The marginality of human rights discourse in the local Arab press in Israel

The comparison between them may help us gain a better understanding of the media discourse and its level of concern for group and individual rights within the society, especially of those deprived of their rights, not just by the state, but also by groups or individuals from within the society. In other words, this study examines the Arab media’s commitment to human rights issues, not just by counting the number of human rights related articles but also by probing their content. Thus we explore the willingness of the media to acknowledge the difficult situation in which the Arab community in general and certain disadvantaged groups within it find themselves, and emphasize the violations of human rights in order to enable the consolidation of the human rights paradigm in society. - from the Executive Summary The current research presents some data concerning the representation of human rights issues in Arab weekly newspapers. It examines which types of issues are presented in the media discourse and their connection to the social and political environments. The focus on human rights stems from the subject’s general importance, especially in cases of ethnic minorities, like the Arab-Palestinian population in Israel, which endures the violation of their rights in various aspects of life. Our purpose is to examine, analyze and understand the representation of human rights issues in a sampling from the most popular newspapers published among the Arab population. We would offer an opportunity to understand the nature of human rights discourse by asking which issues get more attention, what is their level of prominence, how are they presented and to what extent are they connected to human rights terminology. We will also compare the representation of Arab minority’s social rights facing the state, with the representation of human rights within society itself, and ask what could be the reason for the differences between the two.