A Violent World: TV News Images of Middle Eastern Terror and War

(Paperback)

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Description

Images are the core of television news, particularly in the coverage of terror events and war, where pictures often overwhelm the verbal commentary. A Violent World analyzes images on global CNN, Israeli IBA, and Palestinian PATV that contribute heavily to how the current violence in the Middle East is framed. Nitzan Ben-Shaul draws from critical media theory, and from qualitative and aesthetic approaches out of cinema studies, to examine how dominant ideologies are embedded in mainstream TV news. Specifically, he focuses on the American elites' global ideology and the conflicting dominant national-peripheral ideologies of Israeli-Palestinian elites. His in-depth study, of particular interest to scholars of Middle East studies and international communication, further offers a new model of analysis for contemporary television news.

Reviews

A Violent World is a valuable contribution to critical media studies and more specifically to a better understanding of comparative international media. -- Courtney C. Radsch, American University * International Journal of Communication *
A Violent World is a unique book that provides an original and comprehensive analysis connecting global political and economic developments and ideologies with TV reports about violence. This is a bold and excellent analysis that uses macrolevel perspective to explain the contents of the mainstream news. Thus, this book provides a meaningful contribution not only to the studies of communication, but also to political science, economics, political psychology, and studies of culture. -- Daniel Bar-Tal, past president, the International Society of Political Psychology

Author Bio

Nitzan Ben-Shaul is senior lecturer of film and television at Tel Aviv University.