A clash-of-civilizations prism in German media? Documenting a shift from political to religious framing of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Issue 1 (March 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lopatin, Esther; Samuel-Azran, Tal; Galily, Yair
• Is Part Of: Communication and the public. Volume 2:Issue 1(2017)
• Page Start: 19
• Page End: 34
• Publication Date: 2017-03
• Subjects: Clash of civilizations -- Die Welt -- Gaza -- Huntington -- Israel -- Palestinians; Communication -- Periodicals; Communication -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 302.2
• DOI: 10.1177/2057047316689795
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2057-0473

Abstract

The impact of political events on media's conflict coverage prism is widely established. To assess the role of mounting tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims in Europe in 2013–2014 on German media's coverage prism of Muslim-related conflicts, this article compares coverage of the 2008 and 2014 Israeli military operations in Gaza by three major German newspapers. The empirical analysis indicates a dramatic rise in the use of religious terms in 2014, most notably in conservative newspaper Die Welt, and offers evidence of a shift from politics-centered framing of the 2008 Gaza operation to a more religious-centered framing of the 2014 Gaza War. We discuss wider implications of the findings, including their support for the relevance of the clash-of-civilizations theory to contemporary media's conflict coverage modus operandi.