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Peace,
Propaganda & the Promised Land provides a striking
comparison of U.S. and international media coverage of the
crisis in the Middle East, zeroing in on how structural
distortions in U.S. coverage have reinforced false
perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This
pivotal documentary exposes how the foreign policy interests
of American political elites--oil, and a need to have a
secure military base in the region, among others--work in
combination with Israeli public relations strategies to
exercise a powerful influence over how news from the region
is reported. Through the voices of scholars, media critics,
peace activists, religious figures, and Middle East experts,
Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land carefully analyzes and
explains how--through the use of language, framing and
context--the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza
remains hidden in the news media, and Israeli colonization
of the occupied terrorities appears to be a defensive move
rather than an offensive one. The documentary also explores
the ways that U.S. journalists, for reasons ranging from
intimidation to a lack of thorough investigation, have
become complicit in carrying out Israel's PR campaign. At
its core, the documentary raises questions about the ethics
and role of journalism, and the relationship between media
and politics. |