ma thesis: mapping malala

Designing the NewsA Thesis

ByMonica Alisse

Information DesignDesign Academy of EindhovenJoost GrootensJune, 2013

http://www.thesis.designing_news.com/

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Designing the News

Monica Alisse

Colophon

Working Date From The Fall of 2012 to The Spring of 2013

Paper: Printing paper 80 g A4

Size of Book 1024 x 768 px (36 x 27 cm.)

Binding of Book: Short-edge binding

Type Face, Size (Leading) Arial Family 18 pt. (15.5), 12 pt. (15.5), 10 pt. (12.9)

Colours Total 4 colours (CMYK %): (0 - 0 - 0 - 100), (0 - 0 - 0 - 50), (100 -90 - 10 - 0), (0 - 100 - 0 - 0), (100 - 0 - 0 - 0)

Writing and Citing Sources Style: Purdue OWL: APA Formatting and Styling Guide

© Monica Alisse 2013 All Rights Reserved

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Contents1. Introduction

www.thesis.designing_news.com/text/6I am grounded by truth. As an individual and designer I have focused

throughout my profession to find meaning in everything and embrace the process.

2. Defining the Newswww.thesis.designing_news.com/text/9When presenting my proposed thesis topic in September I initially had a vision of what the news was to me.

3. Online Trends, Personalisation and Googlewww.thesis.designing_news.com/text/11By collecting a variety of online articles, using Google search engine as the default search tool was intended to examine the links it gave to news articles about Malala.

4. Reporting the Reports of Day Onewww.thesis.designing_news.com/text/13Collecting a variety of online articles, news reports, and blogs from Google for a period of 100 days was enough to come up with the definition of the role of news.

5. Empty Gapswww.thesis.designing_news.com/text/15Distributing news from its origin is similar to Chinese whispers, or the “telephone” game.a. The Portrayal of Pakistanb. The Inconsistent Portrayal of Malala Yousafzai Over Timec. Conspiracy Theories and Irrelevant Connections

6. The Role of Authoritarian Figureswww.thesis.designing_news.com/text/20Several of the people discussed in the previous chapter, such as the Jamaat-e-Islami and Lord Ahmed are authoritarian figures responsible for diverting the story of Malala.

a. Opinion Leaders and the Two-Step Flow Theoryb. Political Figures Condemning Malala’s Attackc. Celebrity Figures

7. Reasoning With the Inaccuracywww.thesis.designing_news.com/text/24Partisan divide is a technique to add more opinion and criticism in the news.a. Partisan Bias b. Ideology and Glittering Generalitiesc. Self-Service and Participation

8. Designing Solutions, Rather than Stating the Problemwww.thesis.designing_news.com/text/26Obviously, the tool cannot make decisions for the user and say that the source is unreliable, but it entices users with questions about word usage and has them desire to do the research themselves.a. Exhibition Spaceb. The Online News Tool

9. Conclusion: The Dissecting Processwww.thesis.designing_news.com/text/28The process to making meaning behind this chaotic compilation of news articles and data had me map my findings along the way. These findings are a result of dissecting moments that stood out and supported the causes and effects of news and media communication.

10. Works Cited www.thesis.designing_news.com/works_cited/29

11. Image Librarywww.thesis.designing_news.com/images/34

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1. IntroductionI am grounded by truth. As an individual and designer I have focused throughout my profession to find meaning in everything and embrace the process. By making meaning I usually expect to share with my audience the experience itself and hand them a conclusion. However, throughout this process of seeking truth and reason, I realised that no conclusion can be handed, for the beauty is for the audience to realise they have their own conclusions and responses. But what causes them to come up with these conclusions? The concept behind this thesis is that there are multiple truths in our reality and we all fall into the same trap of affirming what is truth by the information we consume. This thesis is composed of my findings and the documentation of my research. The more information I found, the more reflections I made. There were also moments of with-drawal when attempting to make linear steps. Ideas would surface again when attempting to seek relevance and connectivity. Some succeeded and others had to be discarded.

Applied knowledge becomes a belief, a truth and a linear repetition of that belief is a comfort. If new ideas clash with our beliefs the feeling may be bewildering and uncomfortable. I am naturally mirroring visually and verbally the process of reflecting upon an overload of data support-ing multiple theories. Sets of theories show the complexity of finding a solution or the attempt to simplify what is there. As I have discovered, we need to accept we live in a complex world with diverse networks of thought; those thoughts may match our own, or they may not. We should not be the fly trapped in one web of thought. We do not need to follow the thoughts, for we may not rely on them. If we have been branded to one web of thought, not all the information supporting it may necessarily be correct, and we become tricked into believing it is. Compiling my find-ings together present that I do not have a belief, but ideas and proposed solutions for this complexity that is ongoing, growing and cannot be con-trolled. I know what is there and the tools used for creating multiple sets of realities that become digested as a neutral commodity.

