Source:
IFEX Communiqué
A new study released by Glasgow University reveals
that British media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict gives viewers a skewed
understanding of the situation and shows a bias
towards Israeli views,
reports the BBC.
Entitled
Bad news from Israel, the study is the
culmination of a two-year
project by the media group in which more than
800 people were interviewed
and 200 BBC and ITV news programmes analysed between
2000 and 2002.
The
study found that Israelis were quoted more than
twice as much as
Palestinians on BBC 1, while U.S. politicians
who supported Israel were
quoted more than politicians from any other country.
It also found that the
average viewer in the United Kingdom knew little
about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because
news programmes failed to provide
important background information on the origins
of the conflict.
Several
journalists interviewed for the study said time
pressures and the difficulties of reporting such
a controversial issue were to blame for the
lack of background information. Others said journalists
were vulnerable to
intimidation from both sides of the conflict.
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