UNS — The conflict between Israel and Palestine is inseparable from the media coverage on its development. The advanced communication technology through the up-to-date gadget has facilitated the access of information for people. However, this condition is dangerous if the news is unreliable. Salieg Luki Munestri, S.S., M.A, as a faculty member of International Relations (HI) Program Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) UNS and media observers stated that professional journalism ethics should be fulfilled to ensure news reliability.
“(We) cannot deny that language is never neutral. It means when we talk about the cruelty in Gaza, language or diction we use showed where we stand on the matter,” Salieg stated on Thursday (27/5/2021).
A similar case works on mass media. Language and diction used by media might cause media bias. News reporting on Israel and Palestine conflict by the US media is an example of this condition. Media bias often leads people into the wrong comprehension without knowing the tendency of the media. “We are not aware that we received unbalanced information,” Salieg explained.
Salieg shared the Media Bias Chart in the US, which contains five categories, Left, Lean Left, Center, Lean Right, and Right. The Left and Right spectrum represent political polarization in the US between the Democrat and Republic Party. Center does not mean unbiased or neutral, or even credible. “Center here means that the news is unpredictable, where it will move. So not to left or right, or could be to the left and the right,” she said. Salieg suggested that people consume news from both spectrum as a smart media consumption to get balanced information.
US Media Role in Shaping Political Identity through Israel – Palestine Conflict Coverage
Concerning the US political parties’ support of the Israel – Palestine conflict, the media has a role in shaping US generation’s political identity. Therefore, unbalanced information will cause strong polarization of political ideology in the community. Salieg gave an example of news from MSNBC broadcasted on 11 May 2021 titled ‘The Latest Israel-Palestine Crisis isn’t a ‘real estate dispute,’ it’s ethnic cleansing’. This news explained the eviction of Palestinian houses in East Jerusalem Timur and an indication of ethnic cleansing. This statement showed that the media is vehemently anti-Israel. “As left media, they are liberal, supporting Democrats that support Palestine,” Salied added. Other news from NBC showed increasing support from the young generation to Palestine. This support is marked by protests in big cities like New York, Miami, and Los Angeles. The young generation received news from more diverse news outlets and social media compared to the older generation.
On the contrary, Fox Media reported Dennis Prager’s opinion that US community’s supports of Palestine is antisemitism and brought religious issues as the cause of the conflict. Salieg considers this news as the example of news in US that is biased into two political spectrums. Humas UNS
Reporter: Alinda Hardiantoro
Editor: Dwi Hastuti
