Fourth International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

The integration of media studies with the scholarship on perception of Palestinians and Israelis in the U.S. and the UK offers a systematic procedure for assessing depictions of conflict regions. Using a new methodology that measures the positivity and negativity of newspaper articles, this thesis examines the tone of newspaper articles that mention Palestinians and Israelis in the U.S. and the UK. It considers the effect of format and political leaning of newspapers on portrayals of Palestinians and Israelis over time. Articles in the dataset are divided into articles that only mention Palestinians, only mention Israelis, and articles that mention Palestinians and Israelis together. Analyzing a large sample from 1996 to 2016 from 14 newspapers across political leanings in the U.S. and the UK, the findings reveal that: (i) on average, Palestinians have been depicted more negatively than Israelis; (ii) British newspapers portray Palestinians more positively than American newspapers; (iii) British left-leaning newspapers feature a more positive coverage of Palestinians compared to British right-leaning newspapers; and (iv) American left-leaning newspapers feature a more negative coverage of Palestinians compared to American right-leaning newspapers. However, upon introducing separate variables for Palestinians only, Israelis only, and Palestinians and Israelis together, coverage of Palestinians and Israelis together holds the highest negativity across political leanings of newspapers in the U.S. and the UK. This study provides nuanced analyses of media portrayals of Palestinians and Israelis in American and British newspaper articles.