CounterPunch Just How Much Does The New York Times Tilt Towards Israel; and How Much Does It Matter?

"This occurs, for instance, when we're treated to frequent features on the personal and psychological impact of suicide bombings on Israelis but seldom see stories about the impact on Palestinians of the occupation and all its aspects--the civilian deaths, the roadblocks, the land confiscation, the curfews, the depredations by settlers, the shootings by soldiers, the destruction of olive groves, etc., etc. Times reporters seem to spend little time in the West Bank and Gaza--less and less as Israel tightens its control over these territories--and as a result there is relatively little reporting on the situation there. Even the stories about Israel's July 22 missile attack in Gaza that killed 14 innocent civilians were filed from Jerusalem, not from Gaza.

Imbalance in news coverage is chiefly a matter of omission rather than commission, as the examples above show."

Palestine Media Watch Coverage of the Middle East Crisis in the Opinion Pages of The Atlanta Journal Constitution

"This report details the findings of an analysis conducted by Palestine Media Watch - TAJC examining how the Middle East crisis has been covered in the opinion pages of The Atlanta Journal Constitution between March 18, 2002 and April 14, 2002.

Our aim in preparing this report is to raise The AJC's awareness of its own editorial and op-ed coverage of the Middle East crisis. Our aim is not to characterize or label The AJC, but to examine its product and the quality and variety of what it is offering its readership."

redux [04.09.02]
MediaChannel The Dangers Of TV's Tunnel Vision

""One key issue was the understanding readers and audiences may form of the reasons for the violence, and how this arises out of 'framing decisions' about what to include in reports of the conflict. Are there certain explanations that prevail by default? Or do they result from choices made by journalists? Is all the responsibility of ill-intentioned leaders; or an expression of 'ancient hatreds' welling up from within? Key contributor Lyse Doucet of BBC World recalled that peace actions were generally ignored by journalists in favor of 'running off to the front-line;' but that meant 'we never probed why the violence was there in the first place.'""

MSNBC Intractable foes, warring narratives

"STEPPING BACK FROM the horrific headlines of the day, it is clear that the conflict over Israel/Palestine is all about competing narratives."

"In most of the world, it is the Palestinian narrative of a dispossessed people that dominates. In the United States, however, the narrative that dominates is Israel's: a democracy under constant siege. "

redux [05.22.01]
MediaChannel The Myth In Journalism

"The information model of journalism, already in great disrepair, will be dismantled by the marriage of myth and new media. News is losing whatever franchise it had on whatever information is. Information is no longer some scarce resource, a commodity that newspeople can cull and sell. Our society rapidly moved from information explosion to information overload. Information is everywhere. From online events calendars to live, continuous congressional coverage, anyone can give and get information online. If news is only information, news is nothing.

Yet information overload offers opportunities to news: as myth. In the throes of all this information, the need for myth increases. People grapple with the meaning of rapidly changing times. People seek out ways in which they can organize and explain the world. People need stories."