SHAME AGAIN ON MY COLLEAGUES at so many Western media outlets that covered the Israel-Hamas war last summer. The prestigious Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center has released the latest results from its ongoing study of Gazans who were killed in that war. Of approximately 2,140 Palestinians killed, they have a positive identification of affiliation for approximately 1,600. Of these 1,600, they have concluded that 55% were combatants and 45% were non-combatants. (For another approximately 540 people, they do not yet know which category they fall into.) So what does this mean? It means that my colleagues unquestioningly swallowed the Hamas line (parroted by the UN) that the majority or the vast majority of dead were civilians. Sometimes they even tossed out figures such as 80%. Think about it. Sucking up the claims of an organization thats designated a terrorist group by the U.S., Canada and Japan (and until recently, the EU). Will major media now revisit the subject, in light of this? Dont bet on it. Meanwhile, the damage that was done to Israel globally—and to journalism generally—by such blind and lazy (and in many cases, biased) reporting is irreversible. Where is the Columbia Journalism Review, which used to do much better work in the old days keeping an eye on media outlets and criticizing them when they fail miserably? Asleep at the switch. Is it because the current chairman of CJR is Victor Navasky, the former editor of The Nation, which built up its subscriber list in part on its anti-Israel reporting? I have no idea, but its reasonable to ask the question. The Meir Amit institute also reports that Hamas is obfuscating the actual lists of Gazan dead and their affiliations. This is partly because of technical difficulties—poor paperwork and a lack of access to some of the bodies—and partly deliberately as part of its propaganda campaign against Israel. No surprise really, as they did the same in prior wars, which my friends in the media world didnt bother noting, as far as I could tell. This is professional journalism at its worst, and history books should note it—and name names of the reporters, their editors and producers, and their news organizations. I did some of that in my Media Intifada article last August (see below) and its time for more colleagues of mine to have the courage to step forward and do the same about the industry we are a part of. If readers here care, please share. forbes/sites/richardbehar/2014/08/21/the-media-intifada-bad-math-ugly-truths-about-new-york-times-in-israel-hamas-war/
Posted on: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 17:10:30 +0000
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