Leid Stories - Cuba and Israel: The Media and Their Messages - 03.21.16

President Barack Obama yesterday began a historic, three-day visit to Cuba—the first by a U.S. president in 88 years, and the result of Obama’s diplomatic effort, which he began in December 2014, to normalize relations with Cuba since U.S.-imposed isolationist hostilities in 1959.

Also yesterday, the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, considered the most powerful and influential lobbying group for Israel, began its three-day 2016 policy conference at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. All presidential candidates, with the exception of Bernie Sanders, are slated to address the group.

Both events, fraught with implications for U.S. foreign policy, are receiving intense media attention, practically equating the weight and importance of both events. The tone of coverage, however, differs markedly. Leid Stories explains why.