Reporting the Middle East : challenges and chances / editors, Dan Caspi, Daniel Rubinstein

Introduction : Conflict mediatization in the Middle East -- Another view of the information wall in the Israeli-Arab conflict -- A comparative study of the Syrian crisis coverage in Greek and Spanish -- Traditional and new media -- New content, new challenges : UGC use and challenges faced by BBC -- News journalists covering events in Syria -- Wartime changes in news consumption patterns among Israeli -- Whatsapp users : operation protective edge as a case study -- Operation cast lead viewed through blogs and the print press by the -- Arab society in Israel -- "It's their fault there's no chance of peace" : key trends in Israeli -- Coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- Competing trends in the Arab press in Israel : from print to the internet -- Making an icon : the al-Dura conspiracy.

Numerous studies address the flow of information between nations and states -- especially in the era of globalization -- and its contribution to the development of relations across physical borders. By contrast, little attention has been paid to the circumstances under which parties in conflict initiate and build barriers to free flow of information. The conflict in the Middle East may serve as a test bed of controlled disruption of information flow, as covered in Reporting the Middle East: Challenges and Chances. Two parallel types of confrontations appear to take place in the Middle East: the actual physical conflict, and the "war of words," conducted via the media, with each side firing its own verbal missiles. Reporting the Middle East: Challenges and Chances aims to show that the media arena is a key element in understanding the Middle East conflict. Media coverage of Middle Eastern affairs remains critical, if only because of its power in determining sources of information, setting decision makers' agendas, and influencing management of the physical confrontation.