The missing context

byHabib Battah
Nov 21, 2012

There are hundreds of reporters and TV channels covering Gaza. But in the dally tally of rockets, explosions and diplomatic activity, what can viewers take away?

News coverage is often episodic, meaning it covers daily events without the context of the circumstances that help produce them.

The circumstances of life in Gaza and most Palestinians is one of military rule or occupation, which has translated into systematic incarceration, economic and geographic control. Listen to this Israeli activist describe the conditions in Israel–specifically the militarization of the public–that has allowed the justification of this military rule or occupation.

Habib Battah

Habib Battah is an investigative journalist and founder of the news site beirutreport.com. Battah has covered Lebanon and the Middle East for over 15 years and teaches journalism and media studies at the American University of Beirut. He is a contributor to Monocle, The Guardian, BBC World, Al Jazeera and others, a former fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University and two-time recipient of the Samir Kassir Press Freedom Award. Battah's investigative work was recently recognized for outstanding local reporting by the Columbia University Oakes Award for Environmental Reporting. Battah earned a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.A. in Near East Studies and Journalism from New York University.