Post by Moses on Oct 14, 2004 16:01:31 GMT -5
BBC reporting criticised
Based on an audience sample of more than 800 people and a detailed analysis of TV news over a two-year period, the main conclusion was that BBC television news on the Israel/Palestinian conflict confuses viewers and substantially features Israeli government views.
Israelis are quoted and speak in interviews over twice as much as Palestinians, and there are major differences in the language used to describe the two sides, the researchers discovered.
Jewish settlers regularly target
Palestinian families for attackSpeaking to Aljazeera.net on Wednesday, Philo said TV news says almost nothing about the history or origins of the conflict.
"The majority of those surveyed did not know Palestinians had been forced from their homes and land when Israel was established in 1948. In 1967 Israel occupied by force the territories to which the Palestinian refugees had moved.
"Most viewers did not know that the Palestinians subsequently lived under Israeli military rule or that the Israelis took control of key resources such as water, and the damage this did to the Palestinian economy," he said.
"And because there was no account of historical events such as the Palestinians losing their homes, there was a tendency for viewers to see the problems as 'starting' with Palestinian action."
Settlements
Philo also found that Israeli actions tended to be explained and contextualised - they were often shown as merely "responding" to what had been done to them by Palestinians.
The study concluded that there is also a tendency to present Israeli settlements in the occupied territories as vulnerable communities, rather than as groups of colonists playing a role in imposing the occupation.
But as the Israeli historian Avi Shlaim has written, they have a key military and strategic function. They have been built on hilltops to give a commanding position and their occupants are often heavily armed.
"Most viewers knew very little of this - one participant expressed his surprise at learning that the settlements controlled over 40% of the West Bank," Philo concluded.
Subversive language
However, a few western mainstream journalists are not afraid to speak out about the issue of poor and confusing media coverage from the occupied territories.
Twice chief Middle East correspondent for the BBC, Tim Llewellyn has pointed out the way language is used to spin a one-sided story in the book Tell Me Lies.
"Palestinians are killed (it happens); but Palestinians killing Israelis (that is deliberate); dead Israelis have a name and identity, dead Arabs are just, well, dead Arabs"
Tim Llewellyn,
retired BBC Middle East correspondent"For a short while on BBC news, 'occupied territories' became 'disputed'. We heard much of Palestinian 'claims' of occupation rather than of the 33-year-long fact of it," he writes.
"Illegal Jewish settlements near Jerusalem became 'neighbourhoods'. Palestinians are killed (it happens); but Palestinians killing Israelis (that is deliberate); dead Israelis have a name and identity, dead Arabs are - just, well, dead Arabs.
"When Palestinians die their bereaved vent 'rage' at apparently riotous funerals; Israeli survivors express shock. The list goes on. The news-speak of the crisis is adjusted to favour the Israeli side."
Based on an audience sample of more than 800 people and a detailed analysis of TV news over a two-year period, the main conclusion was that BBC television news on the Israel/Palestinian conflict confuses viewers and substantially features Israeli government views.
Israelis are quoted and speak in interviews over twice as much as Palestinians, and there are major differences in the language used to describe the two sides, the researchers discovered.
Jewish settlers regularly target
Palestinian families for attackSpeaking to Aljazeera.net on Wednesday, Philo said TV news says almost nothing about the history or origins of the conflict.
"The majority of those surveyed did not know Palestinians had been forced from their homes and land when Israel was established in 1948. In 1967 Israel occupied by force the territories to which the Palestinian refugees had moved.
"Most viewers did not know that the Palestinians subsequently lived under Israeli military rule or that the Israelis took control of key resources such as water, and the damage this did to the Palestinian economy," he said.
"And because there was no account of historical events such as the Palestinians losing their homes, there was a tendency for viewers to see the problems as 'starting' with Palestinian action."
Settlements
Philo also found that Israeli actions tended to be explained and contextualised - they were often shown as merely "responding" to what had been done to them by Palestinians.
The study concluded that there is also a tendency to present Israeli settlements in the occupied territories as vulnerable communities, rather than as groups of colonists playing a role in imposing the occupation.
But as the Israeli historian Avi Shlaim has written, they have a key military and strategic function. They have been built on hilltops to give a commanding position and their occupants are often heavily armed.
"Most viewers knew very little of this - one participant expressed his surprise at learning that the settlements controlled over 40% of the West Bank," Philo concluded.
Subversive language
However, a few western mainstream journalists are not afraid to speak out about the issue of poor and confusing media coverage from the occupied territories.
Twice chief Middle East correspondent for the BBC, Tim Llewellyn has pointed out the way language is used to spin a one-sided story in the book Tell Me Lies.
"Palestinians are killed (it happens); but Palestinians killing Israelis (that is deliberate); dead Israelis have a name and identity, dead Arabs are just, well, dead Arabs"
Tim Llewellyn,
retired BBC Middle East correspondent"For a short while on BBC news, 'occupied territories' became 'disputed'. We heard much of Palestinian 'claims' of occupation rather than of the 33-year-long fact of it," he writes.
"Illegal Jewish settlements near Jerusalem became 'neighbourhoods'. Palestinians are killed (it happens); but Palestinians killing Israelis (that is deliberate); dead Israelis have a name and identity, dead Arabs are - just, well, dead Arabs.
"When Palestinians die their bereaved vent 'rage' at apparently riotous funerals; Israeli survivors express shock. The list goes on. The news-speak of the crisis is adjusted to favour the Israeli side."