Storytelling. Representation. Power.

Literature Review

This study focuses on the various ways Israel military forces killing a first responder, Razan al-Najjar, was framed in mass media coverage, alongside her Palestinian identity and medical role within the 2018 Gaza protests. Therefore, it is appropriate for this literature review to introduce common patterns of the hostile media effect in past coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It will highlight framing as analysis and then go into further detail on the methodology and implications of visual frameworks and social semiotics associated with Palestinian stereotypes.

Hostile Media Effect within Media Coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

There has been a history of contempt in the news media portrayal of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with the news media presenting content that is supposedly objective but instead shows the violence and crisis as a some one’s to blame. The 2006 study called “Analysis of Print Media Coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli Invasion of Lebanon” observed that the New York Times and the Associated Press “expressed their pro-Israeli bias through legitimizing and de-legitimizing Israeli and Palestinian killings. (Aziz 2007). Evaluating through news stories on this particular issue between July 12, 2006 - September 8, 2006, Aziz concluded that both of these news sources supported a narrative that minimized the Palestinian death tolls while justifying Israeli military killings as well as the perpetrators of those killings.News photographs are more than just the portrayal of conflict or tragedy. Though the interpretation of the image is subjective to the viewer, media researchers can determine from past studies that certain visual elements trigger emotional responses. The results of a study conducted by Cornelia Breanter found that visual human-interest framing within an article provoked greater emotional responses in comparison to a political framing and the text-alone article..Breanter 2011)The visual human-interest frame can construe as Pro-Palestine bias, said Brantner, However When wire-service photographers or photojournalists reply on media frames, perhaps unintentionally, the reader’s impression of the article itself, including the actors involved is skewed based on the image. Breanter concludes that journalists need to be cautious about their decisions composing a photograph because they underestimate the or are not educated on the levels of visual framing that exist, feeding into an image that is inaccurate or framed extremely in one which way. (Breanter 2011)

Visual Framing

Studies on visual framing are far scarcer than those that analyze texts. However, there is a selection of studies that analyze news photographs. For example, a study called the “Levels of Visual Framing” surveyed techniques of how images within themselves contain frames. (Rodriguez and Dimitrova). The study aims to analyze the frames within photos that accompany news stories online because photojournalism practices, “can mislead a viewer with unacknowledged staging or manipulation." Photojournalism within itself is a dominant form of visual reporting which engages with the public by depicting the characters or content of an issue or conflict (Midberry 2016). Audiences often perceive photographs as close to reality because they trigger an emotional response. (Rodriguez and Dimitrova)

In a peer review study called “A Visual Framing Analysis of British Press Photography During the 2006 Israel-Lebanon Conflict” Parry designed her visual framing analysis by investigating the differences in visual frameworks, comparing hundreds of photographs featured in two British based newspapers: The Guardian and the Times. In addition to this analysis, she considered textual analysis within headlines and captions accompanying the photo in immediate context. This study is relevant because it seeks to analyze how the audience’s aesthetic decisions characterized characters amidst conflict. Perry also discussed patterns of framing that delegitimize tragic killings or violence. This study was very informative in designing the methodology of this study because it defined the classifications of frames a news photo could fit in.

Semiotics

Social semiotics hone in on the loaded symbols within visual or textual messages distributed by media platforms. Many researchers have analyzed the levels of social semiotics within messages such as news items to discuss potential effects on the viewer, taking into primary account the viewers social norms. “It comes about either through the culturally shared associations which cling to the represented people, places and things or through specific ‘connotators,’ specific aspects of the way in which they are represented, for example, specific photographic techniques.”

The vertical angle according to Kress and van Leeuwen), plays a role in how the viewer interprets the subject or subjects of a photo through power dynamics. For example, if there was someone within the shot which is seen from above or at an extreme height. The relationship between the viewer and the subject changes and becomes a power struggle, in that the subject is far more vulnerable and the viewer is cowering over them — this creating greater detachment between the subject and the viewer. On the other hand, if the viewer had seen the subject at a high angle, and visa-versa, the power is attributed to the subject. These two contrasts create a framework that designates the conflict frame. Last but not least is the is criteria of an eye-level shot, which gives off the social meaning of a neutral or moral frame. (Jewitt and Oyama, (2001)

Methods:

This study looks at the visual framing of Razan al-Najjar across a multitude of online news publications namely The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, Haarretz, Jerusalem Post, The Guardian, BBC, and Aljazeera, Al-aribe, and Reuters. These publications were chosen to audit because of their international reputations and their extensive online presence. The stories were selected because they were published between June 1st up until to June 8, 2018. The online news stories were also chosen because the articles were accompanied by a feature photo along with caption. Much like Parry’s study, this study agrees with the notion that instead of focusing in the photographs by themselves, a study should also incorporate their ‘immediate context, which is the caption’.(Perry 2011)

Number of people in the picture (

In the picture ( yes, no)

Angle of camera ( low, center, high)

Distance ( Close, medium, Far)

Graphic level (1-5)

Social semiotics (Qualitative )

Face shown?

White uniform of medical worker

How hijab was depicted ( face or no face)

Number of people in the picture ( is she alone)

Context

International publications with online following

Literature Review

Hostile Media Effect within Media Coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

Visual Framing

Semiotics

Methods:

Context

International publications with online following

1) The New York Times

2) CNN

3) Jerusalem Post

4) Aljazeera

5) Haaretz

6) BBC

7) The Guardian

8) Al Arabiya

9) Reuters

10) Washington Post