The news media can play a central role in the promotion of peace. The role of the media does vary, however, and both researchers and practitioners must better understand the reasons for these variations. This report points to four major factors that impact this equation: (1) the amount of consensus among political elites in support of the peace process; (2) the number and intensity of crises associated with the process; (3) the extent to which shared media, used by both sides of the conflict, exist; and (4) the level of sensationalism as a dominant news value. The first two variables tells us something about the state of the political environment, while the final two relate to the media environment.
The news media have become the central arena for political conflicts today. It is, therefore, not surprising that the role of the news media in political conflicts has received a good deal of public attention in recent years. Media and Political Conflict provides readers with an understanding of the ways in which news media do and do not become active participants in these conflicts. The author's 'political contest' model provides an alternative approach to this important issue. The best way to understand the role of the news media in politics, he argues, is to view the competition over the news media as part of a larger and more significant contest for political control. The book is divided into two parts. While the first is devoted to developing the theoretical model, the second employs this approach to analyse the role of the news media in three conflicts: the Gulf war, the Palestinian intifada, and the attempt by the Israeli right wing to derail the Israeli-Palestinian peace accord.
In exploring the dynamics and narratives of peace in journalism, this book explains the media's impact on the transformation of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. It discusses the perspectives of peace activists who have been involved in grassroots action since the first Intifada, and examines how their relation with the mainstream media has evolved over time. It compares these views with those of professional journalists who have been covering the conflict, and their sense of the difficulties inherent in practicing a different kind of journalism. The interviews included in this study contribute towards the model of Peace Journalism, with a view to facilitating its successful application to this conflict. Highlighting both the obstacles and opportunities associated with this endeavour, Tiripelli offers suggestions for the strategic application of this model.
Much is known about the media's role in conflict, but far less is known about the media's role in peace. Graham Spencer's study addresses this deficiency by providing a comparative analysis of reporting conflicts from around the world and examining media receptiveness to the development of peace. This book establishes an argument for the need to rethink journalistic responsibility in relation to peace and interrogates the consequences of news coverage that emphasizes conflict over peace.
Wanis-St. John takes on the question of whether the complex and often perilous, secret negotiations between mediating parties prove to be an instrumental path to reconciliation or rather one that disrupts the process. Using the Palestinian-Israeli peace process as a framework, the author focuses on the uses and misuses of “back channel” negotiations. Wanis-St. John discusses how top level PLO and Israeli government officials often resorted to secret negotiation channels even when they had designated, acknowledged negotiation teams already at work. Intense scrutiny of the media, pressure from constituents, and the public’s reaction, all become severe constraints to the process, causing leaders to seek out back channel negotiations. The impact of these secret talks on the peace process over time has largely been unexplored. Through interviews with major negotiators and policymakers on both sides and a detailed history of the conflict, the author analyzes the functions and consequences of back channel negotiations. Wanis-St. John reveals the painful irony that these methods for peacemaking have had the unintended effect of inflaming the conflict and sustaining its intractability.
This is the first book to examine in detail the roles that the news media can play in an ongoing peace process. Gadi Wolfsfeld explains how the press's role in such processes varies over time and political circumstance. He examines three major cases: the Oslo peace process between Israel and the Palestinians; the peace process between Israel and Jordan; and the process surrounding the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland. Wolfsfeld's central argument is that there is a fundamental contradiction between news values and the nature of a peace process. This often leads the media to play a destructive role in attempts to make peace, but variations in the political and media environment affect significantly exactly how the media behave. Wolfsfeld shows how the media played a mainly destructive role in the Oslo peace process, but were more constructive during the Israel-Jordan process and in Northern Ireland.
Presenting the Middle East peace process as an extension of US foreign policy, this book argues that ongoing interventions justified in the name of ‘peace’ sustain and reproduce hegemonic power. With an interdisciplinary approach, this book questions the conceptualisation and general understanding of the peace process. The author reinterprets regional conflict as an opportunity for the US through which it seeks to achieve regional dominance and control. Engaging with the different stages and components of the peace process, he considers economic, military and political factors which both changed over time and remained constant. This book covers the US role of mediation in the region during the Cold War, the history and present state of US-Israel relations, Syria’s reputation as an opponent of ‘peace’ compared with its participation in peace negotiations, and the Palestinian-Israel conflict with attention to US involvement. The End of the Middle East Peace Process will primarily be of interest to those hoping to gain an improved understanding of key issues, concepts and themes relating to the Arab-Israeli conflict and US intervention in the Middle East. It will also be of value to those with an interest in the practicalities of peacebuilding.
The quest for peace between Israel and its neighbors in the Middle East has captured the attention of the world media for decades. However, and much to the dismay of those who have placed great hopes in the ongoing peace process, the frequency of war has only increased in recent years. How do we explain this anomaly? Frequent terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians have emboldened the Palestinian Authority as it demands a new Islamic state called Palestine. World leaders irritate Israel by jumping aboard the Palestinian ship as it sails to statehood. The diplomatic efforts frantically continue, but the Hamas, Fatah, and Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations persist in their calls for Jihad, or holy war, against Israel. Why have the seemingly endless efforts for peace borne so little fruit? How can a truly lasting peace be achieved? In Peace For Peace: Israel In The New Middle East, author David Rubin exposes the false premises on which the peace process and peace plans have been based, explaining the confusion about a patently failed process resulting in some thirty years of effort, billions of dollars spent, and thousands of lost lives. Describing the greatly promoted, yet disappointing summits and the various peace plans that have blown up in years of terrorism and recurring wars, Rubin goes on to describe the reasons why the great hopes of peace negotiators have not been realized. Finally, Rubin presents us with the framework for a bold, practical peace plan, entitled Peace for Peace. With comprehensive analysis and lucid description, Rubin shows us how Peace for Peace, which combines historical justice and common sense, can bring a realistic and lasting peace to this fascinating, but troubled part of the world.