I investigated the news platform. It appears as neutral, and is disconnect-ed from subjectivity. I looked into the role of news and noticed the incon-sistency in seeing all these realities compiled, which confused me at first,

Noun1. The quality or state of being true: “the truth of her accusation”.2. That which is true or in accordance with fact or reality: “tell me the truth”.

Synonymssooth - verity - reality - fact - veracity - fidelity

NounA thing used in an occupation or pursuit

VerbImpress a design on (leather).

More info - Wikipedia - Dictionary.com - Answers.com -Merriam-Webster

More info - Wikipedia - Dictionary.com - Answers.com -Merriam-Webster

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but had me realise that I cannot show a truth. In doing this, I researched on one story and tracked how it evolved to support my investigation.

I mapped Malala Yousafzai’s story, in which I have attempted to ana-lyse the roots of where a story or news report comes from and why the story gets targeted to support various reactions. Malala is a girl who was shot by militants in the northern region of Pakistan. The reason behind choosing this story is its notable attraction to an American audience, due to news topics and general trends that are key to cultural ideals: human rights, democracy, feminism, extremism, and terrorist threats. I then analysed how these authors boost believability and reliability in their writings about Malala. It is important to note that this research only covers the relationship between the United States reaction and those of Pakistan because of my familiarity to American news corporations. I also researched reports and made my own surveys to understand how the news has changed over time; if it is genuinely seen as a reliable source, and what type of news source justifies their knowledge.

My thesis is divided into nine chapters. The second chapter focuses on my original thoughts towards the news--its importance and flaws. Why is it so dependable? How does it influence patterns of behaviour, the formu-lation of a society, the way we connect to the outside world, or business and the market?

The third chapter explains the results of using Google search engine as my tool to gather news information. I discuss how online news is causal to certain changes of its role, and how the growth of distribution gives the reader presence, from being news consumers, to news participants. Finally, I track word repetition, quoting and distribution, and discuss how trends begin to boost the inconsistency of Malala’s story.

The fourth chapter analyses reports I have collected on the day of Mala-la’s shooting. I discuss my confusion towards reading reliable reports. I question the reasons behind the distortion, attempting to find answers with data and contacting the reporters responsible for the online publica-tion.

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MALALA YOUSAFZAI

A girl shot by militants in the Swat valley, the northern region of Pakistan.

See page 57, 58

2. DEFINING THE NEWS

When presenting my proposed thesis topic in September I initially had a vision of what the news was to me.

See page 6

3. ONLINE TRENDS, PERSONALISA-TION AND GOOGLE

By collecting a variety of online articles, using Google...

See page 11

4. REPORTING THE REPORTSOF DAY ONE

Collecting a variety of online articles, news reports,...

See page 13

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The fifth chapter discusses why Malala’s story has become a time-less subject, making her shooting appear as a severe matter, victimising diversity. Throughout time, Malala’s portrayal and image evolves. Also, readers and more independent bloggers compare her story to irrelevant stories. Conspiracy theories also come up over time, making Malala ap-pear as a conspiracy herself.

The sixth chapter discusses how authoritarian figures in Malala’s case come into play: political figures, celebrities, and opinion leaders, recog-nised from Two-Step-Flow Theory and their opinions vastly diffused on Twitter.

The seventh chapter examines the reason behind all these distortions: Partisan bias, ideology, glittering generalities, self-service and partici-pation Although explained separately, I stress that these elements also depend on each other to boost and strengthen believability.

The last chapter exhibits my findings and presents my final designs. The first design is one wall with animated graphics and tiny videos. The audience has a choice to enter the small-scaled world of perception or manipulation. Some videos are more devoted to collecting the facts, other use the facts to its own benefit by applying the elements of distor-tion described in the previous chapter. The second design supports the fact that I cannot find a truth, but I can design a solution that aims at guid-ing people to become more critical thinkers and questioners about the online news they consume. The tool is also attempted for professional news organisations to engage in considering guidelines for themselves to improve as writers.

