MEDIA COVERAGE ON THE WAR ON GAZA
Complicity, Duplicity, and Accountability
Teach-In Session 21 - February 8, 2024
TEACHING RESOURCES
In four months (Oct-Feb) we've witnessed several media narratives from a "War on Terror" discourse to one that abets genocide. This teach-in addresses various aspects of the mainstream media coverage of the War on Gaza in the “West,” including traditional and new media. Our speakers will reflect on the performance of media as they navigate pressures from parent companies, editorial policies, political allegiances, and popular dissent. They will also analyze how the influential Sunday news TV shows in the United States discussed Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza.
Laila Al-Arian is a Washington DC-based journalist and the executive producer of Fault Lines, an award-winning current affairs program on Al Jazeera English. She has produced documentaries on subjects ranging from the Trump administration's Muslim ban to the impact of the heroin epidemic on children and an investigation into factory conditions producing garments for Walmart and Gap in Bangladesh. For her work, she has been honored with two News and Documentary Emmys, a George Polk Award, Peabody Award, a Robert F Kennedy Award in journalism, Overseas Press Club award and has been nominated for 19 News and Documentary Emmys. She is co-author of the book Collateral Damage: America's War Against Iraqi Civilians.
Adel Iskandar is an Associate Professor of Global Communication at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver/Burnaby, Canada. He is the author, co-author, and editor of several works including "Egypt In Flux: Essays on an Unfinished Revolution" (AUCP/OUP); "Al-Jazeera: The Story of the Network that is Rattling Governments and Redefining Modern Journalism" (Basic Books); "Edward Said: A Legacy of Emancipation and Representation" (University of California Press); "Mediating the Arab Uprisings" (Tadween Publishing); and "Media Evolution on the Eve of the Arab Spring" (Palgrave Macmillan). Iskandar's work deals with media, identity and politics; and he has lectured extensively on these topics at universities worldwide. His forthcoming publications are two monographs, one addressing the political role of memes and digital satire and the other about contemporary forms of imperial transculturalism. Iskandar's engaged participatory research includes supporting knowledge production through scholarly digital publishing such as "Jadaliyya" and academic podcasting such as "Status." Prior to his arrival at SFU, Iskandar taught at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies and the Communication, Culture, and Technology Program at Georgetown University, in Washington, DC.
William Lafi Youmans is an Associate Professor at George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs. He is also the director of the Institute of Public Diplomacy and Global Communication at GWU. Broadly interested in questions of transnationalism, power and communication, his primary research interests include global news, media industries, technology, law and politics.
Bassam Haddad is Founding Director of the Middle East and Islamic Studies Program and Associate Professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. He is the author of Business Networks in Syria: The Political Economy of Authoritarian Resilience (Stanford University Press, 2011) and co-editor of A Critical Political Economy of the Middle East (Stanford University Press, 2021). Bassam is Co-Founder/Editor of Jadaliyya Ezine and Executive Director of the Arab Studies Institute. He serves as Founding Editor of the Arab Studies Journal and the Knowledge Production Project. He is co-producer/director of the award-winning documentary film, About Baghdad, and director of the acclaimed series Arabs and Terrorism. Bassam serves on the Board of the Arab Council for the Social Sciences and is Executive Producer of Status Audio Magazine and Director of the Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative (MESPI). He received MESA's Jere L. Bacharach Service Award in 2017 for his service to the profession. Currently, Bassam is working on his second Syria book titled Understanding the Syrian Calamity: Regime, Opposition, Outsiders (forthcoming, Stanford University Press).
Adel Iskandar is an Associate Professor of Global Communication at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver/Burnaby, Canada. He is the author, co-author, and editor of several works including "Egypt In Flux: Essays on an Unfinished Revolution" (AUCP/OUP); "Al-Jazeera: The Story of the Network that is Rattling Governments and Redefining Modern Journalism" (Basic Books); "Edward Said: A Legacy of Emancipation and Representation" (University of California Press); "Mediating the Arab Uprisings" (Tadween Publishing); and "Media Evolution on the Eve of the Arab Spring" (Palgrave Macmillan). Iskandar's work deals with media, identity and politics; and he has lectured extensively on these topics at universities worldwide. His forthcoming publications are two monographs, one addressing the political role of memes and digital satire and the other about contemporary forms of imperial transculturalism. Iskandar's engaged participatory research includes supporting knowledge production through scholarly digital publishing such as "Jadaliyya" and academic podcasting such as "Status." Prior to his arrival at SFU, Iskandar taught at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies and the Communication, Culture, and Technology Program at Georgetown University, in Washington, DC.
