Palestinian press losing media war in current crisis
Palestinian media has failed to articulate an alternative narrative to the crisis with Israel, often relying on Israeli sources to write reports, following the killing of three Israeli youths and a Palestinian teen.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Palestinian local media outlets — including radio stations, news agencies and newspapers — have struggled to cover the fast-paced events on the Palestinian territories since the kidnapping and murder of the three Israeli settlers in mid-June to the current Israeli escalation in the Gaza Strip. So far, quick reporting and live interviews on the ground have prevailed over published materials. Amid a lack of deep analyses of the events, a scarcity of information and an absence of expectations, many news agencies and newspapers are relying on Israeli sources, and are thus failing to articulate an alternative narrative of the events.
The absence of the human story, the reliance on statistics of deaths and injuries, the dissemination of photos of bodies and the limited number of officials who can be reached for comment, either in the West Bank or Gaza Strip, affect the issuance of a complete Palestinian side of the story. They also preserve the state of confusion that has characterized local media since the three settlers were abducted on June 12, and found killed, and after the burning and killing of Mohammed Abu Khdeir by Israelis, two of whom were settlers, in Jerusalem on July 2.
Palestinian coverage has also been hampered by the politicized tit for tat between Hamas and Fatah-affiliated media outlets. For example, on July 4, the victims of the clashes between Egyptian security forces and the Muslim Brotherhood was front-page news, despite the current volatile situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
While Al-Hayat Al-Jadida and Al-Ayyam, two newspapers published in Ramallah, ignored the tension in the Palestinian street and the escalating criticism of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas because of his remarks on the security coordination with Israel, the pro-Hamas Al-Resalah and Felesteen newspapers attacked the president by using innuendo in their headlines: “The young boy Abu Khdeir, a victim of human beings in Quds [Jerusalem],” in reference to the president’s speech describing the settlers as human beings.
