Media Coverage of Palestinian Children and the Intifada

Abstract

Using qualitative and quantitative research tools, this article attempts to examine the media coverage of Palestinian children in relation to the current Palestinian uprising. The criteria for the selection of the news outlets and indicator categories were agreed upon by Birzeit University Media Institute and the UNICEF representative. The regional and international outlets selected were as follows: NBC TV (US), BBC World Service radio station (UK), The Guardian (UK), Aljazeera TV (Qatar), The New York Times and The Jerusalem Post. All the outlets are representative of regional and international categories and are leaders in terms of news-making or represent contrasting political views. The results of this particular study seem to confirm assumptions that Palestinian children have very little media access and issues relating to them rarely feature in the dominant news narrative despite the privileged position of the Middle East crisis in these international news agendas.