Manipulation of Paratexts and Exploitation of Subtitling Guidelines for Advocacy Purposes

Abstract

This article studies some of the articles published by PMW (Palestinian Media Watch), which is a research institute that studies the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The articles report events that took place between 2014 and 2015. The focus of these events is on two main incidents that were the cause of other related struggling incidents; the kidnapping of Muhammad Abu Khdeir and the Duma arson attack. The two events were the cause of other known incidents that took place during that time but were reported independently and out of the context of the two mentioned events, like Gaza 2014 war. Articles are translated from Arabic into English, and combine different paratextual elements in each. The articles aim at situating these events in a new frame by manipulating either the texts, or the paratexts they contain. The frame is the same in all PMW’s content. The frame, as this study suggests, depicts Palestinian people as ‘terrorists’ and Israel as a ‘state fighting terrorism.’ The content is ideologically motivated and framed; it follows in the footsteps of certain agenda.