[News] Passive media whitewash Israel’s massacre in Gaza
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Wed May 16 11:53:42 EDT 2018
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/passive-media-whitewash-israels-massacre-gaza
Passive media whitewash Israel’s massacre in Gaza
Ali Abunimah <https://electronicintifada.net/people/ali-abunimah> - 16
May 2018
------------------------------------------------------------------------
As Israel slaughtered dozens
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israeli-violence-met-global-condemnation>
of unarmed Palestinians in Gaza this week, prominent media outlets
employed innocuous headlines to obscure the horrific reality.
In the video above, RT correspondent Anya Parampil points to some
examples of what she calls “an almost across the board obfuscation of
Israel’s responsibility for the violence.”
A BBC headline read for instance, “Gaza’s deadliest day of violence in
years,” while /The Guardian/ ran with “Fatal clashes in Gaza after
opening of US embassy.”
The word “clashes,” Parampil observes, “would lead you to believe there
are casualties or injuries on the Israeli side.”
In fact after seven weeks in which Israel has killed
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israeli-violence-met-global-condemnation>
some 100 Palestinians and injured 12,600 others, Israel has reported one
minor injury to a soldier.
Parampil also criticizes the overemphasis on the opening of the US
embassy in Jerusalem, obscuring that the protests have largely been
driven by Palestinian resistance to more than a decade of Israel’s siege
of Gaza and 70 years of dispossession since the Nakba
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/nakba>, the 1948 ethnic cleansing
of Palestine before and after Israel was founded.
Parampil notes that after fierce criticism on social media, /The New
York Times/ changed one of its notorious passive-voice headlines – “At
least 28 Palestinians die in protests as US prepares to open Jerusalem
embassy” – to the more straightforward: “Israeli troops kill dozens of
Palestinian protesters as US embassy opens in Jerusalem.”
That original headline and other media whitewashing of Israel’s crimes
have drawn lots of sharp criticism:
Have died?
Were killed. https://t.co/8qzPeGHDYZ
— James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) May 15, 2018
<https://twitter.com/JamesMartinSJ/status/996187439881433088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
The New York Times changed its headline on the same article from
“Palestinians died in protest” to “Israeli soldiers killed dozens of
Palestinians” because of public outrage.
media accountability is NECESSARY and can be achieved.
pic.twitter.com/w6md3fcrxQ <https://t.co/w6md3fcrxQ>
— Miskeen (☭) (@FalafelDad) May 14, 2018
<https://twitter.com/FalafelDad/status/996158506871984129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
"vs bullets" pic.twitter.com/oJEaDfQTxl <https://t.co/oJEaDfQTxl>
— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) May 15, 2018
<https://twitter.com/adamjohnsonNYC/status/996403582672007168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
both Vox and Daily Beast casually asserted explosives were used
yesterday by Palestinians. This is totally possible but neither
provided any evidence of this. Since it’s the core justification for
Israel mowing down protestors shouldn’t this, I don’t know, have
some sourcing?
— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) May 15, 2018
<https://twitter.com/adamjohnsonNYC/status/996380331900067840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
to be clear we've been laundering power asymmetry with the term
"clashes" for years pic.twitter.com/g7WuDOUjST <https://t.co/g7WuDOUjST>
— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) May 15, 2018
<https://twitter.com/adamjohnsonNYC/status/996281360561131520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
except it's not the "protests" that are violent
pic.twitter.com/AHJkMACBSl <https://t.co/AHJkMACBSl>
— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) May 15, 2018
<https://twitter.com/adamjohnsonNYC/status/996277221290586112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
For headline writers at the BBC today, it wasn’t the #Israel
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/Israel?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
army yesterday using live ammunition to shoot over 1000 #Gaza
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/Gaza?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
unarmed protesters (including children and killing 52) that was
violent, but seemingly the protests (and hence by implication the
protesters) themselves pic.twitter.com/Q5EVBGHLT1
<https://t.co/Q5EVBGHLT1>
— Charles Shoebridge (@ShoebridgeC) May 15, 2018
<https://twitter.com/ShoebridgeC/status/996345771887857665?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
this propaganda exercise is so well documented i thought it would
eventually go away. not in the nytimes. still 2/3 main headlines on
front page fully passive on responsibility for killing. “death in
gaza” and the absurd “gazans vs. bullets” pic.twitter.com/fNSIQEIxzk
<https://t.co/fNSIQEIxzk>
— Timothy Vollmer (@tvol) May 15, 2018
<https://twitter.com/tvol/status/996243840536211456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
"A CNN headline today reported that “#Palestinians
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/Palestinians?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
died” in Gaza. They simply died and who knows how? Maybe they were
sick, or they died of old age? The passive voice is practically the
American corporate media industry standard whenever #Israel
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/Israel?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
kills.https://t.co/NNmJt6NS9G
— Maryam Jamali (@jamali_maryam) May 16, 2018
<https://twitter.com/jamali_maryam/status/996570927205928962?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
Most western media outlets have become quite skilled - through years
of practice - at writing headlines and describing Israeli massacres
using the passive tense so as to hide the culprit. But the all-time
champion has long been, and remains, the New York Times. #HaveDied
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/HaveDied?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
https://t.co/rNkdz4yA5c
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 14, 2018
<https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/996034406774181888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
This short report by @BowenBBC
<https://twitter.com/BowenBBC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>, is a masterpiece
in BBC propaganda; seemingly balanced, sober & sympathetic it
whitewashes Israeli violence & completely obscures the causes,
history & reality of the situation, it's "2 peoples on 1 piece of
land" nonsense. https://t.co/M3MBvjqo6U
— Louis Allday (@Louis_Allday) May 16, 2018
<https://twitter.com/Louis_Allday/status/996662144178511872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
Writing
<http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-makdisi-media-palestinian-gaza-massacre-20180406-story.html>
in /The Los Angeles Times/ soon after Israel massacred protesters during
the first Great March of Return
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/great-march-return> rallies in Gaza
on 30 March, UCLA professor Saree Makdisi
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/saree-makdisi> commented on “how
syntax and word choice shape, and even distort, representations of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
“Even if the facts are accurately stated, the ways in which sentences
are constructed, and the extent to which details are contextualized, can
subtly lead readers astray,” Makdisi wrote.
