The relationship between the media and the public is one of the most issues that preoccupied scientists and researchers in the public communication field. Where these heed for the impact of these means in individuals through what they publish
or display while focusing on the interpretation of this type of effect and its nature, the matter led to a multiplicity of views and visions and theories that try to give a convincing explanation of the method and the type of leverage of these media.
There is a consensus on the media impact, but to what extent? Under what cir- cumstances? And how? That’s what scientists and researchers unanimously didn’t agree upon in the field of mass communication. The differences were pushing for a large number of studies and experiments; all crystallized in the form of theories and specimen, mostly tried to explain how the media affect public opinion.
The impact of the media means is of multiple dimensions, but originally it is a psychological phenomenon associated with psychiatric cases of the individual in the communicative information process. Despite the development of research on the subject of media influence, all of them handled the multiple complex relationships associated with some changes in the message future, the terms of the reception and content of the message as well. This is in addition to the social background of the receiver and the sender, as well as the beliefs, and many other variables. In other words, the effect is the result of several overlapping conditions and levels to ef- fect the impact. Due to the multitude of these levels, one must view the effect from different dimensions or aspects: First, from the psychological point of view as a psychological condition upon receipt of the media message, second, from the so- cial aspect considering the impact as the product of social relations of the circles, to which the individual belongs and which plays a major role in the formation of the impact resulting from the exposure of that person to the content of the media. There are also other dimensions that play a role in determining the impact of such educational and cultural level, cultural affiliation, and the standard of living, and as such the effect remains a very complex issue that requires overlapping of several approaches to understanding and attempts to gauge. Studies that were made on the subject, each according to its direction, linked this process to one of the previous di- mensions. Taking into consideration that it is a set of processes, surveys were unable to reach a decision limiting access to a single level of these standards. I was keen in this thesis to understand the application of these relations on the Palestinian–Israeli conflict from a practical perspective to be in the media influence in every country, and the differences between media frames and their role in promoting conflict or peace. I will try here briefly to mention the most important theoretical perspectives, through which scholars sought to interpret the phenomenon of media influence and the way of its application to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Despite my cognition that the cultural and historical contexts that helped the emergence of those theories differ in form and content from the contexts in which I want to apply, but handling it in some detail without going into the trends one’s intend, is essential to building a background knowledge of the subject of this thesis.
Most significant theories to explain the impact of the mass media -
The impact of the media on individuals is not a new subject on the scale of re- searchers’ interests in different fields of knowledge. Accordingly, I will be review- ing the most important theories of media impact, but with further emphasize on Framing theory because it falls at the core of this dissertation’s objectives and re- search questions. Particularly that journalists play a significant role in activating the role of the press in the peace-building process through their ability to frame the media treatment of war and peace news, and this means that the press is not alone at stake, but also the journalists themselves who provide the reality in which we live. The inclination of the journalist towards the conflict and the stance he adopts towards this conflict impact the style he molds for the news story (Kempf, 2007, p. 3). This role falls under what is known ‘Framing’.
Hypodermic Needle Theory
The theoretical stream that advocates the strong impact of the communication means emerged in the period between the First and Second World War. This the- ory received many names. The most important one among them was the theory of the impact of the Magic Bullet effects. This means that the media mission is very powerful in its impact and likened to a shot which, if precisely shot, will not miss the target whatever strong its defenses are. It is also called the theory of the syringe or the theory of the Hypodermic Needle. It likened the message here to the solution, that is injected into a vein and it arrives in moments to all parts of the body through the blood circulation and has such a strong impact that cannot be slipped or avoided. The roots of this belief might revert to the war conditions and the emergence of a new publicity as a way to guide and influence the masses, through the radio stations in particular. This theory means that the individual is automatically and directly im- pacted by the content of the media outlet, as the advocates of this theory believe that the media have a strong and direct impact on the individual and the commu- nity that might reach the extent of domination (E. Katz & Lazarsfeld, 1955). This impact is strong and as effective as a bullet, and nobody can escape from it. As we perceive, its impact is strong, fast and direct such as the impact of a gun bullet, but it’s a short–term impact. Researches, however, have shown later that the impact of media is not absolute and that other variables should be pursued to be included in this framework, such as economic, social and cultural variables that impact the atti- tudes and choices of individuals (Shaw, 1977, p. 96). The same is applicable to the Palestinian–Israeli conflict, a conflict that is full of variables that might prevent the absolute impact of the media on the minds of the two peoples. This will be one of the questions that I’m going to answer in this study and which reads as follows:
what is the extent of harmony between media frames available in the minds of peoples with media frameworks in each country, and whether actually the impact / harmony is absolute as this theory assumes?
