Mediated Clash of Civilizations

Examining the Proximity-Visual Framing Nexus in Al Jazeera Arabic and Fox News’ Coverage of the 2021 Gaza War

Bibliographic Data

ID22010608
AuthorsKareem El Damanhoury (0000-0001-5326-485X, University of Denver), Faisal Saleh (An-Najah National University)
Year2025
Volume13
Issue1
Pages136-158
Publication date2025-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueDigital Journalism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2167-0811 • E-ISSN: 2167-082X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/21670811.2024.2332614
OpenAlexW4393409893
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited45

The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is amongst the most polarizing topics today, particularly when comparing predominant U.S. and Arab perspectives. News media are often criticized for being pro-Israel or pro-Palestine, and more so during deadly wars. This study examines all 320 images Al Jazeera Arabic and Fox News put out in their articles covering the May 2021 Gaza War and investigates how Qatar and the U.S.’s proximity to Israel and Palestine factored into the outlets’ visual framing choices. Despite both invoking the David and Goliath master narrative, they provided a polarized coverage of the war, with Al Jazeera proliferating narratives of Hamas and pro-Palestine supporters and exclusively foregrounding the suffering of Palestinian civilians, and Fox legitimating Israeli military actions and presenting Hamas as a terrorizing force that disrupts the lives of Israelis as well as wreaks havoc and fuels anti-Jewish sentiments in the U.S. After dissecting the cross-cultural differences in death and dying portrayals, displays of Israelis and Palestinians, and recurrent visual themes, the study concludes with a discussion on the influence of news agencies on media’s photographic decisions and the implications of extreme alignment in the proximity-framing nexus on the propagation of mediated clash of civilizations in the digital news sphere

Arabic · Linguistics · Media studies · Political science · Sociology · Computer Science · History · Law · Media Studies and Communication · Philosophy · Public Relations and Crisis Communication · Social Media and Politics

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