Media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Encyclopedia
Media coverage of the Arab–Israeli conflict refers to the reporting of the Arab–Israeli conflict
by journalist
s in international news media
.
Media coverage of the conflict has been dogged by allegations of bias on both sides. These perceptions of bias, possibly exacerbated by the hostile media effect
, have generated more complaints of partisan reporting than any other news topic and have led to a proliferation of media watchdog groups
on both sides.
Print and broadcast media may be biased for varying reasons, including:
In a study of BBC television news coverage, the Glasgow Media Group documented differences in the language used by journalists for Israelis and Palestinians. The study found that terms such as "atrocity," "brutal murder," "mass murder," "savage cold blooded killing," "lynching" and "slaughter" were used describe the death of Israelis but not for the death of Palestinians. The word "terrorist" was often used to describe Palestinians. However, in reports of an Israeli group attempting to bomb a Palestinian school members of the Israeli group were referred to as "extremists" or "vigilantes" but not as "terrorists."
, an omission refers to the failure to include information. This selective inclusion of information, which results from omitting other information, may distort the presentation of events in favor of one side or the other. In the context of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, for example, consider the difference in overall impact between:
According to pro-Israel watchdog groups
In its "Critical Thinking: Can You Trust Everything You Read?" article, Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America
(CAMERA) explains:
In its "Understanding Bias" article, Honest Reporting
asks the following questions pertaining to omission:
According to pro-Palestinian watchdog groups
In a 2001 study done by FAIR
, only 4% of the US media mentioned that an occupation by Israel
is occurring. In an update to the study, the number has reportedly gone down to only 2% of the media mentioning an occupation. The 2001 figure is also seen in the documentary Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land
.
In its "Media critique quick sheet", Palestine Media Watch
asks the following questions pertaining to omission:
requires journalists
to verify the factual accuracy of the information they report. Factual verification "is what separates journalism from other modes of communication, such as propaganda, fiction or entertainment". Lack of verification refers to a failure to perform factual verification, involves the publication of potentially unreliable information prior to or without independent confirmation of the facts, and have resulted in various scandals. In the context of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, for example, consider:
According to pro-Israel watchdog groups
In its "Atrocities of the British Press" article, Honest Reporting
writes that many media outlets devoted huge amounts of ink to "unverified Palestinian tales of conspiracies, mass murders, common graves, and war crimes."
In its "Edward Said's Documented Deceptions" article, CAMERA said that when dealing with vilification of Israel, facts remain unchecked, accusations remain unverified, and journalistic responsibility is replaced by disclaimers.
According to pro-Palestinian watchdog groups
In its "Coverage of the Middle East Crisis In the Opinion Pages and News Coverage Of the Charlotte Observer" article, Palestine Media Watch
writes the following with regard to lack of verification:
Selective reporting involves devoting more resources, such as news articles or air time, to the coverage of one side of the story over another. In the context of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, for example, consider the overall impression given by:
According to pro-Israel watchdog groups
In its "Understanding Bias" article, Honest Reporting
asks the following question regarding selective reporting:
In its criticism of National Public Radio, CAMERA writes:
According to pro-Palestinian watchdog groups
Pro-Palestinian watchdog groups have alleged that the media in the United States downplay violence against Palestinians. FAIR has alleged that National Public Radio reported more Israeli casualties of the Arab-Israeli conflict than Palestinian casualties by percentage.
According to pro-Israel watchdog groups
In its "Objectivity & The Media: 7 Principles of Media Objectivity" article, Honest Reporting
writes the following with regard to decontextualization:
In its "How to Recognize Unfair Reporting" article, CAMERA writes the following regarding to decontextualization:
According to pro-Palestinian watchdog groups
In a 2001 study done by FAIR
, only 4% of the US media mentioned that an occupation by Israel
is occurring. In an update to the study, the number has reportedly gone down to only 2% of the media mentioning an occupation. The 2001 figure is also seen in the documentary Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land
.
Another study done by FAIR shows that about 79% of the media call Israel's actions "retaliation" while only 9% for the Palestinians. The most balanced network is ABC's World News Tonight, which called Palestinian actions "retaliation" 21% of the time, and the least balanced was NBC Nightly News
which never referred to Palestinian actions as "retaliation".
In its "Media critique quick sheet" article, Palestine Media Watch
asks the following questions pertaining to decontextualization:
Coercion or censorship refers to the use of intimidation or force to promote favorable reports and to confiscate unfavorable reports. In the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, both sides accuse each other of coercion or censorship as an explanation of alleged bias in favor of the other side. In support of these claims, Israeli advocates point to kidnappings of foreign reporters by Palestinians, while Palestinian advocates point to media blackout
s and confiscation of reports by Israelis. Additionally, both sides point to reports by both governmental and non-governmental organizations, which assess the degree of journalistic freedom in the region. See Media of Israel and Human rights in Israel#Freedom of speech and the media.
, instances of forgery and/or falsification are frequently cited by Israelis and their advocates and/or by Palestinians and their advocates—depending on the nature of the forgery and/or falsification—in order to support claims that the media favors the other side.
In its "Bold Distortions and Outright Lies" article, HonestReporting
commented on the 2006 Lebanon War photographs controversies:
For additional claims of forgery and/or falsification see Pallywood and the 2006 Lebanon War photographs controversies.
According to pro-Palestinian watchdog groups
In its "Please counter the Israeli PR machine" letter, Palestine Media Watch
criticized the media for fabricating information or for reporting fabricated information:
In a letter to the Washington Post by Omar Barghouti
, an activist of Palestine Media Watch
, Barghouti criticized the Post for repeating allegedly fabricated information:
In its page on "Headlines & Graphics", CAMERA writes the following regarding placement:
In its "New York Times Skews Israeli-Palestinian Crisis" article, CAMERA criticized the New York Times for the placement of news stories about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
, writing:
According to pro-Palestinian watchdog groups
If Americans Knew
published an article that claimed that Palestinian deaths are often placed in the last two paragraphs of articles published by The New York Times.
, in general, is a form of being extremely controversial, loud, or attention grabbing. In the context of the media, sensationalism refers to claims that the media chooses to report on shocking events or to exaggerate, at the expense of accuracy and objectivity, in order to improve viewer, listener or readership ratings. This criticism, also known as media circus
, is proffered by both Israelis and Palestinians as a possible explanation for alleged bias.
According to pro-Israel watchdog groups
In its "'New Rules' For Mideast Reporting" media critique, Honest Reporting
writes the following regarding sensationalism:
In its "Selective Quotes Distort Intent of Sharon's Gaza Withdrawal" article, CAMERA criticized Haaretz
for using a sensational headline:
According to Pro-Palestinian Watchdog Groups
FAIR
has a page on their website that explains how sensationalism increases ratings and readership in the media.
According to pro-Israel watchdog groups
In its "Amanpour's Troubling Journalism" article, CAMERA attributed Christiane Amanpour
's allegedly biased news coverage to her political ideology:
Ira Stoll
of the New York Sun
, and formerly of the Jerusalem Post, attributes alleged anti-Israel media bias in part to reporters of Jewish background:
, was shot in Palestinian-Israel
i crossfire at the Netzarim junction
. France 2
, which caught the incident on tape, claimed that Israel
had fatally shot the boy. After an official, internal investigation, the IDF
conceded that it was probably responsible and apologized for the shooting. Al-Durrah became a symbol of the Second Intifada and of Palestinian martyrdom.