The opinion of the Palestinian author Zarra’ (2013) agrees with this theory, as he said in the light of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict between Fatah and Hamas supporters:
‘The bullet or the hypodermic needle theory is agreed to be futile and inef- fective for more than half a century, and means of local media still try its approval by disparaging the viewer’s mind and cutting him from the broad media environment, in which we live today under the satellite TV’s and the widespread use of the internet and social media. The Palestinian law defines the powers and freedoms of the press by dead and buried (gone) laws since the demise of colonialism, but restricts other liberties by the supreme powers and interests of the state !! The executive authority usurps these rights from those, who disagree in opinion with them and apply other rights in a manner that commensurate with their authoritarian and political mood ’.
Two-Step Flow Theory
Paul Lazarsfeld is the founder of this theory. He conducted with Berelson and Judy Gaudet a study in 1940 during the US presidential campaign, in which the former President Franklin Roosevelt was engaged and who was at that time sick and unable to assume the presidential responsibilities, especially that the country is on the verge of a world war (Bostian, 1970, p. 109).Therefore, most of the media mean called upon the voters not to re-elect him and were hostile to him. Lazarsfeld decided to conduct this study as to ascertain the extent of the impact strength of the mass com- munication media on the public. If it proves effective, the American voters wouldn’t vote for Roosevelt. If not, or to a very small extent effective, then Roosevelt will win. The election results were contrary to all expectations since Roosevelt was re- elected, unlike the media directives. Lazarsfeld concluded that the process of form- ing the electoral public opinion does not take place on an individual level, but within the framework of groups living similar social conditions and are brought together by common interests and needs: it has been found that interpersonal communication is more effective and influential than the media, and these findings constituted a major shift in the levels of influence of the media from powerful to limited (Mattelart & Mattelart, 1998).
This shift has paved the way in the media research studies to the formulation of the Two-Step Flow Theory, which depicted the information transfer movement from the media to the individuals who are even more vulnerable to the media, then the information is transmitted from these individuals to individuals who rely on others
in receiving information and are not exposed to the media, or that they have been indirectly exposed, the matter which led to a theoretical fission in media studies and the emergence of a new phase that conduced to the statement of the limited influence of the media on individuals, and the emergence of the role of reference groups within the community.
FIGURE3.6 TWO-STEP FLOW THEORY
Source: www.communicationtheory.org (2016).
The purpose of this theory is the transmission of information and thoughts in two phases through the people’s reception of the information that is broadcast by the media and through the interpretations of the opinion leaders of this information. In the previous theory, one believed that the media have an absolute influence on the receiver, but this theory proved the contrary, as messages are transmitted from the media to opinion leaders, and then to the opinion followers. Direct media might not affect us, or its impact is limited, particularly when the opinion leader accedes the equation, as he enjoys the physical and moral power and interprets the me- dia messages the way he sees it on the basis of his cultural education. This theory received many criticisms and amendments by many researchers: Westley (1971), Rogers (1962), Lin (1971), Troldahli and Van Dam (1965), Robinson (1976) and others. But at the same time, it produced the impact theory in two phases and had undergone fundamental changes, as it has laid a new concept of the individual re- lationship with the media. It is, however, largely led beyond the impact of social relations in the individual against dwarfing the role of the media and other external factors, the presence of which might be noticed upon impact. Other points opened wide discussion doors wide debate is that whether the opinion leader constitutes alone a link between the media and the rest of the individuals, or whether there is
a series of opinion leaders? It has been observed through the studies carried out in this context that in some cases opinion leaders resort to those who make up an information and impact link. Furthermore, a proposal has been made to extend the hypothesis of the ‘two-phase impact’ to that of the ‘multiple phases impact’ as there are several levels of impact between the sender and the receiver (Weimann, 1982, p. 764). This thesis has produced the hypothesis about the impact of the political leaders and the extent of their influence on public opinion, namely:
• The extent to which political leaders influence through their speeches, deci- sions and evaluations the perceptions of the two peoples, or rather, what is the extent of consistency between the media frameworks available in the minds of the two peoples and the media frameworks promoted by political leaders and their parties?
