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12 January 2009
GPPi Fellow discusses Gaza media coverage on the BBC
GPPi Fellow Sergey Lagodinsky was a guest on the BBC Radio Program “BBC Evening” (Russian Service) on 9 January 2009, where he discussed the media coverage and the global perception of the war in Gaza with Alexei Yudin, a prominent Russian commentator, and Giulietto Chiesa, a member of the Party of European Socialists in the European parliament.
Lagodinsky emphasized that the asymmetric conflict in Gaza between the Israeli armed forces and Hamas targets produces asymmetric visual images and as a result asymmetric sympathies to the plight of the suffering Palestinian population. Apart from these objective factors he also mentioned psychological and political considerations determining a growing vehement public criticism of Israel in Europe and elsewhere. On the psychological side, Lagodinsky pointed out the fact that especially in Europe younger generations who have seldom experienced military actions, possess an abstract image of war and tend to view the war in Gaza in isolation from the attacks on Israel and the broader security threats in the region.
At the same time political factors have a major impact of their own. The fact that Israel does not allow international journalists into the Gaza-strip allows Hamas to control and censure media reporting from the war zone, which also has a skewing influence on public opinion. Lagodinsky called for more information about the history and broader political developments in the Near East, especially in the Arab world and Iran to be available to the public so that the war reports can be put in a broader context.
For more information, please contact Sergey Lagodinsky