Am I Really The Jihadist In The Spectre of the Other?: Reading Said and Stuart Hall in the lack of ethics and rampant misinformation of Palestinian apartheid

Final essay

Introduction

“ Do you support the violent dispossession of me and my family?” (El Kurd,2021)

Mohammed El Kurd, a Palestinian writer and journalist, talked about the eviction of Sheikh Jarrah in 2021 and the violent protests that followed. Robyn Curnow, an acclaimed CNN journalist, asked him whether he supported the violent protests to which he responded with the quote aforementioned. However, the moment Benjamin Netanyahu was interviewed by Jake Tapper, another acclaimed CNN journalist, there was minimal interrogation and it was more of a casual conversation where at one point they even talked about the Superbowl. This type of coverage leads to the continued protection of Israel from any scrutiny and accountability.

These hypocrisies in media portrayals is commonly referred to as Orientalism, a term coined by Edward Said. Orientalism is done by imperial powers creating these self-serving portrayals by viewing the Orient through the lens of the Occident or the West. These perspectives on the East are painted using a Gramscian lens of cultural hegemony. This cultural hegemony and imperialism create the webs of racism, cultural imperialism and political dehumanization that alienates the Palestinian, not only in their homeland but internationally as well (Said,1978,p27).

As a result, Orientalism creates binaries between the self and the other due to this cultural hegemony which leads to the politics of representation, a theory by Stuart Hall. Representation is how ‘other cultures’ are given representation and significance due to the given practices of the ethnographic practices of the West (Hall,2003, p.225). Stuart Hall also links colonialism and the creation of the binaries of us and them, like Edward Said does in Orientalism (Hall in Sanz Sabido, 2015). However this is more evident in the post 9/11 world. After 2001, the media has played a role in the negative politics of representation of Arabs and Muslims as a whole. This negative politics of representation leads to the spectacle of the other. This was a theory derived by Stuart Hall which is a result of the representation politics, where stereotypes are created.

These tools are crucial in Western media, especially in a post 9/11 world that fuels Islamophobia. This is a prevalent one in the American media, particularly regarding coverage of Palestine. In the case of American media, due to the United States aiding and abetting the state of Israel, it is natural that American media attempts to make Israel and Israelis more familiar to them through the wide coverage of Israeli politicians and their stances for eradicating Hamas (Fisher, 2014). Although the situation is improving with the emergence of more narratives from Palestinians and pro-Palestinian voices, it remains a persistent issue due to the omnipresence of dominant hegemonic forces that have a detrimental impact on the credibility and ethics of journalism on the matter.

The purpose of this essay is to examine the impact of Orientalism and Stuart Hall's notion of representation in the lack of ethical consideration due to Orientalism and the creation of the vilified Other in American media, in this case CNN which renders the Palestinian unworthy of journalistic respect. There is also the dissemination of inaccurate information, regarding the issue of Palestinian apartheid.

Orientalism, the Politics of Representation and the lack of ethics in journalism

CNN has a policy of ethics which are the following: minimizing harm, accountability and transparency and acting independently (CNN Academy,2023). However, in regards to the coverage of Palestine, these ethics do not apply to Palestinians and how CNN journalists cover Palestine. This lack of ethics comes from the inequalities of power that come from stereotyping (Hall,1997). As aforementioned, this is a result of orientalism. Orientalism inherently leaves others to interpret the Orient for them, creating subalterns. This subalternity creates the spectacle of the other in which comes from stereotypes of others based on race, gender and class (Hall,2003) ergo rendering them not worthy of the same journalistic respect since the subjects are not seen as people, they are seen as stereotypes. As quoted by Said in Orientalism: “The West is the actor, the Orient a passive reactor. The West is the spectator, the judge and jury, of every facet of Oriental behavior” (1978, p.109). As mentioned, after 9/11, media organizations have lost credibility and became propaganda machines which created stereotypes and dehumanized the Arab as the “Oriental man was first an Oriental and then, a man” (Said,1978, p.231).

As previously stated, acting independently is one of CNN’s core ethical values. CNN journalists do not report on Palestine in this manner. Although this is unachievable given that the media is a political instrument, journalists are expected to maintain their objectivity and resist being swayed by corporate and political objectives. To preserve the public’s trust, journalists must act in a transparent manner and give guarantees that they work lawfully and responsibly (CNN Academy, 2023). CNN’s coverage of events in Palestine has consistently drawn harsh criticism from Palestinians. However, CNN’s coverage of Palestine has been biased, particularly their portrayal of the events on October 7th. Due to a lack of accountability and transparency, public trust has dwindled.

