to distinguish itself from its cable competitors is to de-emphasize television "shout-fests" in which ideological foes engage in heated rhetoric. But that doesn't mean opinion doesn't have its place on the new channel.

An before report of cable news content past the Pew Enquiry Center found that with the narrow exception of CNN, more than cable airtime is devoted to presenting opinions rather than producing reporting. That is particularly true in prime time, which often devotes itself to polarizing political and ideological debate. But in the cable coverage of the Syrian crunch, reported stories dominated commentary and opinion, in both daytime and prime fourth dimension and for each outlet.

In the reporting vs. opinion divide, Al Jazeera America hewed more closely to the mix at MSNBC and the Play tricks News than to CNN or BBC America. Of its stories about Syria, 63% were dominated by reporting while 37% were categorized every bit commentary. That compares with a 59%-41% ratio on Fox News and a 64%-36% split on MSNBC.

CNN, which has branded itself as the home of extensive reporting resources, had the highest quotient of reporting, 86% of its stories, compared with xiv% that were stance. BBC America was next with a 77%-23% split.

Merely while commentary had a home on Al Jazeera America during the Syrian crunch, the channel produced a higher pct of reported and edited story packages about Syria than whatever of its rivals other than BBC America. From Aug. 26-31, more than 3rd (35%) of Al Jazeera America's stories took the form of these packaged pieces. That compared with 26% on CNN, 22% on Fox News and 18% on MSNBC. BBC America was the top producer of story packages, at 42%.

The contempo Pew Research Center written report on cable news content establish that interviews fill more cable airtime than any other type of format. In the Syria coverage studied, that was a particularly dominant format on Fox News (58% of stories) and MSNBC (46%). One-third (34%) of Al Jazeera America's stories took the form of interviews, very similar to the level on CNN (34%) and BBC America (35%).

Al Jazeera America did, even so, rely more on live staff reports (27% of stories)-which involve correspondents reporting from locations exterior the studio-than near of its cable news competitors. CNN aired the highest percentage of live reports at 36%, well alee of MSNBC (xviii%), BBC America (fifteen%) and Trick News (xiv%).