الانفـكاك مـن الاسـتعمار، التحليـل النقـدي للخطـاب، الموضوعيـة كلمـات مفتاحيـة: السـياقية، صحافـة الارتبـاط، الحيـاد.
Abstract: This study examines an epistemological question concerning how researchers believe they are able to understand media coverage of the war on Gaza, and how they present this knowledge to readers of their research in light of media studies theories and concepts. This question can be summarised as follows: What have media studies contributed regarding the coverage of the war on Gaza? And how has this coverage been interpreted? To address this, the study analyses a sample of 14 research papers, selected from available studies conducted on the war since 7 October 2023, as well as prior to it. The analysis is based on the following units: topic, material, research problem, methodology and findings. The study identifies the limitations of the critical analysis approach employed in most of the sampled research, particularly its tendency to privilege interpretation over explanation, and its reliance on professional and ethical standards to evaluate media coverage of the war. It further demonstrates that a postcolonial orientation provides the most appropriate theoretical framework for understanding the underlying dynamics of media coverage of the war on Gaza. Accordingly, the study undertakes a genealogical analysis of key concepts underpinning Western theories that explain media practice, such as freedom of expression, the right to information, neutrality and objectivity. It argues for freeing these concepts from colonial bias after highlighting the cultural limitations of certain Western theories. The study concludes that Western media coverage of the war on Gaza adds to previous media experiences that have shown that professional and ethical values in the media field are discursive formations and the product of social construction. Media practice itself defines and continually reshapes the content of these values, rather than the reverse. Therefore, media studies in the Arab region must be re-examined through a genealogical critique of the central concepts that underpin Western theories, paving the way for the decolonisation of media research. Keywords: Decolonisation, Critical Discourse Analysis, Contextual Objectivity, Journalism of Attachment, Neutrality.
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