[Peace-discuss] Submission to WILL Public Square

[David Green]

"Media Bias in the Coverage of Israel's Occupation of
Palestine"

On June 30th, several newspapers carried a report from
the Gaza, Palestine, similar to that of Joel
Greenberg’s description in the Chicago Tribune:

(Quote) “Israeli youths had turned a three-story house
into a makeshift outpost, daubing the words ‘Muhammad
is a pig’ on a wall—a reference to the Prophet
Muhammad.

Jewish militants went on a stone-throwing spree,
attacking Palestinian homes, drawing volleys of
stones. Israeli soldiers fired shots in the air in a
futile attempt to stop the fighting.

(Greenberg continues) One Palestinian youth was
wounded in the head by a rock, and as he lay senseless
on the ground, young settlers stoned him at close
range while an Israeli soldier tried to shield him.

’Don't touch him, let him die’, shouted one settler in
footage shown on Israeli television. The Palestinian
was transferred to a hospital.” (End quote)

Compare Greenberg’s account to that by NPR’s Linda
Gradstein:

(Quote) “Yesterday, another group of extremists in an
abandoned Palestinian building nearby clashed with
Israeli soldiers and with Palestinians, critically
wounding a Palestinian teen-ager. Last night, Israeli
soldiers stormed that building and arrested the 30
activists inside.” (End quote) Yes, activists, she
calls them.

That’s it, that’s all. While Gradstein provides
intra-Israeli context, she glosses over this ugly and
racist violence and its relation to the brutal
occupation of Palestine. The Tribune does little
better at providing such context, instead emphasizing
the predicaments of occupying Israeli soldiers and
Israeli politicians.  

For a more critical analysis I therefore turn to
Israeli journalist Gideon Levy:

(Quote) “If the media had exposed the full scope of
the settlers' deeds over the years - the dubious ways
in which they took over land, the huge budgets they
received, their violent behavior - perhaps they would
have been denounced long ago, as should be done by a
healthy society. Israeli society chose to be cynically
manipulated, and journalists lent a hand. Never has
there been such an impressive media success here as
that of the (Israeli) right. An enterprise that was
criminal from the outset was depicted as one of high
principles. The rotten fruits of this distorted
description are now placed at our doorstep.” (End
quote)

But given the above references, I would suggest that
regarding both Israel and Iraq, the same dire
conclusion can be reached for American journalists and
our right wing. It offers little solace to citizens in
either society to claim that theirs is marked by
marginally less journalistic cynicism in the face of
overt political mendacity.




		
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