Framing Arab Islam Axiology Published in Korean Newspapers.

Mutual interest and cooperation between Korea and several Arab countries is increasing. Each country's perceptions of each other serve as critical factors in the development of mutual success in business and trade fields. Their perceptions also affect diplomatic and cultural affairs in the public and private sectors. The news media serve as the public faces of these countries' daily lives. The news media also serve as primary information sources that determine these countries' national images. This study attempted to discover whether news coverage related to Arabs published by Korean newspapers contributed to the Korean public's negative perceptions of Arab axiological images. The results revealed that the strongest news coverage published in Korean newspapers related Arabs with "war, terror, and dangerous region." The majority of the articles published in both newspapers were negative. However, the results revealed that, in general, Korean respondents did not possess negative perceptions of Arabs and Arab culture. Korean respondents were well aware that Arab individuals are kind, affectionate, well-mannered, and easygoing. In fact, the results reinforced the notion that Koreans possessed positive perceptions of Arab individuals' "devout Islamic religious lifestyles," as well as Arab individuals' efforts to "inherit and develop Islamic cultural traditions." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]