I aim to show that the role of news and media have been simplified forms of retrieving factual information, avoiding as much rumour and supersti-tion as possible. However, it is still inconsistent due to the now granted amplification of information and its stress to maintain the validity of a se-lection of ideologies supporting societal behaviour. It instead should have us draw more questions about why it is depended on, or simply have us understand that what is put in print is not necessarily something that is set in stone. Perhaps we should question its definition altogether as be-ing a battle over the ownership of selective voices validated by state and public to be heard and sold.

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5. EMPTY GAPS

Distributing news from its origin is similar to Chinese whispers, or the “telephone” game.

See page 15

6. THE ROLE OF AUTHORITARIANFIGURES

...Jamaat-e-Islami and Lord Ahmed are authoritarian figures responsible for di-verting the story of Malala.

See page 20

8. DESIGNING SOLUTIONS, RATHER THAN STATING THE PROBLEM

Obviously, the tool cannot make decisions for the user and say that the source is unreliable, but it entices users with ques-tions about word usage and has them desire to do the research themselves.

See page 26

7. REASONING WITH THE INACCURACY

Partisan divide is a technique to add more opinion and criticism in the news.

See page 24

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11. Image Library

Monica AlisseDesign Academy of EindhovenFebruary, 2013

Monica AlisseDesign Academy of EindhovenDecember, 2012

Mapping Malala’s Story With Imagery

100 DAYS, 13

1:50 MODEL, 26


Mapping Malala’s Story

This diagram attempts to identify who Malala is as an individual according to a vast number of references, includ- ing the Taliban.

Malala’s Timeline 1

Comparing the story to a novel, I have combined a plot diagram and timeline to track the actions of the “protago- nists” in the story, and other symbolic elements.


Malala’s Timeline 2

Map 1: Which Press Got the Story First on Day One?

A timeline showing which press may have got the story of Malala first, with lines indicating the circulation of the story among each bureau.



This visualisation shows the influence of each press geographically.


Using the lines from Map 1, I showed the influence of each press.


PAKISTAN OUTRAGE,16

PAKISTAN’S DECLINING TRUST TOWARDS THE US,

16The American news also creates an awareness to its readers that the government of Pakistan is pro-Taliban. However, the major concern the United States should be facing is Pakistan’s declining trust towards the United States, with roughly 74% seeing them as the enemy.

Sir, They Still Believe that Taliban Attacked Malala. “Attack on Malala Yousuf zai Background.” AanBlog. Web. March. 2013. < http://www.aanblog.com/attack-on-malala-yousuf-zai-background.html>.

Pakistani Views of U.S. Remain Grim. 27 June. 2012. Pew Global Attitudes Project, Washington, DC. Pakistani Public Opinion Ever More Critical of U.S. By Andrew Kohut. 2. PDF file.

Majeed, A. “U.S. Officials Say Pakistan Gave Go-Ahead For Airstrikes.” 2 December. 2011. Getty Images AFP. NPR. Web. 17 April. 2013. <http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/12/02/143041280/u-s-officials-say-pakistan-gave-go-ahead-for-airstrikes>.

Relatives of Sarfaraz Shah grieve. “Videotaped killing of man sparks outrage in Pakistan.” 9 June. 2011. Creative Common. International Business Times. Web. 17 April. 2013. <http://www.ibtimes.com/videotaped-killing-man-sparks-outrage-pakistan-289651>.

Chaudary, K.M. A Pakistani woman attending a vigil in Lahore holds a poster of Malala. “Pakistan outraged over girl’s shooting, but crackdown on Taliban Unlikely.” 12 October. 2011. Associated Press. Los Angeles Times. Web. 17 April. 2013. <http://articles.latimes.com/2012/oct/12/world/la-fg-pakistan-malala-assess-20121013>.

Muheisen, Muhammed. Pakistani women protest the attack on Malala Yousufzai, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday. “Taliban shooting of teenage peace activist sparks outrage across Pakistan” 10 October 2012. The Associated Press. Web. < http://www.thespec.com/news/world/article/815223--taliban-shooting-of-teenage-peace-activist-sparks-outrage-across-pakistan>.


PAKISTAN’S POSITION INAMERICAN NEWS MEDIA,

16

PROBABILITY OF NAMING FOREIGN POLICY AS MOST IMPORTANT BY POLITICAL BELIEFS AND PARAGRAPH OF CANDIDATE STRENGTH,

24

Based on Stroud’s findings, a paragraph from a news article stating re-publican or democratic strength in domestic or foreign affairs influences the reader into realising what is important for the future of the country. .