External investigations suggested that the IDF could not have shot the boy and that the tape had been staged. In 2001, following a non-military investigation, conducted by Israeli Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Yom Tov Samia, the Israeli Prime Minister's Foreign Media Advisor, Dr. Ra'anan Gissin
, along with Daniel Seaman
of the Israeli Government Press Office (GPO) publicly challenged the accuracy of the France 2
report. In 2005, the head of the Israeli National Security Agency, Major-General (res.) Giora Eiland
publicly retracted the IDF's initial admittance of responsibility. In order to avoid negative publicity and a resulting backlash, the IDF did not conduct its own official, military investigation until 2007. On October 1, 2007, Israel
officially denied responsibility for the shooting and claimed that the France 2
footage had been staged, prompting criticism from Al-Durrah's father.
On September 30, 2000, the New York Times, the Associated Press
, and other media outlets published a photograph of a club-wielding Israeli police officer standing over a battered and bleeding young man. The photograph's caption identified the young man as a Palestinian
and the location as the Temple Mount
. The young man in the picture was 20-year old Tuvia Grossman
, a Jewish American student from Chicago who had been studying at a Yeshiva
in Israel
; the Israel
i police officer in the photograph, who appears to have beaten Grossman, actually came to his rescue by threatening his Palestinian assailants.
On October 2, 2000, Grossman's father sent the following email to the New York Times:
On October 4, 2000, the New York Times issued the following incomplete correction, which incorrectly identified the location of the incident:
On October 7, 2000, the New York Times published an article about the incident and printed the following, more complete, correction:
The Grossman photo appears frequently in Israeli criticisms of the media, because the photograph implied that the police officer who rescued Grossman had beat him, it implied an Israeli perpetrator, it implied a Palestinian victim, and it conveyed the opposite of what had transpired. According to Honest Reporting
's promotional videos, the pro-Israel watchdog
was established in 2000 in response to this incident, which it describes as "the photo that started it all". Seth Ackerman of FAIR
described the attention given to the photo, as well as the three NYT corrections, as disproportionate to a "plausible, though careless" assumption resulting from "garbled information from the Israeli photographer".
on March 27 which killed 30 Israeli civilians and wounded as many as 143, the IDF
began a major military operation
in the Jenin refugee camp
, a city which, according to Israel
, had "served as a launching site for numerous terrorist attacks against both Israeli civilians and Israeli towns and villages in the area". The fighting, which lasted eight days and resulted in the deaths of 52 Palestinians (including 14 civilians, according to the IDF, and 22 civilians, according to HRW
) and 23 Israeli soldiers, has been interpreted quite differently by Israelis and Palestinians. In the aftermath of the fighting, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat
claimed that the IDF had killed 500 Palestinians and accused Israel of committing a "massacre". Early news publications, following both IDF estimates of 200 Palestinians killed and Palestinian estimates of 500 Palestinians killed, reported hundreds of Palestinian deaths and repeated claims that a massacre had taken place. Human Rights Watch
and Amnesty International
later found that a massacre had not taken place, although both organizations charged the IDF with war crimes and human rights violations. The United Nations
similarly dismissed claims that hundreds of Palestinians had been killed as unsubstantiated, a finding which was widely interpreted and reported as rejecting claims of a "massacre". The Battle of Jenin
is still largely called the "Jenin Massacre" by Arab
and Palestinian sources.
Israelis cite the reporting surrounding the Battle of Jenin, because "the Arab and European media hastily reported", without proper verification, Palestinian allegations that a massacre had taken place, a claim broken by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and described by many pro-Israel sources as "The Big Jenin Lie" and by HonestReporting
as "Jeningrad". Palestinians and their advocates, many of whom view a massacre as having taken place, frequently cite the reporting surrounding the Battle of Jenin for later rejecting Palestinian claims of a massacre and for ignoring claims by Amnesty International and by Human Rights Watch that the IDF had committed war crimes.
killed seven Palestinians, including three children. Palestinian sources claimed that the explosion resulted from Israel
i shelling. After a three-day investigation, Israel
concluded that the blast could not have resulted from an IDF
artillery shell. This IDF investigation was criticized by both Human Rights Watch
and The Guardian
for ignoring evidence. The IDF later conceded that the report was flawed for failing to mention two gunboat shells fired at about the time of the deaths but insisted that these shells had landed too far away from the area to be the cause of the explosion and that this omission, therefore, did not impact the report's overall conclusion that Israel had not been responsible for the blast. According to CAMERA, "many in the press [have presumed] that Israel is responsible". This incident is often cited by Israel
advocates who claim that the media favors the Palestinian side, because of reports which attributed the blast to the IDF prior to the conclusion of the IDF investigation.
of Little Green Footballs
accused Reuters
of inappropriately manipulating images of destruction to Beirut
caused by Israel during the Second Lebanon War. This accusation marked the first of many accusations against media outlets for inappropriate photo manipulation
. Media outlets were also accused of incorrectly captioning photos and of staging photographs through the inappropriate use of props. These accusations, which initially appeared in the blogosphere
, were amplified by Aish HaTorah
through an online video entitled "Photo Fraud in Lebanon". In response to these allegations, Reuters
toughened its photo editing policy and admitted to inappropriate photo manipulation
on the part of Adnan Hajj, a freelance photographer whom Reuters
subsequently fired. Additionally, BBC
, the New York Times, and the Associated Press
recalled photos or corrected captions in response to some of the accusations. This journalistic scandal, dubbed "Reutersgate" by the blogosphere
in reference to the Watergate scandal
and dubbed "fauxtography" by Honest Reporting
and others, is frequently cited by Israelis and by Israel advocates in order to demonstrate alleged anti-Israel bias, this time in the form of an outright forgery created by a biased local freelance photographer.
published an article, by Robert Fisk
, which speculated, based on information from the European Committee on Radiation Risk
, that Israel may have used depleted Uranium
weapons during the 2006 Lebanon War. The article prompted criticism by HonestReporting for coming to conclusions prematurely, and resulted in an investigation by the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP). On November 8, 2006, UNEP concluded that Israel
had not used any form of Uranium
-based weapons. Israelis and Israel
advocates cite the article as an instance of "shoddy journalism", arising allegedly as a result of media sensationalism.
, a Lebanese militant who had been imprisoned in Israel for murdering several people, including a four year old child, in a Palestine Liberation Front
raid from Lebanon into Israel. In the program, the head of Al Jazeera's Beirut office, Ghassan bin Jiddo, praised Kuntar as a "pan-Arab hero" and organized a birthday party for him. In response, Israel's Government Press Office (GPO) threatened to boycott the satellite channel unless it apologized. A few days later an official letter was issued by Al Jazeera's director general, Wadah Khanfar, in which he admitted that the program violated the station's Code of Ethics and that he had ordered the channel's programming director to take steps to ensure that such an incident does not recur.
is a 2003 documentary written by Jacques Tarnero and directed by Philippe Bensoussan. The French film (with English subtitles) examines media coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict in French media, and concludes that the media's
presentation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in France is consistently skewed against Israel and may be responsible for exacerbating anti-Semitism
.