One of the most notable incidents was the death of Shireen Abu Akleh, an American- Palestinian journalist. Despite the resounding evidence, her death was negated until mainstream news media even helped cover for Israel and their attempt to do a PR spin on the issue (AJ+ and Takturi, 2022). Her death was eventually revealed to be caused by the IDF, after an eventual investigation by CNN. However, the initial coverage of her passing did not consider the multiple audiences, especially Arab-speaking audiences who knew Shireen and grew up watching Shireen Abu Akleh.

During the events after October 7th, this lack of transparency and accountability worsened. For instance, Clarissa Ward faked being attacked by a bomb during Israel’s bombing of Gaza when there was nothing happening. This led to the most famous confrontation between Zein Rahma and Clarrisa Ward exacerbated this point further where Zein calls Clarissa Ward a “mouthpiece” for corporations and ‘where are our voices’ (Rahma,2023). This breaks a crucial tenet in journalistic accountability where journalists need to ‘find their own way and direct their work’ (CNN Academy,2023).

According to CNN and their policy on ethics, one of the policies is to minimize harm (CNN Academy,2023). The interviews that were carried after the incidents of October 7th differed for Palestinians and for Israelis. The interviews with Israelis were handled with more care and tenderness compared to how Palestinians were interviewed which was more hostile. Returning to Mohammed El Kurd and him being bombarded with the question of do you support the violent protests, this is unethical in itself as this violates a crucial tenet in journalism which is “ to treat sources, subjects, colleagues and members of the public as human beings worthy of respect” (SJP in CNN Academy, 2023). However the question referred to above in which he mentioned that this question is seen as a manipulative question which manufactures consent 4. Not only that but he was constantly interrupted in the interview by being bombarded by the same question over and over again and abruptly cutting him off when he was justifying the support against the dispossession of his family, which is not doing right by the interviewee at all.

Not only that, another instance of this bombardment of questions comes with constantly being asked to condemn Hamas. This is more prevalent with recent coverage of the events after October 7th, especially with Palestinian guests. One instance of this was Christianne Ammanpour opening her interview with Husom Zumlot with the question of: do you condemn Hamas?. Said (1997, pg 25) argues that the West uses cool, relatively detached instruments of scientific, quasi-objective representation . He also writes that these cool and detached instruments are usually done in the name of objectivity, freedom, progress and liberalism (1997, pg 143). It is clear that the politics of representation has played a role in painting Palestinians as villains hence rendering them unworthy of journalistic ethics.

This applies to non-Palestinians as well. An American nurse who recently returned from Gaza was interviewed by Anderson Cooper.This interview represented a step in her progress, but his tone when he asked her the question was, “ Would you like to go back to Gaza?” . She answered “Yes,” and after that answer. The following questions followed: Oh “So without it, if you took over the national staff, you would have died because of desperate people” (Hasan Piker and CNN, 2023).This essentially means that the greatest danger to women, especially foreign women, is Palestinians. Although Anderson Cooper’s interview was well-intentioned, Anderson was clearly biased.

While this is changing, it is clear that Orientalism and how Palestinians are represented in the media plays a role in how Palestinians and those who are actively involved in the issues of Palestine are not treated ethically.

Orientalism, the Creation of the Other and misinformation

“This is not a conflict, this is not clashes, this an army working with a militarized population of settlers subjugating and oppressing Palestinians” (El Kurd, 2021)

“Misinformation is the unintentional dissemination of disinformation.” Even if you don’t know you’re doing it or have bad intentions, you’re nevertheless disseminating false information and errors (Phipps-Smith in Zepp, 2023). Regarding the situation between Israel and Palestine, one may counter that intentional disinformation is being spread, which would be against journalistic ethics. As previously said, there is an obvious infringement of providing responsibility and openness, as well as working independently. Said mentions in Blaming the Victim that the jargon employed and the deliberate factual distortion contribute to the tendency to blame the victim. However, the mainstream American media portrays the Palestinians as terrorists who deserve to be treated as such. This is proven to be true in journalism and as Edward Said writes “Since the Oriental was a member of a subject race, he had to be subjected” (1978, p.207).

In Orientalism, Said argues that the Orient insinuates danger (Said,1978, p.57). While American media has recently been attempting to promote a co-opted multiculturalism, this is still a shallow attempt at countering the stereotypes that have been perpetuated of Muslims and Arabs as a whole (P. Campbell, 2016). In Covering Islam, Said puts forward a Foucaldian notion of knowledge and power and applies this to answer the question of how Western media uses their Orientalist knowledge of the East as a tool of power when it comes to providing desirable narratives to their audience. In regards to news coverage on Palestine, these desired narratives are being perpetuated and have continued through misinformation: both in regards to facts and language used.

