Insta-Peace? Instagram Journalism In Israel As A Platform That Gives Voice To Marginalized Groups and Enables Dialogue Between Israeli-Jewish and Palestinian Users

Instagram journalism utilizes the visual and interactive features of Instagram to engage with younger, more diverse audiences and expose them to stories and voices that are rarely represented on traditional media. Previous research studied Facebook pages that were managed by Palestinians with the goal of exposing Israeli-Jews to narratives that are rarely told on traditional media, and analyzed the characteristics of posts that promoted peace-building dialogue in the comments following them. The present study aims to extend this knowledge by studying Instagram as a platform that supports visual storytelling and that has gained popularity among a younger generation who serve both as Instagram Journalists and as an audience. Specifically, this study focuses on posts and comments on Israeli and Palestinian Instagram Journalistic pages written in Hebrew and directed at a Jewish-Israeli audience. Through the content analysis of these posts and comments, the study aims to identify constructive and destructive forms of communication in order to better understand the potential role of Instagram in building bridges between the two societies in this ongoing conflict.