Blasphemy versus Freedom of Expression: Analysis of Saudi Arabian and Vatican CityNews Media

Abstract

This study explores the freedom of expression exercised by Saudi Arabian and Vatican City representative news media with reference to the controversial movie trailer “Innocence of Muslims”. The researchers contently analyzed the opinion articles publishedin dailythe Arab News and daily the Roman Observer.Theconsistency and discordframing approach was applied to investigate the nature of reporting. The researchers found that Vatican City media reported this issuedominantly through consistency frame and Saudi Arabian media depicted it through discord frame, however with the passage of time both were found leaning towards consistency and reconciliation.