Media Coverage On The The Media & The Israeli-Palestinian .

Does the media help us to make sense of the world? Does it sometimes confuse us? Should the media be unbiased?The media & the Israeli-Palestinian conflictC A A B UCAABU Is it sometimes tricky for the media to avoid bias?Media coverage on theIsraeli-Palestinian conflict generates morecomplaints about media bias than any othernews subjectOne journalist said:We’re constantly beingtold that the attention span ofour average viewer is about 20secondsOnejournalist was told by hiseditor that they didn’t wantany ‘explainers’. ‘It’s all bang-bangstuff,’ he said. But can this bang-bangattitude fully explain the shape thenews takes?A key challenge in the production of newsis holding the attention of viewers andreaders. But often being brief just ends upconfusing people. Can the news sustainlong explanations? Perhaps not, but asmall amount of information cansubstantially improveunderstanding.Greg Philo, TheGuardian, 14 July2004Reporters in the field vsproducersinLondonSometimesproducers inLondon try to set the storyagainst the advice of those onthe ground. Do you thinkpeople on the ground aremore likely to understandwhat is going on thansomeone faraway in London?Apart from death and injury,much Palestinian sufferingarises from displacement andoccupation – which do notlend themselves to newsworthy events – unlike thedeaths of Israelis.Television news is the main sourceof information on the Israel-Palestine conflictfor about 80% of the population. Yet the quality ofwhat they see and hear is so confused and partial that itis impossible to have a sensible public debate about thereasons for the conflict or how it mightbe resolved

Page 2Many people are bored by the conflict and do not understand itIs this perhaps to do with the lack of historical context offered in the news? In the first monthof the Palestinian uprising or intifada in 2000, out of 3500 lines of text (written down fromTV news bulletins), only 17 referred to the history of the conflict. Do you think this is enough tounderstand why Palestinians might have been staging an uprising?There are differences between print journalism (newspapers) and broadcast journalism(TV and news). Discuss the different obstacles faced by these form of media in coveringthe Israeli-Palestinian conflict. You could start with thinking about whether it is easier toexplain history in a written article or oral piece? What about the use of visuals? How doesthe internet feed into the media’s ability to cover stories?RefugeesPalestinian refugees are the world’s largestrefugee population. Despite this, the refugeeissue is rarely spoken about, and when it is, it isoften not explained properly and the Israeli rolein the creation of the refugees is glossed over.In the BBC’s country profile of Israel and theOccupied Palestinian Territories, for example,the refugee issue is only mentioned once when‘the fate of Palestinian refugees’ is described asone of the main stumbling blocks to a finalpeace agreement between Israel and thePalestinians.But where did the refugees come from? In the fighting that led up to and followed the creation ofthe state of Israel in 1948, two-thirds of the Palestinians were either expelled or ran away when news ofatrocities in other Palestinian villages spread. 400 Palestinian villages were destroyed. The Palestinianshoped to return to their homes as soon as they could. Today, 70% of Palestinians are still refugees.Do some research and find out if any mainstream outlets include any background or information onthe refugees.The two sides are often spoken about as if they were equal.This is a typical examplefrom ITV newsIsraelis and Palestinians are on the brink of war tonightafter a day of tit-for-tat violence in the Middle EastSometimes issues can be misrepresented not through what is said, but through what is left out.The 2005 review of the BBC assessingthe impartiality of its news and currentaffairs coverage of the IsraeliPalestinian conflict identified a:failure to convey adequately the disparityin the Israeli and Palestinian experience, reflecting the factthat one side is in control and the other lives underoccupationThey added that:although this asymmetry does not necessarily bear on therelative merits of the two sides, it is so marked and important that coverageshould succeed in this if nothing elseLet’s look atwhat is leftout.

