Anthropologist alleges media bias

Israeli anthropologist Tania Forte and Palestinian-born Illinois State University history professor Issam Nassar spoke about biased media coverage on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East Wednesday night at the Bloomberg Auditorium.

The lecture was the fifth and last lecture of the 2002 Odyssey Media Forum: New World Disorder: Clashing Cultures, Politics and the Search for Answers.

Tania Forte has a B.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John's College in Annapolis, Md. and an MA and Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from the University of Chicago.

As well as a respected anthropologist, Forte is a journalist. She spent two years studying how the media affected the lives of Palestinian women in the Galilee, the northernmost part of Palestine. It was with them that Forte realized some of the biases of media. She decided to follow cameramen in the Middle East to explore biases intrinsic in the process of newsgathering, which can occur since a cameraman determines where he can go, based on whether he is a Palestinian or Israeli.

"Israeli cameramen work where the military have control and Palestinian cameramen work in the West Bank," she said. "Both supply footage to news organizations."

Forte pointed out that all news service agencies, like AP, Reuters and the BBC, rely on the footage that resident cameramen film for their video broadcasts. The news anchor and the news writer are hardly ever present when the footage is taken, even though it may seem that the words and pictures go so well together. In Forte's opinion, it is this gap that leads to factual inconsistencies. A video clip she supplied for the audience showed an example.

The video clip showed a filmmaker standing in front of barbed wire, a news image known as a Fence Situation. The idea is that the visual cue of the thorny barbed wire should convey a feeling of entrapment for the viewer. What the usual footage does not show is that in this situation the barbed wire only goes for so far. The filmmaker has his cameraman follow him for 100 meters, where the fence ended, and the idea that the fence went on forever also ended. Forte emphasized that this lack of information is common in news reports.

"All media is biased and no media tells us all we need to know to understand why things are happening," she said.

In Forte's opinion, what is worse is that all the video seen of the Middle East is about "violence, violence, and anything related to violence." Due to stereotypes, television viewers usually see only two sides and hardly ever see dissidence among either side.

"And you never see a Palestinian say something good about an Israeli or an Israeli say anything good about a Palestinian. ? There isn't a dichotomy like it is seen in the American media. These people talk [to each other]."

Issam Nassar, who spoke after Forte, was an example that Palestinians and Israelis are not automatic enemies.

Nassar is also teaches History at the Al-Quds University in Jerusalem and is Associate Director of the Institute of Jerusalem Studies.

Nassar agreed with Forte and added that viewers make themselves especially vulnerable to biases.

"People only read headlines, unless they are really interested ? and viewers have their own expectations," he said.

Nassar pointed out that it is difficult for television viewers to see Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and not think about the issue of terrorism. In fact, Israeli officials have said in regard to the American public's expectation to hear about suicide bombing that they have felt compelled to start press conferences by talking about suicide bombing even if they plan to discuss another issue.

Both Nassar and Forte felt that these biases, which can lead to incomplete news coverage, need to be addressed if a solution to the Middle East conflict is to be found.

As for a solution to the conflict, Nassar believes the answer is the creation of a separate Palestinian state.

"There is a simple answer that has been know since the '70s. It is the Two State Solution. ... [The Israeli-Palestinian] conflict did not start in the Year One, like most people think. It is a product of the 20th century and not an eternal conflict," he said.