American Media’s Coverage of Gaza

The New York Times can often argue that no matter how they cover the Arab-Israeli conflict, people on both sides will accuse them of bias. But no matter how rational, unemotional, and detached I try to be, it’s just been impossible not to get infuriated by their coverage of what’s happening in Gaza.

Take the photo slide-shows on their website. In the multimedia section, there are three or four slideshows, and each has about 10 photos. Now I understand that they want to show both sides of the conflict and that includes photos from the rocket attacks on south Israel and the victims of those rockets. But when they show two photos of distraught Palestinian civilians versus two photos of distraught Israeli civilians, this is not balanced coverage given the proportions of what is happening on the ground. The rest of the photos are often showing smoke over Gaza from a far distance, where you don’t really see the impact of what is happening.

The Washington Post has been significantly different. Their photo gallery of the situation has around 52 photos, with a note from the editor at the beginning warning of the violent nature of some of the images. It shows the tragic situation is in Gaza’s hospitals, where the wounded are being treated on the floors. It shows numbers of dead Palestinian children, and destroyed homes and mosques. There are images from both sides, but it just seems more comprehensive and reflective of the massive humanitarian crisis and “disproportionate” violence and bloodshed.

The LA Times has a photo gallery of 36 photos, 12 of which show grieving Israelis in south Israel where Hamas rockets are being fired, versus two or three photos of grieving or wounded Palestinians.

NPR has a slideshow of ten photos, but mostly showing smoke from a distance, or demonstrations. This could be attributed to the fact that journalists have not been allowed to enter Gaza, but then again, I think there are different ways to get closer images. NPR talk to their reporter on the border and he gives an idea of the situation as he sees it.

The New York Post has a story about Mayor Bloomberg, the mayor of New York City, who paid a one-day visit to Israel to express support and solidarity with the Israelis. Some of the comments on this news story were interesting, where New Yorkers expressed anger over Bloomberg sticking his nose where it does not belong and wasting tax payers money on trips he has no business making.

Editor and Publisher, the American Journal which covers the newspaper industry, had a piece about the American media’s one-sided coverage of the conflict, particularly critical of the New York Times.

The Indypendent, which defines itself as the newspaper of the independent nyc center, published a first-person account from Cynthia McKinney, the former Georgia congresswoman who had been on the SS Dignity, a ship she and 15 other activists were traveling in from Cyprus to Gaza to deliver humanitarian supplies before they were intercepted and rammed by Israeli patrol boats.

The Indypendent also covered pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the city, as did the New York Times. Here’s an excerpt from the Times’ article:

Anger over the Israeli assault on Gaza spilled into Times Square on Saturday, as hundreds of protesters condemned the attacks in a demonstration that stretched four blocks and clogged much of the city’s central tourist district for several hours.

Note: When four blocks around Times Square are covered by protestors, that does not mean “hundreds”, that is more like thousands. Of course, it can be argued that there’s no factual error, because hundreds can mean five thousand, but it’s obviously an editorial choice that downplays the numbers.



Independent media in the US has been relatively more critical of Israel’s “all-out war” in Gaza than mainstream media – with lots of analysis and commentary arguing against it. A couple more links if you’re interested:

- The Huffington Post linked to a commentary in the Haaretz – Israel’s left-wing paper – by Gideon Levy, titled: And there lie the bodies.

- Chris Hedges, who covered the Mideast for The New York Times for seven years, writes a column on Truthdig.com titled “Party to Murder”.

- CNN’s citizen journalism website iReport has been publishing videos and images from Gaza, and from protests in the US and other countries. Many of the slideshows are preceded by a “discretion advised” note.



So now after I spent two hours putting this post together, I can’t help but wonder how media coverage and public opinion affect the course of a war like this.
Do they?

It’s all very depressing.