T H E M E D I A & T H E I S R AE L I - P AL E S T I N I A N C O N F L I C TPage 3What occupation?The West Bank and Gaza are known as the Occupied Palestinian Territories because they areoccupied by Israel and have been for 40 years – since 1967. For Palestinians, the occupation ischaracterised by brutality, violence and the denial of their basic rights.In samples of British students that the Glasgow Media Group study carried out, only 9% in 2001and 11% in 2002 knew the Israelis were occupying the land – in the first sample more believedthe reverse, that Palestinians were occupying the land.The occupation is rarely mentioned – and when it is, it is often not explored or explained.How does the absence of the occupation in a news story shape the story?When the occupation is not discussed, the impression is created that normal, peaceful day-to-day life isdisrupted only when the Palestinians launch an attack.But for Palestinians in the occupied territories, there isno possibility of a normal and peaceful day-to-day life.There is the day-to-day grind and uncertainty of livingunder a military occupation. International, Israeli andPalestinian human rights organisations havedocumented the almost daily violations of Palestinianhuman rights on the part of the Israelis.For example, freedom of movement is limited byhundreds of checkpoints which Palestinians have to gothrough and where humiliation of Palestinians iscommonplace. Sometimes people wait hours at acheckpoint, sometimes they are not allowed through.The restrictions on freedom of movement cripple theeconomy and mean that people cannot reach workplaces, schools and hospitals.Without a discussionof Israel’s military occupation,developments of Israeli tactics arepresented as security requirements. Thisis the Israeli point of view. The Palestinianpoint of view is that these tactics are ways toextend and deepen the occupation and are majorthreats to the security of ordinary Palestinians. Thisview is rendered invisible by the absence of theoccupation in news stories. Palestinians haveconsiderable security concerns themselves– they are without a state whilstIsrael is a regional nuclearsuperpower.Find 4 different newspaper articles and watch 2 newsprogrammes from different channels. Write a list of theways that these news pieces would be different if theoccupation was included as a focusInternational law: Many human rightsorganisations, international lawyers and theUN have criticised Israeli actions as beingagainst international law. The settlements andthe barrier Israel is building in the West Bank,for instance, were both declared to be illegalby the International Court of Justice.Does the media’s widespread neglect tomention when Israeli actions are againstinternational law mean a pro-Israelibias or can it still claim to be neutral?

Page 4SettlementsSettlements are communities for Jews only established in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. They havemilitary and strategic value and are illegal under international law. Israel disputes this, but UN SecurityCouncil Resolutions, the International Court of Justice as well as numerous human rights organisationsconfirm their illegality. Despite this, Israel continues to expand and consolidate the settlements in theWest Bank. There are over 400 000 settlers. There are two sets of laws, one for the settlers and one forthe Palestinians. Palestinians, who are subject to military law, are forbidden from entering orapproaching Israeli settlements or using settlers’ roads. Palestinian land is taken by the Israeli military forthe building of these settlements and settler-only roads.The expansion and refusal to dismantle settlements makes a future Palestinian state in the OccupiedTerritories impossible – this idea that the occupied territories will become an independent Palestinianstate is known as the two-state solution – and one that the Israeli government says it supports.Consider the following definition of settlement inthe Guardian online glossary:Since the Six Day War, more than 170,000 Jews havesettled in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (whichIsraelis call Judea and Samaria), most in heavilyfortified colonies. Many Jewish people, both religiousand secular, believe the territories to be part of theancestral Land of Israel.Would you have included/excluded the same details?PeopleIn 1994, Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafatwon the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts in bringingabout peace talks. At the time, Rabin was the Israeliprime minister, Peres was the Israeli foreign minister andArafat was the leader of the Palestinian LiberationOrganisation.PERESPalestinians also remember Rabin as the man who cleansed two large Palestinian towns(Ramla and Lydda) in 1948-49, who masterminded the occupation of their lands in 1967,and who spoke of breaking their bones during the first Intifada.ARAFATRabin and Peres are often described as peacemakers,whilst Arafat is more often described as an obstacle topeace.But.Peres is described in online BBC articles as “a major player in the peace process” and “afighter for peace,” Palestinians also see his role in expanding settlements and the fact thathe was one of the architects of Israel’s clandestine (secret) nuclear weapons programme.RABINTaking the BBC as an example, even Arafat’s online obituary does not include the fact healso won the Nobel Peace Prize.What effect does mentioning Rabin and Peres’ peace prize, whilst ignoring Arafat’shave? What about the absence of the other sides of Rabin and Peres’ records,which Palestinians know too well?