The US and French coverage of Lebanon
For what must be the 10th day in a row, images of the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon flash on the television, while the anchor drones on in French. I’ve been struck by how different the tone is in coverage in France than in the US. In France, journalists were very quick to refer to the conflict as a war, whereas in the US there was an odd tendency to avoid the word, so accurately parodied by John Stewart. More importantly, the framing of the whole subject is rather different between the two countries. In the US, Hezbollah’s kidnapping of Israeli soldiers is seen as the cause of the Israeli bombing. There’s a general lack of discussion of the historical context in which the kidnappings occurred. In contrast, in France the Israeli bombing is commonly portrayed as a disproportionate response to the Hezbollah kidnapping, as a form of collective punishment. Overall, there’s more discussion of the long history of conflict between the two groups.
There’s also an important difference in how each country portrays the role of America in this mess. In France, and especially among the Arab community here, the US is seen as the ultimate cause of the conflict. The logic is that since the US is principal funder (and arms dealer) of Israel, the US is responsible for what Israel does. To my American ears, this argument seems a bit overstated- some commentators even insinuated that the US ordered Israeli to attack, an assertion for which I have seen no evidence. In the US, in contrast, the media glosses over the massive US support for Israel, and I dare say that the majority of Americans don’t even know the basic history of the region. As Gore Vidal once said, the USA might more appropriately be called the “United States of Amnesia.”
There’s also an important difference in how each country portrays the role of America in this mess. In France, and especially among the Arab community here, the US is seen as the ultimate cause of the conflict. The logic is that since the US is principal funder (and arms dealer) of Israel, the US is responsible for what Israel does. To my American ears, this argument seems a bit overstated- some commentators even insinuated that the US ordered Israeli to attack, an assertion for which I have seen no evidence. In the US, in contrast, the media glosses over the massive US support for Israel, and I dare say that the majority of Americans don’t even know the basic history of the region. As Gore Vidal once said, the USA might more appropriately be called the “United States of Amnesia.”