Arab–Israeli conflict
The Arab–Israeli conflict refers to political tensions and open hostilities between the Arab peoples and the Jewish community of the Middle East. The modern Arab-Israeli conflict began with the rise of Zionism and Arab Nationalism towards the end of the nineteenth century, and intensified with the...
by journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
s in international news media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
.
Media coverage of the conflict has been dogged by allegations of bias on both sides. These perceptions of bias, possibly exacerbated by the hostile media effect
Hostile media effect
The hostile media effect, sometimes called the hostile media phenomenon, refers to the finding that people with strong biases toward an issue perceive media coverage as biased against their opinions, regardless of the reality...
, have generated more complaints of partisan reporting than any other news topic and have led to a proliferation of media watchdog groups
Watchdog journalism
Watchdog journalism aims to hold accountable public personalities and institutions, whose functions impact social and political life. The term "lapdog journalism", for journalism biased in favour of personalities and institutions, is sometimes used as a conceptual opposite to watchdog...
on both sides.
Types of bias
Bias in print and broadcast media may manifest itself in varying ways, including:- Diction: The use of emotive wordsEmotive (sociology)“Emotional expressions”, also called “emotives” are an effort by the speaker to offer an interpretation of something that is observable to no other actor . If emotions are feelings, emotives are the expressions of those feelings through the use of language, specifically through constructions that...
or euphemistic terminologyEuphemismA euphemism is the substitution of a mild, inoffensive, relatively uncontroversial phrase for another more frank expression that might offend or otherwise suggest something unpleasant to the audience...
as well as double-speak may prejudice the audience one way or another. - Omission: The presentation of some facts but not all the facts may lead to false and biased conclusions.
- Selective reporting: Over time, the news presented through a media organization may emphasize one side of the story at the expense of the other.
- Decontextualization: News may appear without sufficient explanation of the circumstances of the events being reported.
- Placement: The consistent placement of one viewpoint in preferential locations of an article (e.g. in the headline or in the first paragraph) may increase reader exposure to one side of the story.
- Factual errors: Errors in content may mislead the reader.
Print and broadcast media may be biased for varying reasons, including:
- Coercion or censorship: Journalists may be pressured into distorting their reporting for fear of losing access or their lives.
- Lack of verification: News outlets may "parrot" as objective fact the unverified or disputed claims of one side.
- Exaggeration or sensationalism: In order to increase a publication or broadcasts's consumption, reporters may exaggerate events for the maximum emotional response.
- Prejudiced journalists: Journalists may intentionally or unintentionally distort reports due to political ideology, national affiliation, anti-SemitismAnti-SemitismAntisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
, anti-ArabismAnti-ArabismAnti-Arabism or Arabophobia is consistent advocacy of discrimination, extermination, prejudice, hostility, hatred, or genocide toward Arabs.-Arab definition:...
, or IslamophobiaIslamophobiaIslamophobia describes prejudice against, hatred or irrational fear of Islam or MuslimsThe term dates back to the late 1980s or early 1990s, but came into common usage after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States....
. - Forgery or falsification: Video footage, quotes, and other items may be fabricated to bias the presentation. See Pallywood for such allegations.
- Prejudiced fixers: Journalists may distort reports due to fixer ideology, national affiliation, or for-profit motives.
Diction
Diction, or word choice, affects the interpretation of the same set of entities or events. There is an emotional and semantic difference between the verbs died and killed, and similarly between kill and murder; murder evokes stronger negative emotions and connotes intent. In the context of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, various terminological issues arise. The terms "disputed territories" versus "occupied territories" reflect different positions on the legal status of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The terms "security fence" and "apartheid wall," "neighbourhood" and "settlement," and "militant," "freedom fighter," and "terrorist," while used to describe the same entities, present them in a different light and suggest a different narrative. Similarly, describing an attack or bombing as a "response" or "retaliation" again places the events in a different light.Retaliation
A study by the American organization Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting monitored the use of the term "retaliation" in the nightly news broadcasts of the three main American networks CBS, ABC, and NBC between September 2000 through March 17, 2002. It found that of the 150 occasions when "retaliate" and its variants were used to describe attacks in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, 79 percent were references to Israel "retaliating" and only 9 percent were references to Palestinians "retaliating".Emotive Language
Omission
In the context of mediaNews media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
, an omission refers to the failure to include information. This selective inclusion of information, which results from omitting other information, may distort the presentation of events in favor of one side or the other. In the context of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, for example, consider the difference in overall impact between:
- An article mentioning both a Palestinian suicide bombing in Israel and an Israeli offensive in the West Bank.
- An article mentioning only the Palestinian suicide bombing.
- An article mentioning only the Israeli offensive.
According to pro-Israel watchdog groups
In its "Critical Thinking: Can You Trust Everything You Read?" article, Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America
Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America
The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America is an American non-profit pro-Israel media watchdog group. The group says it was founded in 1982 "to respond to the Washington Post's coverage of Israel's Lebanon incursion", and to respond to what it considers the media's "general...
(CAMERA) explains:
"Factual errors can be errors of omission or commission. Omission means that something important was not said, and as a result, readers are misled. In errors of commission, the reporter gives information which is not true."
In its "Understanding Bias" article, Honest Reporting
Honest Reporting
HonestReporting is a non-governmental organization that monitors the media for what it perceives as bias against Israel. The organization has affiliates in the United States, UK, Canada, Italy, and Brazil...
asks the following questions pertaining to omission:
- "Was the reporting one-sided and imbalanced?"
- "Was key information missing (selective omission)?"
According to pro-Palestinian watchdog groups
In a 2001 study done by FAIR
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting is a progressive media criticism organization based in New York City, founded in 1986.FAIR describes itself on its website as "the national media watch group" and defines its mission as working to "invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity...
, only 4% of the US media mentioned that an occupation by Israel
Israeli-occupied territories
The Israeli-occupied territories are the territories which have been designated as occupied territory by the United Nations and other international organizations, governments and others to refer to the territory seized by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967 from Egypt, Jordan, and Syria...
is occurring. In an update to the study, the number has reportedly gone down to only 2% of the media mentioning an occupation. The 2001 figure is also seen in the documentary Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land
Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land
Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land is a 2004 documentary by Sut Jhally and Bathsheba Ratzkoff which—according to the film's official website—"provides a striking comparison of U.S. and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, zeroing in on how structural distortions in U.S...
.
In its "Media critique quick sheet", Palestine Media Watch
Palestine Media Watch
Palestine Media Watch is an organization established in October 2000 that monitors the US mainstream media's coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mobilizes against what it deems to be anti-Palestinian or pro-Israel bias in the coverage of the conflict. The organization focuses mainly...
asks the following questions pertaining to omission:
- "How many times were UN reports/findings/resolutions mentioned?"
- "How many times were Human Rights reports/findings/statements mentioned?"
- "Did the story describe official Palestinian denials/pleas of ignorance and innocence in violent acts?"
- "Did the story describe official Israelis denials/pleas of ignorance and innocence in violent acts?"
