Ethnocentrism in Conflict News Coverage: A Multimodal Framing Analysis of the 2018 Gaza Protests in The Times of Israel and Al Jazeera

Authors

  • Belal Doufesh Birzeit University
  • Holger Briel Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Keywords:

ethnocentrism, Israeli–Palestinian conflict, news framing, content analysis, multimodal framing, news headlines, press photos, visual framing

Abstract

This study is based on a multimodal content analysis of the news coverage of the 2018 Palestinian protests at Gaza’s borders with Israel. In particular, two regionally based transnational English language news websites were studied, The Times of Israel (TOI) and Al Jazeera (AJE), to examine whether ethnocentrism affects their coverage, and if so, how. A multimodal analysis was undertaken, with emphasis on news headlines and press photos as textual and visual framing devices. Results clearly demonstrated that the two transnational news media were indeed ethnocentric in their news coverage: one framed protesters as violent and responsible for casualties and attempts to dehumanize them; the other framed protesters as peaceful and Israeli soldiers as responsible for casualties, and tended to humanize protesters more in its textual and visual framing.

Author Biographies

Belal Doufesh, Birzeit University

Belal Doufesh is a lecturer at the Department of Media, Birzeit University, Ramallah - West Bank, Palestine. His research interests include Photojournalism and Visual Media with a focus on the Israeli – Palestinian conflict.

Holger Briel, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Holger Briel is Professor of International Communication at Monarch University, Switzerland and Graduate Programme Director in the School of Film and TV Arts at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. His research focuses on Media Theory, Digital Ethics, Television Studies, Visual and Intercultural Communication, Digital Sociology, and Citizen Media.

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Published

2021-09-27

Issue

Vol. 15 (2021)

Section

Articles

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