ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Political Dimension of Religion in Shiism Overall Coverage of the 2006 Israeli-hizbullah Conflict Coverage of the 2006 Israeli-Hizbullah Conflict was very heavily skewed in favor of the Israelis. This trend was seen across the country.

However, bearing in mind that south-east Michigan has the highest concentration of people from the Middle East outside of the region, it was shocking to see that such negative images were presented on a daily basis by the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News, especially at the beginning of the conflict. One would think that having such large and vibrant Arab American and Jewish communities nearby, both newspapers would take seriously the issue of depicting the conflict sensitively.

Editors and writers at both newspapers surely are aware of Metro-Detroit being the most ethnically segregated city in America. Instead of being even-handed in local coverage of the conflict, Detroit\'s media invariably portrayed it as a struggle between good (Israel) and evil (anyone opposing Israel). The coverage of the month-long conflict covered a number of events, yet the tone through out the first half of the month was tremendously pro-Israeli. Stereotypes were also de rigueur.

Coverage of the conflict revolved around a number of themes: that the Israelis were attacked first, that the Shi\'i militia Hizbullah was a "state-within-a-state," that Israeli civilians were bravely facing their enemies (while the Lebanese remained largely faceless) and, contrary to all evidence, that the Israeli response to Hizbullah\'s capture of two Israeli soldiers was not disproportionate and that it was a natural extension of the "right to self-defense." In the case of the Detroit News, it seemed that editorial page Editor Nolan Finley put his pro-Israeli bias on display for all to see which spurned somewhat of a backlash, not only from Arab-Americans but from the public at large.

Although the coverage in both papers improved as the conflict went on and afterwards as well, the damage had already been done. Since the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News are different publications, they are separated for the ease of the reader and to see the different ways in which pro-Israeli bias was present in each.