Lack of verification
The ethics and standards of JournalismJournalism ethics and standards
Journalism ethics and standards comprise principles of ethics and of good practice as applicable to the specific challenges faced by journalists. Historically and currently, this subset of media ethics is widely known to journalists as their professional "code of ethics" or the "canons of journalism"...
requires journalists
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
to verify the factual accuracy of the information they report. Factual verification "is what separates journalism from other modes of communication, such as propaganda, fiction or entertainment". Lack of verification refers to a failure to perform factual verification, involves the publication of potentially unreliable information prior to or without independent confirmation of the facts, and have resulted in various scandals. In the context of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, for example, consider:
- The Battle of JeninBattle of JeninThe Battle of Jenin took place in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. Israel Defense Forces entered the camp, and other areas under the administration of the Palestinian Authority, during the Second Intifada, as part of Operation Defensive Shield...
, after which early media reports claimed that Israel "massacred" hundreds of Palestinian civilians. Later investigations by the United NationsUnited NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
and Human Rights WatchHuman Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
estimated the total Palestinian death toll at 52 (with estimates of civilian deaths ranging from 22 to 26) and contradicted previous claims that a massacre had taken place. - The Islamic Jihad shooting attack on Kiryat ArbaKiryat ArbaKiryat Arba or Qiryat Arba , lit. "Town of the Four," is an Israeli settlement in the Judean Mountains region of the West Bank on the edge of Hebron. Its settlers consist of a mix of Russian immigrants, American immigrants, and native-born Israelis numbering close to 10,000...
in November 2002, which Western media reports described as an attack on "worshipers," resulting in international condemnations. According to the Jerusalem Post, Islamic Jihad "opened fire at a [sic] security forces safeguarding Jewish worshipers," and according to both HaaretzHaaretzHaaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
and the Jerusalem Post, the twelve Israelis killed all belonged to the IDFIsrael Defense ForcesThe Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
, the Israeli Border Police, or the Hebron security force.
According to pro-Israel watchdog groups
In its "Atrocities of the British Press" article, Honest Reporting
Honest Reporting
HonestReporting is a non-governmental organization that monitors the media for what it perceives as bias against Israel. The organization has affiliates in the United States, UK, Canada, Italy, and Brazil...
writes that many media outlets devoted huge amounts of ink to "unverified Palestinian tales of conspiracies, mass murders, common graves, and war crimes."
In its "Edward Said's Documented Deceptions" article, CAMERA said that when dealing with vilification of Israel, facts remain unchecked, accusations remain unverified, and journalistic responsibility is replaced by disclaimers.
According to pro-Palestinian watchdog groups
In its "Coverage of the Middle East Crisis In the Opinion Pages and News Coverage Of the Charlotte Observer" article, Palestine Media Watch
Palestine Media Watch
Palestine Media Watch is an organization established in October 2000 that monitors the US mainstream media's coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mobilizes against what it deems to be anti-Palestinian or pro-Israel bias in the coverage of the conflict. The organization focuses mainly...
writes the following with regard to lack of verification:
"PMW found that more and more, facts are being verified by independent and Palestinian sources and witnesses rather than relying on Israeli government, Israeli military, or Israeli sources solely. PMW believes this should be a consistent practice, but is encouraged to find it happening increasingly. ... When Israelis targeted a Palestinian girls’ school and hospital, they were described as 'Jewish extremists'. Also, when Israeli military or Jewish settlers kill civilians, their death is reported as a 'mistake' or as accidental due to 'crossfire'. These Israeli statements are rarely if ever challenged or reported as verified."
Selective reporting
- A broadcast which spends eight hours interviewing Palestinian victims and only three hours interviewing Israeli victims.
- A broadcast which spends eight hours interviewing Israeli victims and only three hours interviewing Palestinian victims.
According to pro-Israel watchdog groups
In its "Understanding Bias" article, Honest Reporting
Honest Reporting
HonestReporting is a non-governmental organization that monitors the media for what it perceives as bias against Israel. The organization has affiliates in the United States, UK, Canada, Italy, and Brazil...
asks the following question regarding selective reporting:
"Is 'equal time' granted to both sides of the conflict, or is one side given preferential treatment – hence lending more weight and credibility to that side's position?"
In its criticism of National Public Radio, CAMERA writes:
"...CAMERA identified 350 speakers and found a gaping disparity in the time afforded to Israeli and pro-Israeli speakers compared to that provided the Arab and pro-Arab speakers. The pro-Arab speakers received 77% more time. ... More dramatic still was the disproportionate number of segments that included only pro-Arab speakers and excluded entirely any pro-Israel voices as compared to the many fewer reports that omitted altogether Arab speakers. The Arab-speakers-only segments were almost twice as numerous (41 to 24) and four times as long (18,321 words spoken on the air versus 4,934)."
According to pro-Palestinian watchdog groups
Pro-Palestinian watchdog groups have alleged that the media in the United States downplay violence against Palestinians. FAIR has alleged that National Public Radio reported more Israeli casualties of the Arab-Israeli conflict than Palestinian casualties by percentage.
Decontextualization
Decontextualization is a type of omission in which the omitted information is essential to understanding a decision, action, or event, its underlying motivations or key events leading up to it. In the context of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, for example, consider the effect of the following:- An article discussing the West Bank Barrier, which does not mention the suicide bombings of the Second Intifada.
- An article discussing the 2006 Hamas Election Victory, which does not mention the corruption of FatahFatahFataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...
.
According to pro-Israel watchdog groups
In its "Objectivity & The Media: 7 Principles of Media Objectivity" article, Honest Reporting
Honest Reporting
HonestReporting is a non-governmental organization that monitors the media for what it perceives as bias against Israel. The organization has affiliates in the United States, UK, Canada, Italy, and Brazil...
writes the following with regard to decontextualization:
"By failing to provide proper context and full background information, journalists can dramatically distort the true picture."
In its "How to Recognize Unfair Reporting" article, CAMERA writes the following regarding to decontextualization:
"Does the article or broadcast omit essential context and information? This tends to be a frequent problem when reporting about the Middle East. Write a letter to the editor or directly to the journalist and/or media outlet to provide the missing context."
According to pro-Palestinian watchdog groups
In a 2001 study done by FAIR
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting is a progressive media criticism organization based in New York City, founded in 1986.FAIR describes itself on its website as "the national media watch group" and defines its mission as working to "invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity...
, only 4% of the US media mentioned that an occupation by Israel
Israeli-occupied territories
The Israeli-occupied territories are the territories which have been designated as occupied territory by the United Nations and other international organizations, governments and others to refer to the territory seized by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967 from Egypt, Jordan, and Syria...
is occurring. In an update to the study, the number has reportedly gone down to only 2% of the media mentioning an occupation. The 2001 figure is also seen in the documentary Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land
Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land
Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land is a 2004 documentary by Sut Jhally and Bathsheba Ratzkoff which—according to the film's official website—"provides a striking comparison of U.S. and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, zeroing in on how structural distortions in U.S...
.
Another study done by FAIR shows that about 79% of the media call Israel's actions "retaliation" while only 9% for the Palestinians. The most balanced network is ABC's World News Tonight, which called Palestinian actions "retaliation" 21% of the time, and the least balanced was NBC Nightly News
NBC Nightly News
NBC Nightly News is the flagship daily evening television news program for NBC News and broadcasts. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is located in the center...
which never referred to Palestinian actions as "retaliation".
