Unequal Visibility of Conflicts in Digital Media Environments Comparing Lebanese–Israeli Conflict Coverage in Western and Middle Eastern Information Ecosystems

This research paper develops a comparative framework for examining why episodes of the Lebanese–Israeli conflict receive unequal visibility and different forms of contextualization across Western and Middle Eastern digital media environments. The study brings together gatekeeping theory, news values, conflict framing, and platformized journalism to examine how editorial judgments and social-media logics shape the public visibility of conflict and civilian suffering. The proposed empirical design combines comparative analysis of Facebook and Instagram content published by selected news organizations with semi-structured interviews with editors, journalists, and social-media producers. Rather than treating visibility simply as posting frequency, the paper conceptualizes conflict visibility through prominence, repetition, framing, contextual depth, visual representation, and patterns of attention. It argues that contemporary conflict visibility emerges through the interaction of newsroom routines, established news values, geopolitical assumptions, audience expectations, and platform incentives. The paper provides a theoretical and methodological foundation for further empirical research into inequalities in the representation of armed conflicts across different digital information ecosystems.