Johan Galtung’s criticisms in the 1970s of media representations that glamorize war evolved as the peace journalism alternative approach. Since then, peace journalism has developed into a philosophical framework and an arsenal of framing techniques, but has been criticized for conceptual and practical weaknesses, and the need to strengthen its methodology, conceptual framework and empirical validation. This study of the 2006 Lebanon War press coverage in Canada and Israel aims at contributing to the empirical dimension. Stories published on and during the war by the Canadian Toronto Sun and the Israeli Yediot Aharonot were content analysed according to criteria adapted from the literature. General findings demonstrate an expected tendency towards ‘war journalism’. Comparative findings for each newspaper, however, show that peace journalism is not entirely disregarded. While the study indicates both the salience and the resilience of war journalism, it also concludes that there are opportunities for the advancement of peace journalism and professional practices that could be adopted to achieve this.

Assuming that the media were caught `unprepared', linguistically at least, by the peace processes in recent years; and that the current media discourse is not sufficient to understand, report and interpret such processes, a discourse analysis was conducted of media coverage of the peace processes in the Middle East and Northern Ireland. The results disclose strategies of peace coverage, their structures and characteristics. The analysis of these strategies and its conclusions emphasize the need to update the media research and development agenda, so as to include the creation of a peace-related media discourse.

The cases of the Western Balkans and Israel-Palestine are used to explore symmetry and asymmetry, and the role of mass media, in conflict and peacemaking. Introductory sections include an ''anatomic'' discussion of structural, cultural, and psychological dimensions of asymmetry, and a ''diagnostic'' characterization of symmetries and asymmetries in war and peace. The core section is a ''therapeutic'' discussion about media roles and their implications for peacemaking in asymmetric conflicts. Examples illustrate structural, cultural and psychological constraints that affect symmetries and asymmetries, such as socioeconomic and integrative resources as well as narratives, images, and perceptions. The discussion argues that peace agreements where asymmetric conflict is changed into a relatively symmetric peace treaty, such as in Northern Ireland, might be more successful than peace agreements that perpetuate asymmetries built into conflicts, such as Oslo, Dayton, and Rambouillet.

EMerly characters were numerous and rated positively on attributes of leadership, independence, and family functionality on imported TV programs shown in Israel.Hundreds of non-Western television stations broadcast the same programs imported from the U.S. and Europe (4). The characters portrayed on them, moreover, are drawn from one culture but may contribute to how people in other cultures perceive both Westerners and themselves. The process by which foreign media products are selected for importation has not received the attention it warrants, however. The selection of certain foreign programs and the exclusion of others may affect both the quantity and quality of the imagery viewed by the importing culture. We sought to analyze one particular type of imagethat of the elderly-presented on television programs imported to Israel.Portrayal of the elderly in U.S. media has been studied in magazine fiction (5), children's literature (13), jokes (8), television commercials (2), and television drama (1, 6,9, 14). Most studies have found the existence of a "cult of youth" or "cult of competence" accompanied by negative images of aged characters; other studies, however (9, 13), have found more positive images.To provide comparative data on the imported programming, we conducted an analysis of 562 television characters in all of the 46 dramatic programs broadcast for a total of 56 hours over single-channel Israel Television during seven weeks in April and May of 1977. Thirty-seven programs were imported from the United States, seven from England, and two from France. According to the Israel Broadcasting Authority, 55 to 85 percent of the general audience and 40 to 75 percent of the older audience (age 60 and over) watched these programs.

Why do prestigious Western newspapers and broadcasting organizations fail in the coverage of sociopolitical conflict? Are media bungles in the last decade – such as in Lebanon, Grenada, Panama, the West Bank, Eastern Europe, the Gulf War and other cases1 – isolated instances? Do they indicate the evolution of a consistent pattern? The coverage of the Romanian revolution and the Gulf War in the Western media is used here for a comparative examination of these questions. Conclusions of a detailed analysis of the Romanian case are applied to the coverage of the Gulf War, and theoretical implications are discussed.