Textual Reservations in Conflict Situations: How the Israeli and Palestinian Media Treat Each Other’s Coverage

Trust is a central element in the relations between journalists and their sources. It becomes especially complicated in conflict situations; while journalists must depend on information flowing from media sources of the opposing side, these sources are often considered unreliable. This study examines how the media of each party in a conflict uses information published by the opposing side. Quantitative and qualitative textual analysis of 600 articles published by Israeli and Palestinian news outlets between the years 2006 and 2015 demonstrates that the powerful side in the conflict (Israel) tends to be more skeptical about information published by the weaker side (the Palestinians) than vice versa. Expressions of suspicion are especially pronounced in the context of cooperation between the two sides. The study maps the discursive practices used by journalists to express reservations about the content published by the media of the opposing side, the actors quoted, and the media outlets themselves. While previous studies have highlighted the potential of using information from media sources of the opposing side in providing alternative perspectives for domestic audiences, the findings of this study demonstrate that the use of reservations in news discourse casts doubt on the reliability of such perspectives.