[Peace-discuss] Misinformation…

[Morton K. Brussel]

An example of how NPR treats news in the middle east. --mkb


Gross Misinformation: the media in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict
Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 4 July 2005

EI co-founder Ali Abunimah prepares to give an interview at the  
London bureau of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, March 2004.  
(Benjamin Doherty)

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict gets a disproportionate share of  
mainstream western media attention, as compared, say, with conflicts  
in Africa. Yet the public, particularly in the United States, remains  
grossly misinformed.

Jeffrey Dvorkin, ombudsman for US National Public Radio (NPR),  
recently claimed that his network's coverage in 2000-2001 had "a  
tendency to overreport the impact of the intifada on the Palestinians  
and underreport the effect on Israelis". In fact, the opposite was  
true. During a six-month period near the beginning of the intifada,  
NPR reported on 84 percent of Israeli civilian deaths, a study by the  
well-respected Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting organization found,  
while reporting on only 26 percent of Palestinian civilian deaths.  
This has been a consistent pattern across the media.

At the time, NPR's correspondent in Jerusalem, Linda Gradstein, was  
accepting unethical cash payments worth thousands of dollars annually  
from pro-Israeli organizations, a practice that was stopped only  
after it was revealed by an investigation colleagues and I conducted  
for The Electronic Intifada website. While NPR allowed Gradstein to  
keep reporting, it had earlier dismissed another correspondent,  
claiming that she did not disclose to managers that her husband had  
been an advisor to the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Dvorkin's revisionism comes as NPR and other media and academic  
organizations in the United States face intense attack from pro- 
Israel groups and allies in Congress who view any reporting that does  
not slavishly toe the Israeli line as being implacably hostile or  
even anti-Semitic. NPR and its affiliate stations face huge cuts in  
their government funding, instigated by officials with close ties to  
the pro-Israel lobby.

Those relying on the mainstream media could be forgiven for believing  
that Israelis are overwhelmingly the victims of violence, and  
Palestinians the main perpetrators. News organizations have to be  
constantly reminded that from the start of the first Palestinian  
uprising in December 1987, until May 15, 2005, Israelis killed a  
total of 4,857 Palestinians, the vast majority unarmed civilians, of  
whom 949 were under the age of 18, according to Israel's B'Tselem  
human rights group. In the same period, Palestinians killed 1,382  
Israelis, of whom 928 were civilians and 131 children. Few recall  
that the first ever Palestinian suicide bombing targeting civilians  
in Israel occurred 40 days after settler Baruch Goldstein's 1994  
massacre of dozens of Palestinians in Hebron.

In general, the media have responded to Zionist pressure groups by  
resorting to a fake balance in which the reporter simply recites the  
claims of "both sides" and makes no attempt to assess independently  
the evidence supporting one and contradicting the other. So,  
territories that are occupied under international law become  
"disputed" and settlements built on expropriated, occupied land  
become "neighborhoods". The cruel reality of occupation becomes  
something merely "perceived" by Palestinians.

In terms of political analysis, mainstream media commentary takes its  
cue from the US government agenda, almost never challenging America's  
unconditional support for Israel. Following the death of Yasser  
Arafat, there was much cliched editorializing about a "window of  
opportunity" for peace. Almost always ignored are any facts that do  
not fit in with the rosy scenario. PA Labor Minister Ghassan Khatib  
recently wrote that "while talking about vacating settlements with  
less than 2,000 housing units in Gaza, Israel has been busy  
constructing, this year alone, something like 6,400 housing units in  
illegal settlements in the West Bank." Few people are aware of this  
because the media follow official spin that Sharon's Gaza plan is  
significant while his actions in the West Bank are not.

On the Palestinian scene, the questionable election of Mahmoud Abbas-- 
America's favored candidate--by a fraction of the Palestinian people  
was hailed as a great victory for democracy, while his blatantly  
undemocratic decision to cancel scheduled legislative elections his  
Fatah faction might lose to Hamas has been downplayed. And while  
there is much talk of Palestinian "reform", the media rarely focus on  
the long-standing and credible allegations of major corruption by key  
PA figures close to Abbas, some of whom are even hailed as "reformers".

While the media have major shortcomings, there are of course some  
dedicated and fair journalists whose vital contribution should be  
recognized. And paradoxically, the PA, which seems to believe  
international opinion will come to its rescue, has failed to counter  
Israeli propaganda with a credible communications strategy, largely  
abandoning the task to ad hoc efforts by Palestinian individuals and  
private groups. All this points to the vital importance of developing  
strong, independent Palestinian media tied neither to the PA nor to  
international donors. The donors' agenda, after all, is to focus on  
internal Palestinian "reform" and endless, sterile diplomacy in order  
to avoid the necessary confrontation with Israel without which there  
can be no progress toward peace.

Ali Abunimah is co-founder of The Electronic Intifada website. This  
commentary is one of four published on the topic of the international  
media and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the 30 June 2005  
edition of Bitterlemons, a website that presents Israeli and  
Palestinian viewpoints on prominent issues of concern.


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