Considering the pervasiveness of negative attitudes toward Israel, and the role played by the media in reproducing such attitudes, the present study investigated an issue which has so far been neglected by psychosocial research, namely the representation of Israel in the Press. More specifically, we analyzed the contents concerning Israel during the Second Lebanon War (July-August 2006) conveyed by four Italian national newspapers with different political orientations. We also intended to define whether such newspapers conveyed traditionally anti-Israeli contents identified by non psychological studies (i.e., the condemnation of Israeli political behaviour, the presentation of Israel as Nazi, and the distinction between Jews who sympathize and do not sympathize with Israel). Content analysis of the headlines as well as of the full texts of 141 articles showed that headlines conveyed more evaluative information than contextual ones also describeing Israel more as an “active agent” than as a “war target”. Regarding the contents conveyed by the full texts, they were differentiated on the basis of the political orientation of the newspapers. Thus, while left-wing newspapers condemned Israeli foreign policy, presented Israel as an aggressive country and strongly supported the Lebanese and Palestinian population, the neutral and right-wing ones strongly supported Israeli foreign policy. Regarding the anti-Israeli contents identified by non psychological studies, they emerged in the headlines as well as in the full texts. The importance of these findings for the social perception of Israel and Israelis is discussed.
The Representation of Israel in the Italian Press during the II Lebanon War
BRAMBILLA, Marco;RAVENNA, Marcella
2009
Abstract
Considering the pervasiveness of negative attitudes toward Israel, and the role played by the media in reproducing such attitudes, the present study investigated an issue which has so far been neglected by psychosocial research, namely the representation of Israel in the Press. More specifically, we analyzed the contents concerning Israel during the Second Lebanon War (July-August 2006) conveyed by four Italian national newspapers with different political orientations. We also intended to define whether such newspapers conveyed traditionally anti-Israeli contents identified by non psychological studies (i.e., the condemnation of Israeli political behaviour, the presentation of Israel as Nazi, and the distinction between Jews who sympathize and do not sympathize with Israel). Content analysis of the headlines as well as of the full texts of 141 articles showed that headlines conveyed more evaluative information than contextual ones also describeing Israel more as an “active agent” than as a “war target”. Regarding the contents conveyed by the full texts, they were differentiated on the basis of the political orientation of the newspapers. Thus, while left-wing newspapers condemned Israeli foreign policy, presented Israel as an aggressive country and strongly supported the Lebanese and Palestinian population, the neutral and right-wing ones strongly supported Israeli foreign policy. Regarding the anti-Israeli contents identified by non psychological studies, they emerged in the headlines as well as in the full texts. The importance of these findings for the social perception of Israel and Israelis is discussed.I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
