This article demonstrates how politics enters every level of news coverage and how the social-political environment affects the way in which the news media organizations cover minorities in a divided society. The case study looks at the image of two peripheral groups, Israeli Arabs and the inhabitants of development cities, in the Israeli national press. These groups have similar characteristics (including location, social-economical indicators, population size, and the types of reporters who cover them), but their media coverage is vastly different. The difference stems from the groups' ethnic origins:Jewish versus Arab. The analysis shows how this difference affects many key internal decisions, routines, and journalistic practices of media organizations that shape the coverage of these groups. The author employed two research methods to analyze the research questions: content analysis of news articles published and in depth interviews with editors and journalists.
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