Biased Judgments of Media Bias: A Case Study of the Arab-Israeli Dispute

Since the birth of the Jewish state in 1948, hundreds of commentaries on media coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict have been driven by a desire to demonstrate unfair media bias-either against Israel or against the Arab states. This paper presents a brief overview of these articles; it differs from prior literature reviews inasmuch as it focuses upon the charges of partisan critics. The paper's goals are (1) to review, categorize, and evaluate these accusations, (2) to distinguish between the normative, conceptual, and empirical issues involved in judgments of media bias, and (3) to suggest an overall vantage point from which we may most usefully view the debate over media unfairness with regard to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Among other things, the paper argues that: 1. The media ought not rely upon evenhandedness, balanced content, or middle-of-the-road politics as guidelines for coverage of the conflict.