Media and Politics - Literature review Example

Media and Politics Media Coverage Apparently, media coverage is a process through which the media embarks on covering or following up on an event that they perceive important or of interest to target audience. Also known as press coverage, it is argued to continuously affect the dissemination of information and further influences the opinion that is expected from the target audience (Gardiner & Gardiner, 2002). Importantly, media coverage could be positive or negative depending on how a particular media house has covered or presented it. On one hand, positive coverage assists in ensuring that a better image exists in a given media, and there is a positive image from the target audience. On the other hand, negative or bad coverage is highly likely to ruin the image of the company further leading to damaging the positive publicity of persons involved in the coverage (Media studies: 2,2009). As such, it is worth noting that media coverage is dependent on the two important aspects namely; the type of mass media that has been used to cover a particular event, and the style of coverage that been used. In this regard, media coverage is an aspect that has gradually grown over the years as it continuously brings together the entire world through various aspects of life (Comstock & Scharrer, 2007). Gaza war with Israel Actually, there has been a huge conflict between Gaza and Israel. According to Chomsky & Pappé (2013), the war between these two regions emanated from the elections that led to the ascending to power of the Islamic political party, Hamas in 2005. Moreover, the conflict was fueled by separation of the Authority in Palestine to Fatah government and the Government of Hamas in Gaza. Moreover, there were rocket attacks from the Palestine that were targeted on the Israel and Israel responded by blocking the Gaza strip. According to Witkin (2011), a disengagement plan established in 2005 was aimed at ensuring that Israel retained widespread control over the Gaza strip with inclusion of its waters, as well as, its external borders. Additionally, Israel has been known to continuously monitor and control the supply basic necessities such as electricity, communication, infrastructure among other necessities. In their book, Izard & Perkins (2010), articulate that the Human rights and the Amnesty International have in the recent past confirmed that Israel will remain an ‘occupying power’ in the international law especially in regard to the Gaza issue. Nevertheless, other actors such as Fatah government in the West Bank have refused to recognize the presence of the Hamas government in this conflict. Importantly, the Gaza - Israel conflict has continuously received media coverage since the conflict began in the late 90s. The event which gathered interest from the local media, and the foreign media , did not allow foreign media into the area where there was conflict, to an extent of been accused of various s crimes that they had not committed as a way of attempting to muzzle and / or intimidate them. However, towards the end of 2008, the Supreme Court based in Israel gave an order that was meant at allowing the foreign media to access the Gaza strip especially when the crossing borders were opened, although the order was declined by IDF since it was directly involved at the time. Basically, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was responsible for the destruction to media facilities belonging to a media house known as Al-Aqsa TV, and other media houses both foreign and domestic whenever they felt that there was intrusion of the Gaza conflict without consent (Adkins & Wasburn, 2008). British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) According to Briggs & Burke (2009), BBC is the oldest media across the world and is argued to have the largest number of employees. Basically, the media house was established in the early 1920s when a group of individuals saw the need to share information to the public. Nevertheless, this group of individuals was not certain if it would be granted permission since the government thought and argued that the transmissions would end up interfering with the essential services such as the armed force. Nevertheless, BBC was later granted permission and it immediately began its daily transmissions as a Radio where eight stations were placed in what was known as major cities in the country( BBC, 2014). Actually, BBC began as a private entity that was formed as a result of great idea from an individual known as Scotsman John Baird. Essentially, Baird had continued to show great interest in media systems especially when he made a system that suggested the development of television. In this regard, the Company was determined to sponsor Baird in his experiment to the extent where he was capable of refining the new medium, and there was notable development in the media industry. However, in the late 1920s (1926), the Company moved from being privately owned to a public entity that was owned solely by the government (Kunelius & Reunanen, 2012). Currently, BBC is one of the renowned media houses with its headquarters situated at the Broadcasting House in London. Moreover, the Company has continuously covered a range variety of events that have brought about mixed reactions from people across the world. Aljazeera Aljazeera is one of the few media houses that have rapidly grown in the last two decades. According to Aljazeera (2014), the media house is situated in Gulf, Qatar where it official opened its doors to coverage in 1996. Due to the funding from the government of Qatar, it received unprecedented editorial freedom that gradually influenced its professionalism in covering news in the associated studio discussions, which led to an increase in target audience that were from Arabic-speaking countries. After five years, Aljazeera had gained a widespread attention from the west since it was the only media that was capable of working for 24 hours due to satellite link that had continuously been used to cover the Afghanistan war. As such, their coverage was used by other media houses to show to the rest of the world what was indeed happening in Afghanistan. Moreover, Aljazeera was infamous for some unique coverage that they were involved in such as the videotaped messages that they covered detailing communication from the al –Qaida leaders. Nevertheless, the United States under the leadership of Bush was not pleased by most coverages that were done by this media house and as a result, he was determined to bomb some of its bureaus. Even though Bush continued to show hostility, Aljazeera continued to shine for promoting free flow of information and creating a platform for political discussions in Arabic speaking countries and gradually to other parts of the world (Wolfsfeld,1997). Knesset TV Actually, Knesset TV is among approximately 30 