U.S. and Arab Media Coverage of Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

Media coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has in recent years been as much of an evolving story as the conflict itself. The emergence of media outlets such as Qatar-based Al Jazeera and a variety of Internet sites, which compete for readers, viewers, and subscribers with American broadcast, print, cable, online, and satellite outlets, has lent complexity to the media landscape.

This literature review examines scholarly and popular discourse of media coverage of the conflict from October 2000 through March 2004. The review will be set in the context of the modern history of the Middle East that has been the subject of American and Arab media attention since 1948, when the state of Israel was created, and that has been the setting for persistent conflict between Israel and Palestinians from that time to this. The scope, limit, and content of both American and Arab/Muslim media coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will be described first. Because American media practices originate with corporate news organizations, literature dealing with U.S. media polices and practices in general, and, where appropriate, relative to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, will be discussed. The role and function of mass media in Arab society, as well as relevant media-related policies and practices, will also be discussed. The literature review is intended to establish s

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terrible disaster is in the making in the Middle East. What Osama bin Laden failed to achieve on 11 September is now being unleashed by the Israeli-Palestinian war in the West Bank: a clash of civilizations" (Friedman, 2002, p. B3). In a study of the role and importance of the media per se in Middle East reportage Wolfsfeld (2003) reasons that (a) both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and (b) both the proponents of the Islamic case for fairness in framing coverage of the terrorism issue and the proponents of a Western (American-led crusade) against (mainly) Islamic terrorism are battling for the collective mind of the media because all parties realize that media positioning can shift the support of important constituencies to one side or the other. For Wolfsfeld (2003), the battle of partisans is not so much a direct contest for public opinion as a battle for media acceptance of specific positions on the issues. In other words, if media outlets become central actors in conflicts in which they are not meant to directly participate. Media credibility--not that of their government or corporate partisan sources--is the public's point of reference. That line of thought is argued by Wolfsfeld (1997a) in an analysis of the Isr
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 9803
Approximate Pages = 39 (250 words per page)

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