It's
The Media, Stupid
By Ramzy Baroud
29 March, 2006
Countercurrents.org
There
is little disagreement on the indispensable role of the media in influencing
political debate and narrative, thus shaping public discourse.
Among progressives, liberals
and most political minorities in the United States and Europe, there
is an equal consensus regarding the troubling alliance that is bringing
warmongering politicians, ideologues, religious zealots and media moguls
together. They alone possess the capabilities to sway the public in
any way they wish, or so it seems; they stack a nation's priorities
in the way they find most fit; they concoct wars and justify them when
they go awry. In short, they manipulate democracy by manipulating the
public, using whatever means necessary: fear, misinformation and all
the familiar rest.
No other issue has been the
victim of such treachery like the Middle East discourse in the West,
and particularly that concerning Palestine and Israel. This is a subject
that is as old as the conflict itself. Even before the establishment
of the state of Israel upon the hundreds of conquered and mostly destroyed
Palestinian towns and villages in 1947-48, the founders of Israel seemed
utterly aware of the destructive impact of their action on Western public
opinion. Israeli historian Benny Morris's commanding book, The Birth
of the Palestinian Refugee Problem is dotted with instances where -
in their secretive dealings - Zionist politicians bickered over the
massacring of Palestinians or their overt ethnic cleansing particularly
because of how such blatant actions could damage Israel's image in the
West, not because of the moral dilemma of the acts themselves.
This 'image' problem has
indeed irked Israel since day one and continues to do so; this is why
the term 'PR disaster' has always constituted a nightmarish scenario
for Israeli politicians throughout the years, and subsequently turned
Israel into a master in media spins and crisis management. Israel understood
well that in order for its habitually indefensible policies, so evident
in the illegal confiscation of land, the oppression of people and the
defiance to international law, and so on, to be justified, facts have
to be spun, truths have to be hidden and a new discourse, one that defies
reality altogether would has to be woven, as it has.
Thus, despite the fact that
the Arab-Israeli conflict is the most reported media story on earth,
it's the least understood, seemingly the least rational, and most certainly
one with the least potential to be resolved. The media's skewed narrative
makes the conflict an end in itself; it creates a status quo that is
most suitable for Israel's colonial policies and least desirable for
Palestinians, who are silently - or so it seems - losing their land,
their livelihood and any prospect of freedom, let alone their refugees'
right of return.
Israel's impact on the media
however, has metamorphosed throughout the years, from that seeking to
influence to the one doing its own molding of public opinion. Israel's
dedicated media friends, from the New York Times to the British Telegraph
are perhaps the largest and by far the most influential interest groups
in the media anywhere around the world, a fact
that they - understandably so - often rebuff. But the facts are too
apparent to deny. According to the findings of a recent study conducted
by two top American scholars - Professor John Mearsheimer at the University
of Chicago and Professor Stephen Walt of the Kennedy School of Government
at Harvard University - the single largest influence on US foreign policy
in the Middle East is Israel's interest, even when it is at odds with
the United States own interests. The study cited the Israeli lobby,
AIPAC as chiefly responsible for hijacking US foreign policy in the
Middle East and has based its apparently thorough research on diverse
sources, including uncountable media reports.
Many are already familiar
with the 'special' ties between the United States and Israel, which
arguably allowed for the latter to steer the foreign policy of the 'greatest
democracy on earth' into the Middle East political abyss - whose injurious
consequences are likely to diminish the US global import. But most might
not be aware of the fact that the media is largely responsible for manufacturing
that 'special relationship'. In fact, US interests in the Middle East
- be they political, economic, i.e. strategic - have been greatly hampered,
thanks to the perpetual, albeit misguided advocacy by Israel's allies
in the administration, Congress, media and 'independent' think tanks
and endless lists of 'experts' unleashed whenever Israel's image is
at risk.
But what has in fact magnified
the impact of the Israeli lobby and its influence in the media - whose
work on behalf of Israel has exceeded Palestine, Palestinians and even
the Middle East as a whole to all kinds of geopolitical boundaries as
far as Africa, Asia, Latin America, and of course, Washington itself,
also known as 'the other occupied territory' by a former US congressman
- was the pitiable and most disorganized response of Palestinians, Muslims
and Arabs. Some out of fear, perhaps, chose to disown the matter altogether
using whatever injudicious logic they could drum up. Others tried to
develop their own media alternatives, which is commendable. However,
such mediums have failed - unlike the Israeli media machine - to carry
any depth, strategy or sense of unity toward a fixed goal. In fact,
it reflected Arab factionalism and brought into question the actual
motives behind these 'alternative' ventures.
The result has been catastrophic.
Israel's decades-long quest to bolster its media image has done wonders
as American public opinion either sees Israel as a lone defender of
democracy amid uncivilized Arab polities or not at all aware of the
facts, basing its inane understanding of Middle East politics on media
half truths that see Arabs as irrational, lazy and inherently violent,
with the Israeli being the embodiment of the complete antithesis.
I am afraid that many Palestinians,
Arabs and Muslims are themselves content with the status quo and are
the least interested in reversing their misfortune or appreciating the
immense impact of the media on politics, wars and indeed peace. There
is an overall inclination that associates media bias with racial categorization
- always the easy answer to all enigmas - which is usually followed
by a shoulder shrug and the defeatist impression that 'all is lost',
an echo of the same defeatist sentiment that has accompanied the Arab-Israeli
conflict since its inception, which is now directly involving the United
States, its military, its resources and reputation.
However all is not lost,
for even the most focused misinformation can be reversed, no matter
how humble the initiative, how modest the resources. I have said so
for many years and many have said it before me and many will continue
to echo the same idea: with all due respect "it's the media, stupid."
And if one is foolish enough to neglect its import, then maybe one deserves
to be burnt by its fire.
-Veteran Arab American journalist
Ramzy Baroud teaches mass communication at Australia's Curtin University
of Technology, Malaysia Campus. His most recent book is entitled, Writings
on the Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People's Struggle
(Pluto Press, London.) He is also the editor-in-chief of the Palestine
Chronicle online newspaper.