In its "Media critique quick sheet" article, Palestine Media Watch
Palestine Media Watch
Palestine Media Watch is an organization established in October 2000 that monitors the US mainstream media's coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mobilizes against what it deems to be anti-Palestinian or pro-Israel bias in the coverage of the conflict. The organization focuses mainly...
asks the following questions pertaining to decontextualization:
- "Were Palestinian actions described in context (e.g., 'Palestinians launched a mortar attack after Israelis bulldozed a row of houses')?"
- "Were Israeli actions described in context (e.g., 'Israelis bulldozed a row of houses after Palestinians launched a mortar attack')?"
Coercion or censorship
Coercion or censorship refers to the use of intimidation or force to promote favorable reports and to confiscate unfavorable reports. In the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, both sides accuse each other of coercion or censorship as an explanation of alleged bias in favor of the other side. In support of these claims, Israeli advocates point to kidnappings of foreign reporters by Palestinians, while Palestinian advocates point to media blackout
Media blackout
Media blackout refers to the censorship of news related to a certain topic, particularly in mass media, for any reason. A media blackout may be voluntary, or may in some countries be enforced by the government or state. The latter case is controversial in peacetime, as some regard it as a human...
s and confiscation of reports by Israelis. Additionally, both sides point to reports by both governmental and non-governmental organizations, which assess the degree of journalistic freedom in the region. See Media of Israel and Human rights in Israel#Freedom of speech and the media.
Forgery or falsification
Forgery or falsification involves the intentional misrepresentation, alteration, or invention of reported information. Due to the severity of these actions, which violate the ethics and standards of journalismJournalism ethics and standards
Journalism ethics and standards comprise principles of ethics and of good practice as applicable to the specific challenges faced by journalists. Historically and currently, this subset of media ethics is widely known to journalists as their professional "code of ethics" or the "canons of journalism"...
, instances of forgery and/or falsification are frequently cited by Israelis and their advocates and/or by Palestinians and their advocates—depending on the nature of the forgery and/or falsification—in order to support claims that the media favors the other side.
In its "Bold Distortions and Outright Lies" article, HonestReporting
HonestReporting
HonestReporting is a non-governmental organization that monitors the media for what it perceives as bias against Israel. The organization has affiliates in the United States, UK, Canada, Italy, and Brazil...
commented on the 2006 Lebanon War photographs controversies:
"A Reuters photo turns out to be an outright lie, manipulated to make damage in Beirut appear much worse than reality."
"The conflict between Israel and the Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah has produced some of the most distorted and biased reporting we have seen in years. Despite evidence that Israel is taking unprecedented steps to avoid civilian casualties, some in the media have accused the IDF of using disproportionate force against a harmless civilian population. With little evidence to back up this claim, some are even resorting to outright fraud...."
For additional claims of forgery and/or falsification see Pallywood and the 2006 Lebanon War photographs controversies.
According to pro-Palestinian watchdog groups
In its "Please counter the Israeli PR machine" letter, Palestine Media Watch
Palestine Media Watch
Palestine Media Watch is an organization established in October 2000 that monitors the US mainstream media's coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mobilizes against what it deems to be anti-Palestinian or pro-Israel bias in the coverage of the conflict. The organization focuses mainly...
criticized the media for fabricating information or for reporting fabricated information:
"Basic facts will not only be ignored, but will be fabricated, outright, bald-faced lies will be told, and the intelligence of the American people will be shamelessly and repeatedly insulted and violated. And all along, the US media will not only simply roll over and play half-dead, as usual, but will cheerfully accept the easy, comfortable way out, never bothering to ask the obvious questions, never pointing to the decades-old record of rejection from Ariel Sharon, his open refusal to accept a viable Palestinian state, his brutality, his war crimes, and his relentless sabotaging of all chances, minor or major, at advancing political dialog. The media will again fail to connect the simple dots, will fail to look for or detect obvious patterns, never daring to stare reality right in the face, let alone break free from the mindless narrative sandbox in which they have decided to confine themselves."
In a letter to the Washington Post by Omar Barghouti
Omar Barghouti
Omar Barghouti is a founding committee member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel who is currently studying for a masters degree in philosophy at Tel Aviv University...
, an activist of Palestine Media Watch
Palestine Media Watch
Palestine Media Watch is an organization established in October 2000 that monitors the US mainstream media's coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mobilizes against what it deems to be anti-Palestinian or pro-Israel bias in the coverage of the conflict. The organization focuses mainly...
, Barghouti criticized the Post for repeating allegedly fabricated information:
"By relying largely on Israeli Army sources, Mr. Keith Richburg and Mr. Lee Hockstader portrayed an inaccurate picture for the Israeli operation on Thursday, November 9th, against Mr. Hussein Abayat. The Israeli army wants us to believe that Mr. Abayat was a 'terror' mastermind, who 'deserved' to be killed by Israel. The Washington Post article only helps promote this distorted image."
"From the very beginning, the article calls the operation a 'targeted slaying', which in any other context would be immediately and intuitively be called assassination. The reader, as always, is given a very foggy account of the victim, Mr. Abayat, and only the Israeli-provided biographic information is highlighted. I have always complained about the convenience with which some Post journalists rely on Israeli sources, despite the fact that they were proven over and over again to be grossly inaccurate, if not altogether fabricated. A quick look at the reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights will attest to what I am saying."
Placement
According to pro-Israel watchdog groupsIn its page on "Headlines & Graphics", CAMERA writes the following regarding placement:
"Headlines are the first, and sometimes only, news items seen by readers and should provide the essence of a news story. While they must capture the reader's attention, headlines should always be accurate and specific. The size of a headline signals the importance of the story and its relationship to other stories, and the use of the active versus passive voice also shapes reader perceptions."
In its "New York Times Skews Israeli-Palestinian Crisis" article, CAMERA criticized the New York Times for the placement of news stories about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Jewish and Zionist yishuv and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or...
, writing:
"In a key period in late March and early April, as Israel suffered a wave of unprecedented Palestinian terrorism prompting the Israel Defense Forces to respond with incursions into areas under Palestinian Authority control, the New York Times presented a decidedly skewed picture of events. Reporting focused heavily on Palestinian suffering while continually minimizing the personal toll on Israelis. The number and prominence (judged by placement and size) of news stories and photographs regularly cast Palestinians as blameless victims of Israeli aggression. Israeli victims were rarely even named, much less profiled. Guest Op-Ed’s were overwhelmingly tilted toward condemnation of Israel."
According to pro-Palestinian watchdog groups
If Americans Knew
If Americans Knew
If Americans Knew is a nonprofit organization that focuses on the Arab–Israeli conflict and the Foreign policy of the United States regarding the Middle East, offering analysis of American media coverage of these issues. Its mission, according to the group's website, is to provide "what every...
published an article that claimed that Palestinian deaths are often placed in the last two paragraphs of articles published by The New York Times.
Exaggeration or sensationalism
SensationalismSensationalism
Sensationalism is a type of editorial bias in mass media in which events and topics in news stories and pieces are over-hyped to increase viewership or readership numbers...
