115. Name: Hafiza Arikat Title: Eye on the Media: The Israel - Palestine Conflict (A Comparison between FOX News, CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera) Institution: California State University Country: United States Date: 2012 Language: English Abstract: This study investigates media coverage of the Israel – Palestine conflict as portrayed by four of the most-watched news networks across the globe: FOX News, CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera. To understand the perceived bias in media coverage, Edward Said’s theory of Orientalism was incorporated with the intent to assess whether or not Western media has a tendency to depict the Palestinian people in a subjective and orientalist light. This study examines two major events: the May 2010 raid of the Free Gaza Flotilla and the September 2011 Palestinian bid for statehood at the UN General Assembly. The analysis focuses on certain aspects of the media coverage and the manner in which it depicted the conflict and portrayed the Palestinian people. The results demonstrate that there is lack of conformity among the Western media networks in depicting the conflict. There is also a far contrast between the American networks and Al Jazeera, most notably between the latter and FOX News. These findings confirm Said’s criticism of American media and validate previous authors’ praise for the fact-based, compelling reports of the conflict on Al Jazeera.
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