Abstract: This dissertation is concerned with present-day representations of Jews, with a focus on mainstream media. Research objectives are two-fold: first, to examine the ways Jews are constructed as Other in (1) traditional, offline mainstream media, (2) online environments, specifically in (a) comment fields under news content, and (b) SNS, and (3) offline group discussions with young people; second, to explore the relationship between the consumption of news and information through different channels and attitudes towards Jews in adolescents. This research builds on Social Identity Theory and Social Representations Theory, and insights from the literature on media representations of ethnic minorities, antisemitism, and hate speech. It employs a multi-method approach, including quantitative and qualitative content analysis, discourse analysis, text mining, and survey methods. The research questions are addressed in five studies: (1) a longitudinal (2006-2016), quantitative content analysis of the television news coverage of the Jewish minority in Belgium; (2) a semantic network analysis of the word "jew" in online reader comments under news content shared on the Facebook page of a leading Flemish news outlet; (3) a qualitative content analysis and co-occurrence network analysis of Instagram posts annotated with the hashtags #jew, #jewish, and #jews; (4) a cross-sectional survey study into the relationship between news consumption through different channels and attitudes towards Jews in adolescents; (5) a focus group study into perceptions and representations of Jews among non-Jewish youth. Findings point to substantial differences in representations of Jews between news media discourse on the one hand, and the "general public" on the other. Furthermore, attitudes towards Jews in adolescents are predicted by education and religious affiliation, rather than news consumption.
Abstract: This article argues that twenty-first century cultural representations of British-Jewish life are, on the one hand, various, popular and successful, and, on the other, defensive and apologetic to the extent that they are liable to offer readers and viewers literal and aesthetic translations of the detail of Jewish culture. It explores the workings of such a process in relation to a variety of recent texts about contemporary and wartime British-Jewish life, including Howard Jacobson’s novel The Finkler Question, Mike Leigh’s play Two Thousand Years, Robert Popper’s television series Friday Night Dinner, and fiction by Andrew Sanger, Naomi Alderman, Charlotte Mendelson and Natasha Solomons.
Abstract: Drawing on data from JPR's 2010 Israel Survey, this report explores which media sources are being accessed by Jews, and assesses their attitudes towards reporting about Israel. Despite the BBC being the most popular news source, its reporting about Israel is widely considered to be biased.
The Israel Survey was carried out by JPR in early 2010 and was the first national study dedicated to an examination of the attitudes of Jews in Britain towards Israel. Supported by Pears Foundation, the survey generated a total of 4,081 responses, the largest sample so far assembled of Jewish public opinion in Britain.
The key findings report showed that for a majority of respondents, Israel forms a very important aspect of their Jewish identities, with almost three-quarters describing themselves as ‘Zionist’. Nine out of ten felt that Israel is the ‘ancestral homeland’ of the Jewish people and an even greater proportion had visited the country. The survey also explored territorial issues, the peace process, defence policy and Israeli society.
This second report explores data from that survey that has not been previously analysed or published
