The Middle East in American Media

Abstract

This article chronicles 20th-century American media coverage of the Middle East. Communication scholars have been at odds with determining just how the region has been portrayed, and their descriptions are not entirely uniform. Many of these scholars have accused the American media of favoritism in its coverage of the region’s conflicts, arguing through their research that objectivity has been present but rare in the nation’s mainstream press. This article traces those research efforts in an attempt to establish a picture of the patterns and shifting paradigms of American media coverage of the Middle East, particularly the Israeli—Palestinian conflict.