Some observers noted that the satirical publication /The Onion/ is doing
a better job of getting to the heart of the matter than supposedly
serious media:
Even using satire its a job done way better than biased lying
@nytimes <https://twitter.com/nytimes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> so well
done @TheOnion <https://twitter.com/TheOnion?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
https://t.co/kpD2O6ZTWz
— Omar Ghraieb🇵🇸 (@Omar_Gaza) May 16, 2018
<https://twitter.com/Omar_Gaza/status/996599920240070656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
I see Hamas controls The Onion too pic.twitter.com/1VBNkmWwyg
<https://t.co/1VBNkmWwyg>
— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) May 16, 2018
<https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein/status/996554629700898817?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
. at TheOnion <https://twitter.com/TheOnion?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>'s take
on Gaza. The tide is changing. pic.twitter.com/YWEMCgHIkY
<https://t.co/YWEMCgHIkY>
— Ragnar Weilandt (@RagnarWeilandt) May 15, 2018
<https://twitter.com/RagnarWeilandt/status/996519114951753729?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
/The Onion/ ran such headlines as “IDF soldier recounts harrowing,
heroic war story of killing 8-month-old child
<https://.theonion.com/idf-soldier-recounts-harrowing-heroic-war-story-of-kil-1826048745>,”
“Netanyahu announces day of mourning for fence damaged in yesterday’s
conflict
<https://www.theonion.com/netanyahu-announces-day-of-mourning-for-fence-damaged-i-1826046925>”
and “Trump fascinated by Israeli cultural tradition of mass slaughter of
protesters
<https://politics.theonion.com/trump-fascinated-by-israeli-cultural-tradition-of-mass-1826014445>.”
Israeli Soldiers Open Fire On Palestinians Carrying Potentially
Dangerous Injured Friends https://t.co/ctdWKRtJcH
pic.twitter.com/VEQpfJe68A <https://t.co/VEQpfJe68A>
— The Onion (@TheOnion) May 14, 2018
<https://twitter.com/TheOnion/status/996122765265653761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
Netanyahu Begins Calling For Israeli Return To Ancient Homeland Of
Iran https://t.co/HX5xkZqaoS pic.twitter.com/yME6IUm5B8
<https://t.co/yME6IUm5B8>
— The Onion (@TheOnion) May 10, 2018
<https://twitter.com/TheOnion/status/994633425012314113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
Cracks
There have been some cracks: in recent days, /The Washington Post/
published a video interview
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/editorial/opinion-palestinians-want-freedom-just-like-anyone-would/2018/05/15/949052ba-5881-11e8-9889-07bcc1327f4b_video.html>
with Palestinian American human rights attorney Noura Erakat, and /The
New York Times/ published an op-ed
<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/14/opinion/gaza-protests-organizer-great-return-march.html>
by Ahmed Abu Ratima, an activist in Gaza who helped start the Great
March of Return protests.
/The Irish Times/ also ran an op-ed
<https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/boycott-is-best-response-to-illegal-israeli-killings-1.3494853>
this week by Omar Barghouti
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/omar-barghouti>, a founder of the
boycott, divestment and sanctions movement for Palestinian rights.
Though these pieces are important, they are framed as “opinion,” while
on the news pages of the same publications, Israeli propaganda often
gets spun as fact.
Meanwhile, alternative media continue to provide venues for uncensored
discussion.
On Tuesday, I spoke to The Real News
<https://therealnews.com/stories/israel-slaughters-unarmed-palestinian-protesters-while-trump-admin-shouts-hamas>
about the massacre in Gaza:
I also gave these radio interviews:
Today is Nakba Day, which commemorates the 700,000 Palestinians
expelled and hundreds of Palestinian towns destroyed for Israel's
creation in 1948. Yesterday, 60 Palestinians were killed by Israeli
soldiers. @daoudkuttab
<https://twitter.com/daoudkuttab?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> and
@AliAbunimah <https://twitter.com/AliAbunimah?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
discuss the issue https://t.co/7LT5BU28ZO pic.twitter.com/7TbIZNgQTk
<https://t.co/7TbIZNgQTk>
— Loud & Clear (@LoudClearRadio) May 16, 2018
<https://twitter.com/LoudClearRadio/status/996553657343774720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
LISTEN: I talked about Gaza massacre on @WBEZWorldview
<https://twitter.com/WBEZWorldview?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>. (I start at
about 14 minutes 30 seconds . If you’re a masochist you can listen
to the Israeli consul who speaks before me) https://t.co/kGUExRxdjR
— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) May 15, 2018
<https://twitter.com/AliAbunimah/status/996472771050909699?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
And Democracy Now! returned to form with on-the-ground reporting from
Gaza
<https://www.democracynow.org/2018/5/15/palestinians_mark_70th_anniversary_of_nakba>
by its correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous after years of bare-bones
coverage of Palestine.
--
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863.9977 https://freedomarchives.org/
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