The Media Framing of Blame Agency in Asymmetric Conflict: Who is Blaming Whom for the 2014 Israeli-Palestinian Peace Negotiations Failure?

Utilizing the 2014 Israeli-Palestinian failed peace negotiations, this study examines the relationship between blame agency, the national identity of a newspaper, and the type of newspaper. To do so, we collected all news and opinion pieces from six newspapers representing broadsheet and tabloid newspapers from Israel, Palestine, and the United States one week before the official failure of the negotiations and three weeks following this date (N = 281). The results illustrated that the stronger party’s media (Israel) tend to portray Israeli actors casting blame on Palestinians, with some capacity for self-criticism, while the weaker party’ media (Palestine) report on both Palestinian actors and Israeli actors blaming Israel, revealing a unique pattern of the weaker actor in asymmetric conflict portraying the stronger party as engaging in self-blame. In addition, the study found that tabloids extensively blame the adversary while broadsheets spread blame more evenly. The mediator’s media was found to adopt blame frames from the side with which it shares cultural proximity. We conclude by discussing the implications of such findings on journalism studies in asymmetric conflict situations.