With the conflict going on in Gaza at the moment, the news outlets have become a very critical view in which the whole world sees what’s happening right now. Stuart Hall’s theory (Encoding and Decoding) gives us an overview of how the media industry sends messages lacking humanity through their content to shape our public opinion which also hides the understanding of the massacres in Gaza.
Stuart Hall’s theory explains that the encoding and decoding of messages is a very complicated interaction between the producers and their consumers. The encoding process is linked to how the media producers create messages, which they think about the language used, what they should include and exclude, the framing of the issues and how they present it. This process is usually influenced by the cultural background, values and societal norms of the media producers which shape the narrative, it influences the perspectives and their biases to create something. However, the decoding process occurs when the audience receives the message produced by the media. It is influenced by cultural backgrounds so different cultures can interpret a certain message differently and it can lead to misinterpretations or reinforcements. The relationship between encoding and decoding is not straightforward, it is based on so many factors and the consumers’ interpretation is not determined by the producer’s intention but also by other situations.
In breaking down the Western media bias in covering the Israeli and Palestinian conflict, the lens of Stuart Hall’s Encoding and Decoding theory becomes crucial. The variations of the media portraying the civilian casualties and the framing of interviews illustrate how the encoding process works. They are influenced by cultural biases, encoding fake narratives that make people think that the Israelis are the ones who are suffering like the “40 beheaded babies ” or the CNN reporter “actress” faking the news while hiding the true genocide that is still continuous by the IDF.
The Palestinian social media coverage is also very poor, there are only a few journalists who are still alive and showing the reality, they are now getting challenged by internet shutdowns and account removals like Instagram. The algorithm prevents them from being able to show the world who Israel is targeting and it limits all the pro-Palestine content, resulting in very low reach.
The BBC interviewed Husam Zomlot- the Palestinian Ambassador to the UK, where the sympathy was turned into “Do you condemn Hamas?”, and this is a great example of how the media constructs a biased narrative. This encoding, or message creation, reflects a cultural bias that shapes the overall framing of the conflict, lining with Stuart Hall’s theory that media messages are influenced by the producers’ values. The asymmetry in questioning between Palestinians and Israelis, as well as the suppression of opinions humanizing Palestinians, also showed the societal limits and biases encoded into the media coverage.
References:
Gathara, P. (2023). Western Media Failures Say More about the West than Gaza. [online] www.aljazeera.com. Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/10/25/western-media-failures-say-more-about-the-west-than-gaza.
Ivory Research. (November 2021). Essay on Encoding and Decoding Concept. Retrieved from https://www.ivoryresearch.com/samples/essay-on-encoding-and-decoding-concept/
Durham,M. G., & Kellner, D.(2006). Media and Cultural Studies: Keywords. In S. Hall, Encoding/decoding (pp.163-173).Available at:<https://www.vlebooks.com/Product/Index/47977?page=0&startBookmarkId=-1> [Accessed 18 November 2023]
www.youtube.com. (n.d.). CNN reporter Clarissa Ward takes cover amid rocket fire in Israel. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux99b7hsSvU.
Firstly, I think you can relate this topic to the conflicts that are going on in society right now, which I think you have done very well. It makes it easier for people who are familiar with the events happening now to understand the meaning of this topic. Your in-depth and informative analysis of this topic and the conflict in Gaza shows your thorough knowledge of the issue. Your use of credible sources and citations, as well as the inclusion of a Youtube news report, shows your dedication to gathering information and verifying facts.
This was a very relevant and well thought out argument especially when it comes to how the media can encode certain messages to the audience. You talk about how the media has ascribed more value to Israel’s side of the conflict using buzzwords which heavily affect people’s emotions and lead them to sympathise with Israel, also by conflating the cause of the Free Palestine movement with Hamas. It would have been interesting to see an analysis of which news outlets are covering the conflict and the different words, images and videos they are using but I understand that the limited word count would have made that quite difficult. All in all, a great post!