Konflikten om Västsahara: En kvalitativ studie om hur konflikten om Västsahara framställs i amerikanska media

Abstract

The conflict over Western Sahara is primarily a conflict over sovereignty, with Morocco on one side claiming territorial rights, and the Polisario Front on the other side claiming popular sovereignty. The conflict has till this day not been resolved and is in a dire need of a solution. In order to determine which solution is the most appropriate, an understanding of all the complex aspects of the conflict is required. In this context, the study aims to examine the conflict in a globalized setting by analyzing how the American news agency AP News portrays the conflict. The US media conglomerate was specifically chosen due to its dominance over international information flows. This way, the United States obtains great power to influence the global portrayal of the conflict over Western Sahara. The purpose of the study was fulfilled through the application of a thematic analysis which showed that AP News' material is characterized by a Moroccan bias as well as an international dimension. The results further indicate that the news articles of AP News can create a distorted and simplified picture, and thereby understanding, of the conflict within the international community. This could potentially affect the global opinion and decision-making, which in turn could hinder the achievement of a just solution. The results were further explained by the application of a Postcolonial theory and can act as an indication of what an American approach to the conflict might look like.