William Lafi Youmans is an Associate Professor at George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs. He is also the director of the Institute of Public Diplomacy and Global Communication at GWU. Broadly interested in questions of transnationalism, power and communication, his primary research interests include global news, media industries, technology, law and politics.
Bassam Haddad is Founding Director of the Middle East and Islamic Studies Program and Associate Professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. He is the author of Business Networks in Syria: The Political Economy of Authoritarian Resilience (Stanford University Press, 2011) and co-editor of A Critical Political Economy of the Middle East (Stanford University Press, 2021). Bassam is Co-Founder/Editor of Jadaliyya Ezine and Executive Director of the Arab Studies Institute. He serves as Founding Editor of the Arab Studies Journal and the Knowledge Production Project. He is co-producer/director of the award-winning documentary film, About Baghdad, and director of the acclaimed series Arabs and Terrorism. Bassam serves on the Board of the Arab Council for the Social Sciences and is Executive Producer of Status Audio Magazine and Director of the Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative (MESPI). He received MESA's Jere L. Bacharach Service Award in 2017 for his service to the profession. Currently, Bassam is working on his second Syria book titled Understanding the Syrian Calamity: Regime, Opposition, Outsiders (forthcoming, Stanford University Press).
- Teach-In: Deconstructing Western Media Narratives About Israel’s Genocide in Gaza with Assal Rad
- Teach-In: Media and the War on Gaza with Amahl A. Bishara, Dina Matar, Adel Iskandar
- Find more teach-ins on Palestine: Gaza in Context Teach-Ins
FULL TEACH-IN
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CONTENTS
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TEACHING GUIDE
- Mainstream media coverage and bias: Our speaker critically examine the overt failure of mainstream media in the United States to provide fair and accurate coverage of the war on Gaza. This notion highlights how sensationalistic and unverified allegations have been reported as factual and accepted as such.
- Narrative shaping and detrimental influence of PR on public perception of the Palestinian cause: The media is not nearly scrutinized as much as it should for adopting Israeli PR narratives and laundering them through US media. This has evidently led to a misconstrued, biased portrayal of the war, where Israeli perspectives are prioritized and Palestinian voices are marginalized.
- Major disparities in global media coverage: There are monumental disparities in the manner in which media outlets cover Israeli and Palestinian casualties, with Israeli victims receiving more prominent and emotive coverage, and Palestinian deaths are often downplayed, ignored, or even justified.
- Normalization of the dehumanization of Palestinians as a collective marginalized group: Language, tone, and placement of stories in the media all significantly contribute to the dehumanization of Palestinians, with their suffering being minimized or framed in a detached manner devoid of empathy.
- Lack of solidarity with Palestinian journalists amidst genocide: Our speakers underline the eminent lack of coverage and solidarity with Palestinian journalists who have been deliberately targeted and killed, contrasting it with the recognition given to journalists in other conflict zones.
- How does the framing of war-related news in mainstream US media influence public perceptions of the Israel-Palestine conflict? What are the long-term implications of this framing on the public opinion of international conflict?
- In what ways do the language and tone used in media reports contribute to the dehumanization of Palestinians? How can journalists consciously integrate more ethical approaches in their reporting of related events?
- What roles do political and corporate influences play in shaping the narratives presented by mainstream media regarding the war on Gaza? How can media outlets resist such pressures to ensure more balanced, adequate coverage of the genocide?
- How does the disparity in media coverage between Israeli and Palestinian casualties reflect broader systemic biases in international journalism? What implications does it pose on white supremacy and what steps can be taken to address these biases?
- How has the lack of solidarity with Palestinian journalists impacted global awareness of the war on Gaza? How can the international journalistic community better support and protect journalists in conflict zones that are often neglected or overlooked?
- Recognizing Media Bias in Conflict Reporting: Pick a specific event related to the occupation of Palestine to investigate and demonstrate how the presence of media bias in the coverage of this reporting impacted its global perception. For example, you may conduct an in-depth analysis on the Deir Yassine Massacre of 1948 by utilizing news reports from major publications at the time and compare the language and tone used to frame Palestinian casualties.
- Analyze the Role of PR in Constructing Media Narratives to Justify Settler-Colonialism: Examine how PR campaigns funded by the Israeli government in the United States influence media narratives surrounding the genocide in Gaza. This may be presented in the form of a research paper, powerpoint slides, or any other literary presentation of your choice. The goal is to map the flow of information from PR sources to mainstream media, to dissect the mechanisms of influence, and create new strategies for greater journalistic independence.
- Impact of Media Representation on Public Perception of the Genocide on Gaza: Create and conduct a series of surveys to gauge the public consensus on the Israeli occupation. Ensure that you are able to correlate these views with the variation of media consumed by each participant and examine whether exposure to different media narratives leads to greater disparities in opinions.
SEGMENTS
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