Abstract
Various studies have claimed that the media coverage of the Israel – Palestine conflict is biased and unbalanced. This study investigates media coverage of the conflict as portrayed by four of the most-watched news networks across the globe: FOX News, CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera. To further understand this perceived bias, Edward Said’s theory of Orientalism was incorporated throughout this study with the intent to assess whether or not Western media has a tendency to depict the Palestinian people in a subjective and Orientalistic light. This study examines two major events of the Israel –Palestine conflict: the May 2010 raid of the Free Gaza Flotilla and the September 2011 Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations General Assembly. To substantiate the presented ideas, numerous broadcasts from the four mentioned networks addressing these two events were examined. The analysis focuses on certain aspects of the media coverage and the manner in which it depicted the events as well as the Palestinian people vis-à-vis Said’s theory. The results demonstrate that there is lack of conformity among the Western media networks in depicting the Israel – Palestine conflict and a far contrast between the American networks and the Al Jazeera news outlet, most notably between the latter and FOX News; depicting Said’s criticism of American media and validating previous authors’ praise for the fact-based, compelling reports of the conflict on Al Jazeera.