Fig. 6.3. Probability of Naming Foreign Policy as Most Important by Political Beliefs and Paragraph of Candidate Strengths from Natalie Stroud, Niche News: The Politics of News Choice (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011) 163. Print.

Foreign threat of China and the Middle East receives a lot of attention, showing how the news poses them as dangerous to America. Pakistan is posed in the news media as dangerous by 22%.

China Seen by Public as Country Posing the Greatest Danger. 2012. Pew Research Center. Pew Research Global Attitudes Project. Web. November 2012. <http://www.pewglobal.org/2012/09/18/chapter-2-threats-and-concerns/>.


SAMIA RAHEEL QAZI’S POST ON TWITTER ABOUT MALALA,

19

THE OTHER “MALALAS”,18, 19

The influences behind promoting Malala as a heroin in westernised culture, such as signing petitions to improve girl’s educations under UNESCO, creating “I Am Malala” slogans, and voting for her to be on the front page on Time Magazine’s Person of the Year has increased the Tehrik-i-Taliban dislike towards the United States.

J. Realzy. i am malala. 2 November. 2012. Tumblr. Web. December 2012. <http://jrealzy.tumblr.com/post/34835120406>.

To further increase the confusion of Malala’s intentions was a pho-tograph spread and retweeted on Twitter, posted by member of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, Samia Raheel Qazi. The image shows Malala with her father as attendees of a meeting with US envoy, Richard Hol-brooke.

srqazi. “@HamidMirGEO@TalatHussain12:@shamspk@miqazi Malala Amreekee fojee hukkaam k sath.” 13 October 2012, 10:57 p.m. Tweet. February 2013. <https://twitter.com/srqazi>.


TOP ESTABLISHED MEDIA,13

TWITTER DIFFUSION,20

News Diffusion

Monica AlisseDesign Academy of EindhovenMarch, 2013

Bakshy, Eytan et al. “Everyone’s an Influencer: Quantifying Influence on Twitter.” Proceedings of the fourth ACM International Confer-ence on Web Search and Data Mining 9 Feb. 2011: 65-74.



VICTIMS LIKE MALALA YOUSAFZAI,

18

Cantey, Chris. Tracking the Flu on Twitter. 20 January. 2013. Web. 1 February. 2013. <https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/ccantey/web/links/flu/demo/index.html>.

Anne Frankanne-frank-real. “The Diary of Anne Frank, PBS Masterpiece Classic:

A Review.” Jane Austen’s World. 9 April. 2010. Web. 17 February. 2013. <http://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/2010/04/09/the-diary-of-anne-frank-pbs-masterpiece-classic-a-review/>.

Rosa ParksRosa-Parks-9433715-1-402. “Rosa Parks.biography.” Bio.TRUE STO

RY. Web. 17 February. 2013. <http://www.biography.com/people/rosa-parks-9433715>.

Amanda Toddxlarge. “Man at Center of Amanda Todd Bullying Scandal Say He

Didn’t Drive Her to Suicide, But Knows Who Did.” Gawker. 17 October. 2012. Web. 17 February. 2013. <http://gawker.com/amanda-todd/>.

Malai of MaiwandMalalai of Maiwand. “Malalai of Maiwand.” Wikipedia: The Free Ency

clopedia. 17 April. 2013. Web. February 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malalai_of_Maiwand>.

Joan of Arcjoan. “Joan of Arc Biography.” Biography ONLINE. Web. October 2012.

<http://www.biographyonline.net/women/joan-of-arc.html>.


YOUSAFZAI, MALALA,7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27. 28

Malala Yousafzai



ZADARI VISITS MALALA IN BIRMINGHAM HOSPITAL,

22Pakistan’s president Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday met Malala Yousufzai, the teenaged schoolgirl who was shot by a Taliban gunman and is being treated at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

“Zadari Visits Malala in Birmingham Hospital.” The Hindu, 9 December. 2012. Web. 24 May. 2013. <http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/zardari-visits-malala-in-birmingham-hospital/article4181503.ece>.

Ed pick story 1 thumbnail. 2013. Viewpoint. Web. February 2013. <http://www.viewpointonline.net/find-another-home-malala-we-cant-protect-you-ayesha-siddiqa.html>.

ma thesis: mapping malala

Documents

news reports

role of news

comtext15distributing

effects of news

online news tool9

proposed thesis topic

variety of online articles

online trends