ACPR - Policy Paper 129 - How Islam Plays the Press

Executive Summary

The world often views Islam as a seventh century anachronism. But the truth is the Islamic world is playing and winning a sophisticated game of media manipulation in which powerful and wealthy police states and anti-democratic political movements are more often portrayed and perceived – at least in the context of the Arab-Jewish conflict – as victims rather than threatening oppressors. This paper will contrast what Islamic leaders say about their intentions for the state of Israel in English while western television cameras are rolling and what they say to their own constituents in Arabic.
This paper was published in Hebrew in the June 2001 issue of NATIV.