Media Wars and Borderless Journalism

Pintak makes some interesting points in this article about how, “American and Arab viewers are seeing two vastly different conflicts play out on their television screens” in the Gaza coverage from various international broadcasters. The most interesting point to me though is the difference between coverage on CNN’s domestic and international channels which are clearly directed toward different audiences.  Pintak describes how CNN domestic coverage may be more sympathetic to the Israeli side while CNN International is focusing more on Palestinian casualties on the ground. 

An American diplomat here in the Middle East told me that he and a colleague were working out in the embassy gym one day with the television on. The embassy gets a feed from Armed Forces Radio and Television, so diplomats have access to CNN’s domestic service. Out of curiosity, they started switching back and forth between CNN domestic and CNN international, the parallel – separately staffed and produced – version of the network seen outside the U.S. “We couldn’t believe it,” he recalled. The domestic CNN was dominated by commentary supporting Israeli actions, while the international feed was focused on the devastation on the ground.”