The US press frames the same guerrilla resistance as religious terrorism

Evidence

On different sides of the border, both men covered the April 1996 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, yet what emerged in their reports and in their radio debate (“Democracy Now,” May 5, 1996, Pacifica Radio) is a radically opposed journalistic practice, in which the American journalist operates according to (perhaps unconscious) guidelines that confirm Miller’s. Remark first of all that since 1982, Israel has occupied a strip of South Lebanon as a so-called security zone, and has assembled and continues to maintain a mercenary Lebanese army in the occupied area; resistance to the occupation as well as the South Lebanese Army has come from Hizbollah, the so-called Party of God, whose raison d’être has been Israel’s occupation. These guerrillas reside and fight in the south, so that by most standards they would be considered basically a guerrilla group fighting an illegal military occupation in their country. But remark, second, that in the United States press Hizbollah’s religion is emphasized, as well as the supposition that because it fights Israel it is a terrorist organization. — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam, 58

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes Said’s broader thesis in Covering Islam that US media frames Islam as threat, and connects to the reader’s work on journalistic framing.