Love of the Land: What a difference a caption makes

What a difference a caption makes

Elder of Ziyon
09 February '10

The same event, as seen by by Reuters and AP.

1st Reuters



Reuters caption: An undercover Israeli police officer (R) scuffles with a Palestinian youth suspected of throwing stones while trying to detain him during clashes in the Shuafat refugee camp in the West Bank near Jerusalem February 9, 2010. Clashes erupted between Palestinian stone-throwers and Israeli police that entered the refugee camp, a Reuters witness said on Tuesday.

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Love of the Land: What a difference a caption makes

Love of the Land: Fairly Definitive Proof of Media Bias

Fairly Definitive Proof of Media Bias

Jeffrey Goldberg
The Atlantic
20 January '10

Sometimes the bias just smacks you in the face. Take this story from Reuters, which concerns efforts by the U.N. and various NGOs to convince Israel to open its semi-sealed border with Gaza. The story opens with a heartbreaking story:

Palestinian high-school student Fida Hejji died of cancer waiting for Israeli permission to go to an Israeli hospital for treatment.
Hejji, 18, was promised an entry permit three times. Three days after she died last November, her family got a call to say the hospital had set the date for her admission.

A terrible story, and one reason I support ending Israel's closure of the border. But wait: In the 11th paragraph of the story -- after we are told about Israel's various deprecations and crimes against Gaza, we read the following:

Hejji had hoped to get life-saving treatment in Israel as other Gazans have done. The Egyptian border is also closed.

Notice the sentence construction. The Egyptian border "is closed." By whom? Perhaps by... Egypt?

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Love of the Land: Fairly Definitive Proof of Media Bias

Israel Matzav: You know you're biased when al-Reuters is unbiased by comparison

You know you're biased when al-Reuters is unbiased by comparison

Israel's United Nations delegation has been carrying on a running battle with the New York Times over the newspaper's coverage of the Goldstone Report.

The Israeli mission’s letter to the Times states: “Over and over, The New York Times’ articles on this matter employ language that easily leads the reader to believe that the Goldstone Report found conclusive evidence that Israel committed war crimes. In Neil MacFarquhar’s ‘U.N. Council Endorses Gaza Report’ (Oct. 16), the article states that the Goldstone Report ‘details evidence of war crimes committed by the Israeli Army…’ In Sharon Otterman’s ‘Gaza Report Author Asks U.S. to Clarify Concerns’ (Oct. 22), the Goldstone Report is described as having “found evidence of war crimes committed by Israel…”

The letter provides a third similar example as well, and then states, “In stark contrast, a Reuters article carried by The New York Times on Oct. 14, ‘Israel Urged to Investigate Gaza War Crimes Charges,’ describes the Goldstone Report as reflecting ‘U.N. allegations of possible war crimes.’”
“In sharp contrast, the aforementioned Times articles fail to reflect this vital distinction, as readers will falsely assume that the Goldstone Report found conclusive evidence of Israeli war crimes.”

Cohen concludes, “I wish to reiterate Israel’s position that the Goldstone Report is deeply flawed and one-sided as it offers legitimacy to Hamas terrorism and its deliberate strategy to launch attacks, store weapons and use as shields the civilian population and infrastructure of Gaza. At the same time, [it] wrongly condemned Israel’s legitimate exercise of its right to self-defense. The tendency of The New York Times to gloss over such realities must be rectified and I sincerely hope that the paper will use accurate and appropriate language to ensure that its coverage of the Goldstone Report and the wide Middle East is fair and honest.”

You know you're biased when al-Reuters is unbiased by comparison.

Israel Matzav: You know you're biased when al-Reuters is unbiased by comparison

Israel Matzav: Media bias 101: AFP gets it all wrong

Media bias 101: AFP gets it all wrong

On Sunday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told his cabinet that he would not repeat the mistake of expelling Jews from their homes.

Speaking at the opening of Sunday's weekly government meeting he added, "We will not repeat this mistake. We will not create new evacuees."

The prime minister said the government would discuss extending the mandate for the care of the Gush Katif and northern Samaria evacuees, and that he would tour their communities on Monday.

He said the government would issue new orders to improve the lives of the evacuees as soon as possible. "This means economic rehabilitation, rehabilitation in every sense of the word, rehabilitation now and not later," he said, adding that he had asked his ministers for recommendations on how to do so.

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Israel Matzav: Media bias 101: AFP gets it all wrong