, in general, is a form of being extremely controversial, loud, or attention grabbing. In the context of the media, sensationalism refers to claims that the media chooses to report on shocking events or to exaggerate, at the expense of accuracy and objectivity, in order to improve viewer, listener or readership ratings. This criticism, also known as media circus
Media circus
Media circus is a colloquial metaphor, or idiom, describing a news event where the media coverage is perceived to be out of proportion to the event being covered, such as the number of reporters at the scene, the amount of news media published or broadcast, and the level of media hype...
, is proffered by both Israelis and Palestinians as a possible explanation for alleged bias.
According to pro-Israel watchdog groups
In its "'New Rules' For Mideast Reporting" media critique, Honest Reporting
Honest Reporting
HonestReporting is a non-governmental organization that monitors the media for what it perceives as bias against Israel. The organization has affiliates in the United States, UK, Canada, Italy, and Brazil...
writes the following regarding sensationalism:
"Every media outlet has its own stylebook, designed to be as fair and impartial as possible. These days, however, it often seems like the Palestinian Minister of Information is publishing and distributing his stylebook to dozens of newspapers and media outlets. Since September 2000, a new de facto "stylebook" has emerged for reporters covering the Palestinian violence against Israel. In some cases, the "new rules for reporting" are based on actual policies promulgated by news organizations and editors. Though elements of "pack journalism" are evident, there are probably no conspiratorial hands behind the emergence of this stylebook. For the most part, reporters and correspondents have informally, perhaps even subconsciously, adopted these guidelines. Invariably, the new rules are biased against Israel. While not a "conspiracy," an anti-Israel press "convention" has emerged, and clear biases are evident. For now, the bias appears to have had little impact on American public opinion regarding Israel. In Europe, the stronger, more strident anti-Israel tone of much of the media may be having a different impact. Following are eight new "rules" for reporters covering the Middle East, as distilled from hundreds of articles covering the recent violence:"
"Rule 1. Sensationalize the intensity and scope of Israeli military actions.
Call the Israeli actions 'aggressive,' 'devastating' or 'intensive.' Refer to Israeli incursions into Palestinian territory as 'deep,' even when they involve only 300 yards (274.3 m). [The New York Times, April 14, 2001]
On the other hand, refer to Palestinian mortar attacks as 'ineffective' or 'falling harmlessly,' even though the intent of the mortar teams is malevolent."
In its "Selective Quotes Distort Intent of Sharon's Gaza Withdrawal" article, CAMERA criticized Haaretz
Haaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
for using a sensational headline:
"The 'teaser' revealed a few selected quotes, and carried the sensational headline, 'Top PM aide: Gaza plan aims to freeze the peace process.' ... By valuing sensationalism over accuracy in its teaser, Haaretz practiced irresponsible journalism."
According to Pro-Palestinian Watchdog Groups
FAIR
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting is a progressive media criticism organization based in New York City, founded in 1986.FAIR describes itself on its website as "the national media watch group" and defines its mission as working to "invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity...
has a page on their website that explains how sensationalism increases ratings and readership in the media.
Prejudiced journalists
Journalists may intentionally or unintentionally distort reports due to political ideology, national affiliation, antisemitism, anti-Arabism, or Islamophobia. Both Israelis and their advocates along with Palestinians and their advocates have pointed to these qualities—political ideology, national affiliation, anti-Semitism, anti-Arabism, or Islamophobia—as a potential explanation for the alleged bias of certain prominent journalists.According to pro-Israel watchdog groups
In its "Amanpour's Troubling Journalism" article, CAMERA attributed Christiane Amanpour
Christiane Amanpour
Christiane Amanpour, CBE is anchor of ABC News's This Week and formerly chief international correspondent at CNN, where she worked for 27 years. She is a Board Member at the IWMF .-Early years:...
's allegedly biased news coverage to her political ideology:
"Known for parachuting in to cover the latest global hotspot, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour is one of the most famous journalists in the world. But there have long been questions about her habit of skewing coverage to suit her own political biases."
Ira Stoll
Ira Stoll
Ira Stoll is editor of FutureOfCapitalism.com. He was vice president and managing editor of The New York Sun, which was published from 2002 to 2008. Previously, he served as Washington correspondent and managing editor of The Forward and as North American editor of the Jerusalem Post...
of the New York Sun
New York Sun
The New York Sun was a weekday daily newspaper published in New York City from 2002 to 2008. When it debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of an otherwise unrelated earlier New York paper, The Sun , it became the first general-interest broadsheet newspaper to be started...
, and formerly of the Jerusalem Post, attributes alleged anti-Israel media bias in part to reporters of Jewish background:
"Most deficiencies of fairness and balance, alas, aren't the result of editors deliberately placing their papers on the side of freedom, democracy, and the West and against murderous, repressive tyrants. I suspect they are instead the result of four factors: 1. Self-hatred and bending over backward by Jewish or once-Jewish reporters, editors, and owners; 2. Ordinary, innocent carelessness and mistakes that can creep in on any stories that are constructed by tired human beings working on deadline; 3. The structural imbalance that comes from journalists being able to work mostly free and uninhibited in Israel but being subject to severe restrictions in countries like Syria or Iran; 4. Lack of understanding of the underlying historical and political background."
Frequently cited incidents
In order to substantiate claims that the media favors the other side, participants in the conflict on each side frequently cite a number of illustrative and extreme examples of controversial reporting. This section lists incidents of controversial reporting frequently cited by only Israelis and Israel advocates, by only Palestinians and Palestinian advocates, or by both sides. The list of incidents appear chronologically, according to when the incident took place. Where events took place on the same date, the incidents appear sorted alphabetically.Muhammad al-Durrah affair
On September 30, 2000, the 11–12 year-old boy, Muhammad al-DurrahMuhammad al-Durrah
The Muhammad al-Durrah incident took place in the Gaza Strip on September 30, 2000, on the second day of the Second Intifada, amid widespread rioting throughout the Palestinian territories...
, was shot in Palestinian-Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i crossfire at the Netzarim junction
Netzarim Junction
Netzarim Junction is a road junction on the Gaza Strip's main north-south highway, close to the former Israeli settlement of Netzarim, at which the following incidents took place:* Muhammad al-Durrah incident.* Netzarim Junction bicycle bombing....
. France 2
France 2
France 2 is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4, France 5 and France Ô...
, which caught the incident on tape, claimed that Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
had fatally shot the boy. After an official, internal investigation, the IDF
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
conceded that it was probably responsible and apologized for the shooting. Al-Durrah became a symbol of the Second Intifada and of Palestinian martyrdom.
External investigations suggested that the IDF could not have shot the boy and that the tape had been staged. In 2001, following a non-military investigation, conducted by Israeli Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Yom Tov Samia, the Israeli Prime Minister's Foreign Media Advisor, Dr. Ra'anan Gissin
Raanan Gissin
Raanan Gissin is an Israeli analyst and consultant specializing in the Arab-Israeli conflict.He was senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and a frequent spokesman for the Israeli government on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox....
