Media construction of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict : the case of the German press and the German public

Based on the assumption that acceptance and effects of media frames depend on the audience's a priori understand-ing of the respective issue, the present paper combines findings of the Anti-Semitism and the Criticism of Israel (ASCI) survey with a series of content-analytical and experimental studies on the media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the German press. The results of the studies indicate that the short time effects of media peace frames must not be overestimated. In the long run, however, peace journalism will strengthen the peace forces within society, and reduce the share of hard-liners on both sides