Function of Opinion Leaders
Opinion leaders are a group of individuals who impact the conduct of others as a result of being distinguished from others in different ways, such as their personal- ity, their skills, or being well-acquainted with matters of public affairs. They often benefit from the most widely used means of communication than others. They are the people who play a double role in conducting the communication in two stages, as they are primarily exposed to the communication sources and then transmit the information they receive from these sources to other citizens, with whom they are bound by positive and strong relationships: They work on converting mass com- munication via different media sources (radio, television and newspapers) to direct and personal contact depending on their social influence and their personal abilities through transmitting and interpreting the content of the messages, the matter which increases the impact on the preliminary individuals and groups (Page et al., 1987, p. 39). This means that the information does not reach directly to the people, but by means of the opinion leaders who make up the final version of the communica- tion messages. The opinion leaders are the persons, to whom others resort asking for advice or for getting information because the opinion leaders are usually more committed than others to social standards and norms prevailing in the society or in social organization, the matter which grants them leadership recipes and credi- bility in directing and guidance. Furthermore, communication methods of opinion leaders are innovative and open in terms of accuracy, or quality of information or their sources, as this information are enhanced by multiple external sources, that are not limited to channels of familiar mass communication. In addition, they enjoy widespread attention by the media, and that due to their deep influence on people’s minds and their significant leverage on them. To explore the leaders of public opin- ion, we must find out who are the most influential people, and how to employ them
for this purpose (De Vreese, 2004, p. 45).
Key features and characteristics of influential opinion leaders in the community (Hermann, 1980):
• Religious character: a feature that is mentioned in more than one location of researchers studies in the field of the two-phases information transmission theory, which is the most prominent attribute of opinion leaders mentioned in the scientific accumulation of the theory, which might be clearly observed in Palestine and Israel.
• Confidence and social acceptance: it is the basic attribute among the opin- ion leaders attributes. The one who enjoys this attribute will experience the figures of the public opinion heading to him to know his opinions and his views about public issues in the community, and he, consequently, will per- form his job trying to shape the public opinion and impact it. Therefore, the opinion leaders who enjoy the trust of the community are considered as in- fluential sources when there is a public inclination to know their views. And those who are pursuing knowledge or advice for certain issues are the public groups that are mostly affected by the opinion leaders, especially if the com- munication is on the personal or collective level, as established by the results of opinion leaders surveys based on the accumulated knowledge of the theory of information transmission in two phases.
• Exposure to the means of communication: In this golden age of media, ac- cording to Cohen, in which these means are subject to competition in how to satisfy public needs and reflect the voice of the community rather than be- ing just a political tool for the governments, the responsibility of the opinion leaders seems to be more distinct in encountering these means and restricting their impact on the public opinion. It is therefore, the most significant char- acteristic of opinion leaders in any society that they are exposed to the media more than others. The researchers describe the opinion leaders in the theory of information transmission in two-stage that they are subjected to various means of communication in order to obtain the necessary information they re-formulate or re-interpret and then transfer to the public intended to be in- fluenced.
Objectives of Opinion Leaders Analyses
Politicians talk to people through the media to impose their authority, and the indi- viduals engage in the political process through the media to express their opinions about national issues. Hence, the flow of information from the media to opinion leaders and vice versa best describe the political process. Accordingly, the primary objective of the document analysis is to measure the level of contingency between
issues discussed by the major political parties/movements and their respective lead- ers with those presented in the newspapers of each country and perceived by the people.
Uses and Gratification Theory
The uses and gratification theory means that individuals and public use information material to gratify their internal wishes and needs as the individuals and the public are the ones who determine the type of the media content they want and that the role of the media is only to meet the needs and desires. According to the use and gratification theory, the individuals are described as motivated by psychological and social influences to use media in order to obtain special results, dubbed ‘Gratifica- tions’ (Blumler, 1979, p. 10).
Uses and gratification researchers seek to answer the question: Why does the recipient use the means of communication? Through this question we might real- ize that these studies consider the receiver as the starting point and not the media message or means of communication. Through this focus action on the receiver, the advocates of this trend perceive that individuals use the media and their contents for many things that may not be related to the objective the ‘communicator’ wants. The reason is that the individuals, rather than to be receptive to contact messages, they seek to use the means of communication in accordance with their needs, and thus satisfy so many of their needs, and not necessarily to have them satisfied through the media. The individual might resort to alternatives other than the media to satisfy his needs Ruggiero (2000, p. 3). The use and gratification theory is a qualitative shift in media research from the public aspect, is however, an ineffective element, rather than effective so that members of this audience select media means and con- tents they prefer. They actively participate in the process of mass communication,