The making of military heroes by the Israeli media

Abstract

Is there a place for military heroes in a post-heroic era and during post-heroic warfare? This article, focusing on the role of the media, especially popular media, in the construction of military heroes and heroism in twenty-first century Israeli society, suggests that, at least within the media, such heroes still play an important role. Based on test cases, among them the 2010 Mavi Marmara affair, the article presents and analyses journalistic professional considerations and practices involving stories about military heroes and explains how items about heroes and heroines correspond with the various requirements of the media. The article also analyses the use of social media in the construction of a new type of ‘folk hero’, who is often a controversial and disputed kind of hero, such as in the case of the soldier who shot and killed a wounded Palestinian terrorist in Hebron.

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