Narrating war in 140 characters: “Protective Edge” as covered by Western mainstream media, by citizen reporters & by those who got caught between the two

@Dimalb | July 22, 2014 | King’s College LondonThe Birmingham Centre for Media

& Cultural Research

Media & Conflict in the Middle East

1952-2012 60 years in 60

slides & it’ll all make sense ;)

. The Voice of the Arabs radio, from Cairo to the Arab nation . The 1956 & 1967 wars as narrated by Al-Ahram . Filming resistance: guerilla videos, wartime music & the rise of political Islam. Al-Jazeera coverage of the July 2006 war in Lebanon . #Jan25: organising humanitarian aid on social media networks. Post-Arab uprisings documentaries: making sense of a scattered online citizen archive

The plan…

A bit of context

ocw.nd.edu

“The army takes a non-violent military action. Several high commanders are arrested. (…) Major-general Mohamed Neguib takes over the General Command of the Armed Forces, and announces that the army now works for the benefit of the nation under the rule of the constitution”

Al-Ahram | July 24, 1952

The rise of anti-colonial revolutionary pan-Arab nationalism

Gamal Abdel Nasser establishes in 1953 The Voice of the Arabs radio to- “promote Arab unity, and- export the Egyptian revolutionary spirit to

the whole of the Arab nation”

“Arab citizens, in all corners of the Arab nation, this is the Voice of the Arabs, Which speaks in your name, and fights for you, and promotes your unity, With you from Cairo, from the heart of our glorious Arab nation, the Voice of the Arabs!”

The “call” of the Voice of the Arabs

& When in 1956 Nasser fought his first war against Israel…

Al-Ahram | October 30, 1956

“Israel launches an attack against Egypt (…)”

Al-Ahram | November 3, 1956

Al-Ahram did too..

“Egypt salutes its hero Gamal”

Alright, this was the plan…

1952-2012 60 years in 60 slides

& it’ll all make sense ;)

1.The Voice of the Arabs: a radio station for the Arab nation

2. The 1956 & 1967 wars as seen by the VOA & Al-Ahram

3. Filming resistance: guerilla videos, music videos & the rise of political Islam

4. Satellite TV & how Nasrallah led in 2006 the war of the nation on Al-Jazeera

5. #Jan25: organising humanitarian aid on social media networks

6. Post-Arab uprising documentaries: making sense of a scattered online citizen archive #Gaza

UnderAtta

ckUntil this

happened…

Narrating war in 140 characters: Operation “Protective edge” as covered by Western mainstream media, by alternative citizen

reporters & by those who got caught between the two

@Dimalb | July 22, 2014 | King’s College LondonThe Birmingham Centre for Media

& Cultural Research

A bit of context (again)

ww

w.h

uffi

ngto

npost

.com

/

aljazeera.net

(So if you are a 6-year old Gazan, this will be your 3rd war)

But let’s talk

media…

2008 | Operation “Cast Lead”: News control as military objective

- Very few journalists were covering the war from Gaza (except for Al-Jazeera reporters) - IDF allows Israeli & foreign journalists to embed around 10 days after the start of the operation

Source @RSA_RWB Reporters Without Borders

• IDF launches YouTube channel & Twitter account• IDF holds a press conference over Twitter

theconversation.com

2012 | #PillarofDefense

theconversation.com

2014 | Operation “Protective Edge”

twitter.com/mohamed/lists/journalists-in-gaza-2014

stream.aljazeera.com/story/201407171922-0023936

“Arab media IDF spokesman”

www.alqassam.ps/arabic/

The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam is the military wing of the Palestinian "Islamic Resistance Movement" (Hamas)

www.alqassam.ps/hebrew/

twitter.com/hamasinfo

Reporting war

A lesson in framing: how

Western media sees the

war on Gaza

Mainstream journalists challenging mainstream agendas

#GazaUnderAttack: when

citizens live-

tweet a war

#GazaUnderAttack: when

citizens live-

tweet a war

@Mogaza twitter.com/Mogaza @Hussein_Gaza twitter.com/Hussein_Gaza

@Omar_Gaza twitter.com/Omar_Gaza@jncatron twitter.com/jncatron

@DrBasselAbuward twitter.com/DrBasselAbuward@Belalmd12 twitter.com/Belalmd12

@AnsRed twitter.com/AnsRed@RanaGaza twitter.com/RanaGaza

@WhateverInGaza twitter.com/WhateverInGaza@DimaEleiwa twitter.com/DimaEleiwa

(re)-Framing the question

of social media verification

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnO4gy8dQIcJuly 7, 2014

A lesson in agenda setting: how

Western media sees the war on Gaza

What we mean by

mainstream media

Media organizations that broadcast primarily via large distribution networks. They include newspapers, broadcast and online media.

July 4, 2014

July 10, 2014

July 17, 2014

On July 22, 2014

Operation “Protective Edge”Source @AP / UNICEF / UNRWA

Palestinian side:631 killed, 161 children 4010 injured, including 1213 children and 698 women118300+ displayed

Israeli side:29 killed, 27 soldiers Dozens of wounded troops

Looking at …

Shejaiya, July 20, 2014

@MillerC4 report on July 20, 2014

@Hari report on July 20, 2014

vs.

July 20, 201419:02

July 20, 201421:55

angryarab.blogspot.com.br/

July 20, 2014

AJA caption reads: “13 martyrs and around 200 wounded, most of them children, in a Zionist massacre in Shejaiya neighborhood East the city of Gaza”

July 21, 2014

Al-Jazeera’s Wael Dahdouh cries while reporting the shelling of Shejaiya

& How Al-Jazeera tells it

July 20, 2014

July 21, 2014

@Ahmedabdall1 Gaza based @Ajarabic reporter

“Qassam kills 10 Zionist soldiers East of Shejaiya, and the Mujahiddins have come back home safe. Allah Akbar.”

“547 martyrs, and 3300 wounded is the toll of the constant Zionist attack on Gazans.”

Mainstream journalists challenging

mainstream agendas

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqKu5rSTyP8

CNN’s Diana Magnay (@DimagnayCNN)

July 17, 2014

www.buzzfeed.com/dorsey/israeli-crowd-cheers-as-missile-hits-gaza-live-on-cnn

mondoweiss.net/

Reflecting on the role of media in times of conflict

www.channel4.com/news/the-israeli-military-does-not-target-civilians-video