, along with Daniel Seaman
Daniel Seaman
Daniel Seaman is the Deputy Director General for Information at the Israeli Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs. He formerly served as the Director of the Israel Government Press Office , part of the Office of the Prime Minister in Jerusalem responsible for the foreign media...
of the Israeli Government Press Office (GPO) publicly challenged the accuracy of the France 2
France 2
France 2 is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4, France 5 and France Ô...
report. In 2005, the head of the Israeli National Security Agency, Major-General (res.) Giora Eiland
Giora Eiland
Giora Eiland is Major General Israel Defense Forces. Eiland is former Israel's National Security Advisor. He is a senior research associate at the Institute for National Security Studies and holds an M.B.A. and B.A...
publicly retracted the IDF's initial admittance of responsibility. In order to avoid negative publicity and a resulting backlash, the IDF did not conduct its own official, military investigation until 2007. On October 1, 2007, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
officially denied responsibility for the shooting and claimed that the France 2
France 2
France 2 is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4, France 5 and France Ô...
footage had been staged, prompting criticism from Al-Durrah's father.
Photo of Tuvia Grossman
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
, and other media outlets published a photograph of a club-wielding Israeli police officer standing over a battered and bleeding young man. The photograph's caption identified the young man as a Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
and the location as the Temple Mount
Temple Mount
The Temple Mount, known in Hebrew as , and in Arabic as the Haram Ash-Sharif , is one of the most important religious sites in the Old City of Jerusalem. It has been used as a religious site for thousands of years...
. The young man in the picture was 20-year old Tuvia Grossman
Tuvia Grossman
Tuvia Grossman is a Jewish American who became an icon of anti-Israel media bias during the Second Intifada in 2000 when the caption of an Associated Press photograph of an Israeli police officer defending a bloodied Grossman from a violent Arab mob wrongly identified him as a Palestinian...
, a Jewish American student from Chicago who had been studying at a Yeshiva
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
; the Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i police officer in the photograph, who appears to have beaten Grossman, actually came to his rescue by threatening his Palestinian assailants.
On October 2, 2000, Grossman's father sent the following email to the New York Times:
"Regarding your picture on page A5 (Sept. 30) of the Israeli soldier and the Palestinian on the Temple Mount – that Palestinian is actually my son, Tuvia Grossman, a Jewish student from Chicago. He, and two of his friends, were pulled from their taxicab while travelling in Jerusalem, by a mob of Palestinian Arabs and were severely beaten and stabbed. That picture could not have been taken on the Temple Mount because there are no gas stations on the Temple Mount and certainly none with Hebrew lettering, like the one clearly seen behind the Israeli soldier attempting to protect my son from the mob."
On October 4, 2000, the New York Times issued the following incomplete correction, which incorrectly identified the location of the incident:
"A picture caption on Saturday about fighting between Israelis and Palestinians in Jerusalem included an erroneous identification from The Associated Press for a wounded man shown with an Israeli policeman. He was Tuvia Grossman of Chicago, an American student in Israel, not an unidentified Palestinian. In some copies the caption also misidentified the site where Mr. Grossman was wounded. It was in Jerusalem's Old City, but not on the Temple Mount."
On October 7, 2000, the New York Times published an article about the incident and printed the following, more complete, correction:
" A picture caption on Page A6 last Saturday about fighting in Jerusalem gave an erroneous identification from The Associated Press for a wounded man shown with an Israeli policeman. He was Tuvia Grossman of Chicago, an American studying at a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem, not an unidentified Palestinian. In some copies the caption also included the news agency's erroneous reference to the site. The incident occurred in an Arab neighborhood of Jerusalem, not on the Temple Mount or elsewhere in the Old City."
"A correction in this space on Wednesday cited the errors incompletely and omitted an explanation of the scene. The officer was waving a nightstick at Palestinians, telling them to stay away from Mr. Grossman. He was not beating Mr. Grossman."
"An article about the incident and the photograph appears today, on Page A4. "
The Grossman photo appears frequently in Israeli criticisms of the media, because the photograph implied that the police officer who rescued Grossman had beat him, it implied an Israeli perpetrator, it implied a Palestinian victim, and it conveyed the opposite of what had transpired. According to Honest Reporting
Honest Reporting
HonestReporting is a non-governmental organization that monitors the media for what it perceives as bias against Israel. The organization has affiliates in the United States, UK, Canada, Italy, and Brazil...
's promotional videos, the pro-Israel watchdog
Watchdog journalism
Watchdog journalism aims to hold accountable public personalities and institutions, whose functions impact social and political life. The term "lapdog journalism", for journalism biased in favour of personalities and institutions, is sometimes used as a conceptual opposite to watchdog...
was established in 2000 in response to this incident, which it describes as "the photo that started it all". Seth Ackerman of FAIR
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting is a progressive media criticism organization based in New York City, founded in 1986.FAIR describes itself on its website as "the national media watch group" and defines its mission as working to "invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity...
described the attention given to the photo, as well as the three NYT corrections, as disproportionate to a "plausible, though careless" assumption resulting from "garbled information from the Israeli photographer".
Battle of Jenin
On April 3, 2002, following the Passover massacrePassover massacre
The Passover massacre was a suicide bombing carried out by Hamas at the Park Hotel in Netanya, Israel on March 27, 2002, during a Passover seder. Thirty civilians were killed in the attack and 140 were injured...
on March 27 which killed 30 Israeli civilians and wounded as many as 143, the IDF
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
began a major military operation
Battle of Jenin
The Battle of Jenin took place in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. Israel Defense Forces entered the camp, and other areas under the administration of the Palestinian Authority, during the Second Intifada, as part of Operation Defensive Shield...
in the Jenin refugee camp
Jenin
Jenin is the largest town in the Northern West Bank, and the third largest city overall. It serves as the administrative center of the Jenin Governorate and is a major agricultural center for the surrounding towns. In 2007, the city had a population of 120,004 not including the adjacent refugee...
, a city which, according to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, had "served as a launching site for numerous terrorist attacks against both Israeli civilians and Israeli towns and villages in the area". The fighting, which lasted eight days and resulted in the deaths of 52 Palestinians (including 14 civilians, according to the IDF, and 22 civilians, according to HRW
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
) and 23 Israeli soldiers, has been interpreted quite differently by Israelis and Palestinians. In the aftermath of the fighting, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat
Saeb Erekat
Saeb Muhammad Salih Erekat Saeb Muhammad Salih Erekat Saeb Muhammad Salih Erekat (also Erakat; Ṣāʼib ʻUrayqāt or ʻRēqāt, born April 28, 1955 in Jordanian controlled East Jerusalem was the Palestinian chief of the PLO Steering and Monitoring Committee until 12 February 2011...
claimed that the IDF had killed 500 Palestinians and accused Israel of committing a "massacre". Early news publications, following both IDF estimates of 200 Palestinians killed and Palestinian estimates of 500 Palestinians killed, reported hundreds of Palestinian deaths and repeated claims that a massacre had taken place. Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
and Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
later found that a massacre had not taken place, although both organizations charged the IDF with war crimes and human rights violations. The United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
similarly dismissed claims that hundreds of Palestinians had been killed as unsubstantiated, a finding which was widely interpreted and reported as rejecting claims of a "massacre". The Battle of Jenin
Battle of Jenin
The Battle of Jenin took place in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. Israel Defense Forces entered the camp, and other areas under the administration of the Palestinian Authority, during the Second Intifada, as part of Operation Defensive Shield...
is still largely called the "Jenin Massacre" by Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
and Palestinian sources.
