Framing the Munich Olympics massacre in the Israeli press

ABSTRACT

This article analysed the real-time coverage of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre by the three main Israeli newspapers at the time: Yediot Ahronot, Maariv and Haaretz. It found that while there were noticeable differences in the coverage of the event by the three papers, all of them framed the massacre as integral part of the black-and-white confrontation between Israel and Arab terrorism. Paradoxically, this ‘us’ vs. ‘them’ dichotomy seems to have played into the perpetrators’ hands by casting them as part of a formidable global terrorist network rather than a small fringe group, on the one hand, and as a significant factor affecting the possible evolution of Arab-Israeli peace negotiations, on the other.

KEYWORDS:

• Munich massacre
• PLO
• Black September
• Palestinian terrorism
• Israel
• press
• Haaretz
• Maariv
• Yediot Ahronot

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Yarchi, “Israel and Palestinian terror organization,” 97.

2. An & Gower, “Crisis News Coverage”, 107–12; Humphries, Radice and Lauzier, “News Coverage of the Ebola Outbreak,” 381–7; and Ophir, “News Coverage of Epidemics,” 547–58.

3. Olsson and Nord, “The Role of Journalistic Styles,” 341–58; and Liu, “Managing Crises Online,” 28–34.

4. An & Gower, “Crisis News Coverage”; and Gebauer, Raab and Carbon, “Threatening News Coverage,” 1–7.

5. Kilgo, Yoo and Johnson, Media Coverage of the Ebola Crisis”; and Shan et al., “Food Crisis Coverage.”

6. Ophir, “News Coverage of Epidemics”; Kazun, “Rally-Around-the-Flag and the Media”; Chowanietz, “Political Parties’ Reactions to Terrorist Acts,”; and Olsson and Nord, “The Role of Journalistic Styles.”

7. Kilgo, Yoo and Johnson, “Media Coverage of Ebola Crisis”; Shan et al., “Food Crisis Coverage”; and Liu et al., “Modeling Undecided Voters.”

8. Yarchi, Galily, and Tamir, “Coverage of Authorities’ Reaction to Terror Attacks,” 1009; and Yarchi, “Israel and Palestinian terror organization,” 87–9.

9. Nagar, “Labeling Terror in the Media Coverage,” 540–2.

10. Cohen-Almagor, “Media Coverage of Terror”, 385; Israeli, National Security Report; and Yarchi, Galily, and Tamir. “Coverage of Authorities’ Reaction to Terror Attacks,” 1008.

11. Galtung and Ruge, “The Structure of Foreign News”; and Weimann and Winn, Mass Media and International Terrorism.

12. Liebes and Kampf, “Routinizing Terror”; Matthews, “Press Coverage of the London Bombings”; and Nagar, “Labeling Terror in the Media Coverage.”

13. Levy, “The Ideological role of TV news.”

14. Liebes and Kampf, “Routinizing Terror”; and Israeli, National Security Report, 169–79.

15. Israeli, ibid.

16. Matthews, “Press Coverage of the London Bombings,” 174–5.

17. Toohey, Kristine, and Taylor, “Terrorism at the Olympic Games,” 454.

18. Calahan, “Israeli Response to the 1972 Munich Olympic Massacre,” 8–13; Silke and Filippidou, “Lessons from Black September and Munich 1972”; and Finnane, “The Munich Olympics Massacre.”

19. Calahan, “Israeli Response to the 1972 Munich Olympic Massacre,” 8–13.

20. Silke and Filippidou, “Lessons from Black September and Munich 1972”; and Yarchi, Galily, and Tamir, “Coverage of Authorities’ Reaction to Terror Attacks.”

21. Wolfsfeld, Five Principles in Political Communication; and Yarchi, Galily and Tamir, “Coverage of Authorities’ Reaction to Terror Attacks.”

22. See note 16 above.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tal Laor

Tal Laor is Head of Broadcast and Content Production Studies, Ariel University, Israel.