official stations that are based in Israel. The media house is a publicly owned channel by the government that is specifically responsible of airing the proceedings of the Knesset. Basically, Knesset refers to the house of representative present in the state of Israel( Knesset TV, 2014). According to Hobson (2000), before the government thought of coming up with its own station that would air the sessions from the house of representatives, these sessions were aired through another channel known as Channel 33. It is worth noting that, the channel is responsible of airing other information such as debates that are discussed in the Israel parliament. Of importance to note is that it could be of available through open satellite, digital cable, analog cable and the internet. Gaza Attack 2014 Apparently in July 2014, an operation dubbed Operation Protective Edge was launched by the Israel through a military action in the strip of Gaza that is ruled by the Hamas. This military launch was followed by approximately two months of Israel bombardment, accompanied by rocket attacks and ground fighting. As a result of this, over 2000 lives were lost with the majority death being those from Gaza. Krause & Mühlen-Schulte ( 2012), articulates that this attack is denoted as a revenge mission that was aimed at discouraging the Gaza to desist from sending rocket fire into Israel. Ideally, the rocket attacks from Israel were influenced by the kidnappings and murder of 3 Israeli teenagers by the Hamas members. Moreover, the Israel was further interested in ensuring that the Gaza tunnel system was destroyed. In a general sense, the July attack in Gaza by the Israel resulted to destruction of properties and loss of life for innocent civilian especially young children. Since the war still has signs of recurring, there is necessity for keen watch from international community particularly on the violation of human rights, and as such they are expected to intervene to avoid more deaths (Forsythe, 2012). Israel attack on The MV Mavi Marmara 2010 In 2010 , the Israel military attacked the MV Mavi Marmara after they alleged that the ships that had been purchased by IHH, a Turkish non-governmental organization for the purposes of terrorist attacks on Israel. Although IHH denied those allegations, Israel was not contented with the response. As such, they decided to raid the ships and forced them to follow them on one of the port named, Ashdod Port. However, the ships allegedly declined and boarded the internationals waters( Cordesman, 1986). In this regard, the Israel military opened fire with live rounds which led to the death of eight Turkish nationals and one Turkish American. Basically, the Turkish ships were carrying aid to approximately 37 countries. According to Köchler & International Progress Organization. (2006),the relationship between Israel became hostile and as such the Turkey government was determined to place sanctions on Israel, a situation that would automatically deter their economic growth. On the other hand, Israel was determined to reverse the sour relationship and as such, they offered approximately $20 million for the intentional raid. Moreover, the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu made a call for apology to the then Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Erdogan on behalf of the entire national for the errors and promised to cooperate in future. Human Rights Human right is one of the most crucial aspects in human race. As a result, international organizations have continuously campaigned for the upholding of human rights at all levels. Nevertheless, human rights are constantly violated every now and then across the world (Betten, 1999). For instance, human rights are mostly violated during wars such as the Gaza attack, Afghan war among others through the loss of life, forceful migrations, lack of basic necessities sexual harassment among others. Notably, the media has played a huge role in ensuring that it covers some of these event for the world to know understand and assist where necessary (Smeulers & Grünfeld, 2011). Reference listTop of Form Top of Form Top of Form Top of Form Top of Form Top of Form Top of Form Top of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form ToTop of Form Top of Form Top of Form Top of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form Adkins, C. T. J., & Wasburn, P. C. (2008). Media Bias?: A Comparative Study of Time, Newsweek, the National Review, and the Progressive, 1975-2000. Lanham: Lexington Books. Aljazeera (2014). http://www.aljazeera.com/homepage BBC (2014).British Broadcasting Corporation. http://www.bbc.com/homepage Betten, L. (1999). The Human Rights Act 1998: What it means ; the incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights into the legal order of the United Kingdom. TheHague [u.a.: M. Nijhoff Publishers.Bottom of Form Briggs, A., & Burke, P. (2009). A social history of the media: From Gutenberg to the Internet. Cambridge, UK: Polity. Chomsky, N., & Pappé, I. (2013). Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israels War Against the Palestinians. New York: Haymarket Books. Comstock, G. A., & Scharrer, E. (2007). The psychology of media and politics. Amsterdam [etc.: Elsevier. Cordesman, A. H. ( 1986). The Middle East and the cost of the politics of force. Middle East Journal, 40, 1, 5-15. Forsythe, D. P. (2012). Human rights in international relations. Cambridge [England: Cambridge University Press. Gardiner, W. L., & Gardiner, W. L. (2002). A History of Media. Victoria, Canada: Trafford. Hobson, J. M. (2000). The state and international relations. Cambridge [u.a.: Cambridge Univ. Press. Izard, R. S., & Perkins, J. (2010). Covering disaster: Lessons from media coverage of Katrina and Rita. New Brunswick, N.J: Transaction Publishers. Knesset TV(2014) https://www.knesset.gov.il/broadcast/ Köchler, H., & International Progress Organization. (2006). The use of force in international relations: Challenges to collective security. Vienna: IPO. Krause, H. H., & Mühlen-Schulte, A. ( 2012). The power of numbers in global governance. Journal of International Relations and Development, 15, 4, 455-465. Kunelius, R., & Reunanen, E. ( 2012). The medium of the media: Journalism, politics, and the theory of "mediatisation". Javnost, 19, 4, 5-24. Media studies: 2. (2009). Cape Town: Juta. Smeulers, A., & Grünfeld, F. (2011). International crimes and other gross human rights violations: A multi- and interdisciplinary textbook. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. Witkin, N. ( 2011). The interspersed nation-state system: A two-state/one-land solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Middle East Journal, 65, 1. Wolfsfeld, G. (1997). Media and political conflict: Contests in the central arena. Cambridge [England: Cambridge University Press. Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Read More