Accordingly, news agents’ aim to spread preferred narratives is the source of factual disinformation (Mccluskey, 2006). These desired narratives are often produced in the guise of unbiased and liberal journalism but this is a fallacy in itself. Western journalism uses “cool, relatively detached instruments of scientific, quasi-objective representation” (Said,1997, p. 25). “These instruments are usually used in the name of objectivity, freedom, progress, and liberalism” (Said,1997, p.143). Despite the fact that the Western media serves as a rational actor and a source of information, it is a tendency for the West to revert this rationality and irrationality, thereby enabling the media to exert control and determine the portrayal of the Middle East, specifically Palestine (Ibid)

During the coverage of October 7th, CNN journalist Sara Sidner lied about the notion that Hamas babies were beheaded. She stated that “babies and toddlers were found with their heads decapitated in Kfar Aza in southern Israel after Hamas’ attacks in the kibbutz over the weekend, a spokesperson for Israel’s prime minister says.” 6(Sidner,2023). While she has since made a statement saying that she, alongside CNN were misled, politicians like Joe Biden and Sec. Anthony Blinken believed it to be true and this led to the carpet bombing of Gaza to be justified (AJ+ and Saeed, 2023).

This helps in painting the hegemonic narrative while guising it as solely relying on information from the United States. One of the main policies of CNN is to always verify facts from multiple channels and rely on fact checkers to verify this information but with the death of Shireen Abu Akleh and the events that happened on October 7th is a big turn in regards to their standards on misinformation.

As aforementioned, the vocabulary that is used to talk about the situation in Palestine is a form of misinformation. As proposed by Peteet (2016), the ‘discursive strategies of the media are enabling and legitimizing colonial relations of displacement and domination. These discursive strategies are a part of the battle for narrative and with the American media channels promoting the well-choreographed Israeli narratives, it is clear that the Palestinian narrative and their desire for mainstream media to use accurate language is failing. However, American media just guises this as promoting neutrality.

With words such as ‘clashes’ and ‘tensions’ albeit to them promoting neutrality are promoting a narrative that is highly inaccurate. This is designed to show that the Palestinians and Israelis are on an equal footing when this is not the case. News media ignores the historicity of the issue, which is that Palestine has been colonized by Israel since the Nakba of 1948. In regards to what is happening on October 7th, the word ‘war’ was used to describe what was happening in Gaza. CNN published an article in which the headline wrote: These charts show the scale of loss in the Israel-Hamas war in which the headline itself promotes misinformation. This is not a war, this is a genocide. A war is defined as “a conflict between political groups involving hostilities of considerable duration and magnitude” (Frankel and Brittanica Dictionary, 2017) while a genocide is defined as “any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

1. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
2. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
3. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
4. Killing members of the group;
5. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group (United Nations, 1948).

Part of the reason why Palestinians are perceived negatively in the media is also due to generalizations and binary language like “us” and “them,” as well as the idea that all Palestinians support Hamas and are under its oppression. Although Hamas exists, it is incorrect to say that all Palestinians are oppressed by the organization because Israel is the oppressor of the Palestinian people, not Hamas or “radical Islam.”

Similarly, the usage of the passive voice not only plays a role in dehumanizing the Palestinians but also plays a role in rendering the subject (the Palestinian) to be the recipient of the verb therefore reducing their humanity to just them being statistics and numbers. The passive voice is seen with language such as Israel to pull some troops from Gaza in war against Hamas (Yeung, Radford, Hammond and CNN,2023). and Palestinian family home demolished in a sensitive East Jerusalem neighborhood (Carey, Salman, Khadder and CNN,2022). This subjectivism is an Oriental tactic where the Oriental is just viewed as an Oriental, not a person (1978, pg231).

The way casualties are described shows this diminished humanity. While Israeli casualties are humanized, Palestinians are simply reduced to statistics. Said mentions that Orientalism strips the Arabs of their humanity and reduces them to a collective, devoid of a personal identity and humanity (1978, p.287). These choices lack journalistic integrity and are only little portions of the Palestinian reality. Western media has frequently used these Orientalist depictions of Palestinians, although they don't really represent the reality of Palestine. Meanwhile, Palestinians have been silenced when it comes to discussing their homeland.

Conclusion

This essay has delineated the significance of Orientalism and Stuart Hall's theory on the politics of representation in propagating misinformation and a lack of ethics in journalism, specifically in the context of Palestine. While Clarissa Ward recently visited Gaza to cover the unfolding genocide and carpet bombing, it is something that has been done 70 days too late. To make sure that journalism is fair and trustworthy, especially when Palestinian journalists want to tell the truth and risk their lives to do it, Western journalists and media organizations need to remove bias so they can give fair and accurate information.