Israelis cite the reporting surrounding the Battle of Jenin, because "the Arab and European media hastily reported", without proper verification, Palestinian allegations that a massacre had taken place, a claim broken by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and described by many pro-Israel sources as "The Big Jenin Lie" and by HonestReporting
HonestReporting
HonestReporting is a non-governmental organization that monitors the media for what it perceives as bias against Israel. The organization has affiliates in the United States, UK, Canada, Italy, and Brazil...
as "Jeningrad". Palestinians and their advocates, many of whom view a massacre as having taken place, frequently cite the reporting surrounding the Battle of Jenin for later rejecting Palestinian claims of a massacre and for ignoring claims by Amnesty International and by Human Rights Watch that the IDF had committed war crimes.
Gaza beach blast
On June 9, 2006, an explosion on a beach in the Gaza StripGaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
killed seven Palestinians, including three children. Palestinian sources claimed that the explosion resulted from Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i shelling. After a three-day investigation, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
concluded that the blast could not have resulted from an IDF
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
artillery shell. This IDF investigation was criticized by both Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
and The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
for ignoring evidence. The IDF later conceded that the report was flawed for failing to mention two gunboat shells fired at about the time of the deaths but insisted that these shells had landed too far away from the area to be the cause of the explosion and that this omission, therefore, did not impact the report's overall conclusion that Israel had not been responsible for the blast. According to CAMERA, "many in the press [have presumed] that Israel is responsible". This incident is often cited by Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
advocates who claim that the media favors the Palestinian side, because of reports which attributed the blast to the IDF prior to the conclusion of the IDF investigation.
2006 Lebanon War photographs controversies
On August 5, 2006 Charles Foster JohnsonCharles Foster Johnson
Charles Foster Johnson is an American blogger, software developer, and former jazz guitarist.He has played on 29 albums.-Biography:...
of Little Green Footballs
Little Green Footballs
Little Green Footballs is an American political blog run by web designer Charles Johnson.Media observers in the United States long described the site as "right wing", but since 2007, the site's emphasis has changed, such that "LGF has become better known for the various fights it picks with many...
accused Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
of inappropriately manipulating images of destruction to Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
caused by Israel during the Second Lebanon War. This accusation marked the first of many accusations against media outlets for inappropriate photo manipulation
Photo manipulation
Photo manipulation is the application of image editing techniques to photographs in order to create an illusion or deception , through analog or digital means.- Types of digital photo manipulation :...
. Media outlets were also accused of incorrectly captioning photos and of staging photographs through the inappropriate use of props. These accusations, which initially appeared in the blogosphere
Blogosphere
The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community or as a social network in which everyday authors can publish their opinions...
, were amplified by Aish HaTorah
Aish HaTorah
Aish HaTorah is a Jewish Orthodox organization and yeshiva. Aish HaTorah is actively pro-Israel and encourages Jewish people to visit Israel and connect to the land and its history. Some consider the organisation to reflect a more Religious Zionist philosophy in its attachment to Israel, promoting...
through an online video entitled "Photo Fraud in Lebanon". In response to these allegations, Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
toughened its photo editing policy and admitted to inappropriate photo manipulation
Photo manipulation
Photo manipulation is the application of image editing techniques to photographs in order to create an illusion or deception , through analog or digital means.- Types of digital photo manipulation :...
on the part of Adnan Hajj, a freelance photographer whom Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
subsequently fired. Additionally, BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, the New York Times, and the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
recalled photos or corrected captions in response to some of the accusations. This journalistic scandal, dubbed "Reutersgate" by the blogosphere
Blogosphere
The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community or as a social network in which everyday authors can publish their opinions...
in reference to the Watergate scandal
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...
and dubbed "fauxtography" by Honest Reporting
Honest Reporting
HonestReporting is a non-governmental organization that monitors the media for what it perceives as bias against Israel. The organization has affiliates in the United States, UK, Canada, Italy, and Brazil...
and others, is frequently cited by Israelis and by Israel advocates in order to demonstrate alleged anti-Israel bias, this time in the form of an outright forgery created by a biased local freelance photographer.
"Mystery of Israel's Secret Uranium Bomb"
On October 28, 2006, The IndependentThe Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
published an article, by Robert Fisk
Robert Fisk
Robert Fisk is an English writer and journalist from Maidstone, Kent. As Middle East correspondent of The Independent, he has primarily been based in Beirut for more than 30 years. He has published a number of books and has reported on the United States's war in Afghanistan and the same country's...
, which speculated, based on information from the European Committee on Radiation Risk
European Committee on Radiation Risk
The European Committee on Radiation Risk is an informal committee formed in 1997 following a meeting by the European Green Party at the European Parliament to review the Council of Europe's directive 96/29Euratom, issued in May of the previous year....
, that Israel may have used depleted Uranium
Depleted uranium
Depleted uranium is uranium with a lower content of the fissile isotope U-235 than natural uranium . Uses of DU take advantage of its very high density of 19.1 g/cm3...
weapons during the 2006 Lebanon War. The article prompted criticism by HonestReporting for coming to conclusions prematurely, and resulted in an investigation by the United Nations Environment Programme
United Nations Environment Programme
The United Nations Environment Programme coordinates United Nations environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices. It was founded as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in June 1972 and has its...
(UNEP). On November 8, 2006, UNEP concluded that Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
had not used any form of Uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
-based weapons. Israelis and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
advocates cite the article as an instance of "shoddy journalism", arising allegedly as a result of media sensationalism.
Samir Kuntar as a Hero
On 19 July 2008, Al Jazeera TV broadcast a program from Lebanon that covered the "welcome-home" festivities for Samir KuntarSamir Kuntar
Samir Kuntar is a Lebanese Druze convicted murderer and former member of the Palestine Liberation Front...
, a Lebanese militant who had been imprisoned in Israel for murdering several people, including a four year old child, in a Palestine Liberation Front
Palestine Liberation Front
The Palestine Liberation Front is a Palestinian militant group, which is designated as a terrorist organization by Canada, the European Union and the USA. It is presently led by Dr. Wasel Abu Yousef.-Origins:...
raid from Lebanon into Israel. In the program, the head of Al Jazeera's Beirut office, Ghassan bin Jiddo, praised Kuntar as a "pan-Arab hero" and organized a birthday party for him. In response, Israel's Government Press Office (GPO) threatened to boycott the satellite channel unless it apologized. A few days later an official letter was issued by Al Jazeera's director general, Wadah Khanfar, in which he admitted that the program violated the station's Code of Ethics and that he had ordered the channel's programming director to take steps to ensure that such an incident does not recur.
Films
This section discusses films with media coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict as its main topic. The films presented in this section appear in alphabetical order.Décryptage
DécryptageDécryptage
Décryptage is a 2003 documentary written by Jacques Tarnero and directed by Philippe Bensoussan. The French film examines media coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict in French media, and concludes that the media's presentation of the Arab-Israeli conflict in France is consistently skewed against...
is a 2003 documentary written by Jacques Tarnero and directed by Philippe Bensoussan. The French film (with English subtitles) examines media coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict in French media, and concludes that the media's
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
presentation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in France is consistently skewed against Israel and may be responsible for exacerbating anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
.