-Caveat Lector- ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 03:33:06 +0200 From: Mario Profaca <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: "[Spy News]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Spy News] FW: In U.S. Media, Palestinians Attack, Israel Retaliates
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, April 09, 2002 8:15 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [AL-AWDA-News] (Fwd) In U.S. Media, Palestinians Attack, Israel Retaliates This is a great study of U.S. media coverage of the conflict. Click on the email addresses below and let NBC, CBS and ABC know how you feel about this--and attach a copy of this study. Murphy Halliburton Queens, New York ------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 18:23:21 -0600 Subject: In U.S. Media, Palestinians Attack, Israel Retaliates To: "FAIR-L" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "FAIR" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [ Double-click this line for list subscription options ] FAIR-L Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting Media analysis, critiques and activism ACTION ALERT: In U.S. Media, Palestinians Attack, Israel Retaliates April 4, 2002 The numbers will have risen by the time you read this, but more than 300 Israelis and 1,200 Palestinians have been killed since the current Intifada began in September 2000 (Boston Globe, 3/31/02). Thousands more people have been injured. U.S. media coverage of the conflict has been intense in recent weeks, as the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) mounted a large-scale invasion of the West Bank and Palestinian militants carried out several major suicide bombings. Amnesty International (4/3/02) has condemned the targeting of civilians by both sides, voicing concern over "flagrant human rights abuses" by the IDF, including looting, mass detentions, the targeting of medical personnel and possible extrajudicial executions. Israel has tried to exclude the press from the entire area where the abuses are occurring; the Committee to Protect Journalists has expressed alarm (4/2/02) over the apparent targeting of reporters in "ongoing incidents in which IDF forces have opened fire on, or in the direction of, journalists attempting to cover events in the West Bank." With thousands of lives at stake and reporters risking their own lives, it's increasingly difficult-- but perhaps more urgent than ever-- to step back and examine how U.S. media have framed the story. To this end, FAIR has surveyed how the language of "retaliation" has been used on the nightly news shows on ABC, CBS and NBC. >From the start of the Intifada in September 2000 through March 17, 2002, the three major networks' nightly news shows used some variation of the word "retaliation" (retaliated, will retaliate, etc.) 150 times to describe attacks in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. About 79 percent of those references were to Israeli "retaliation" against Palestinians. Only 9 percent referred to Palestinian "retaliation" against Israelis. (Approximately 12 percent were ambiguous or referred to both sides simultaneously.) [Full data below.] Both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict routinely present their attacks as being retaliation for previous attacks or actions. Both sides portray their struggle as essentially defensive. Whether one regards these justifications as credible explanations or self-serving rhetoric, the fact is that reporters make choices about whether to report them. The network news shows have characterized Israeli violence as "retaliation" almost nine times more often than Palestinian violence. This disparity is meaningful. The term "retaliation" suggests a defensive stance undertaken in response to someone else's aggression. It also lays responsibility for the cycle of violence at the doorstep of the party being "retaliated" against, since they presumably initiated the conflict. Among the three major networks, ABC's World News Tonight was the closest to being balanced, with 64 percent of its uses of "retaliation" referring to Israeli actions and 21 percent to Palestinian actions-- a three-to-one ratio. CBS Evening News came next, with 79 percent of its uses of "retaliation" referring to Israeli actions and 7 percent to Palestinian actions. NBC Nightly News was the most imbalanced, never once referring to Palestinian retaliation. The devastating human toll of such "retaliations" makes these imbalances are all the more striking. According to the latest estimates from the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, 897 of the Palestinians killed from September 29, 2000 though March 30, 2002 have been civilians. Israeli security forces killed 823 of those 897 people, including 192 children. B'Tselem records that 253 Israeli civilians were killed by Palestinians in the same period, including 48 children. At least 16 of those 253 people were killed by Palestinian National Authority security forces or persons reportedly linked to them. B'Tselem notes that these figures include neither suicide bombers nor Palestinians who "died after medical treatment was delayed" by Israeli forces. (See www.btselem.org.) Figures like these, highlighting the targeting of non-combatants and even children, make clear that it is simply inaccurate to cast either side as acting purely defensively. The language of retaliation is only one factor in reporting, of course, but FAIR's findings-- 79 percent to 9 percent-- are striking and indicate a tendency to define Israel's role as defensive, and the Palestinian role as aggressive. By doing so, ABC, CBS and NBC have oversimplified this complicated conflict and done a disservice to viewers. ACTION: Please urge the networks to examine why they apply the word "retaliation" almost exclusively to one side in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings Phone: 212-456-4040 Fax: 212-456-2795 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] CBS Evening News with Dan Rather Phone: 212-975-3691 Fax: 212-975-1893 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw Phone: 212-664-4971 Fax: 202-362-2009 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] As always, please remember that your comments are taken more seriously if you maintain a polite tone. Please cc [EMAIL PROTECTED] with your correspondence. SURVEY DATA: Based on a Nexis database search of ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News from September 28, 2000 through March 17, 2002. Some percentages don't add up to 100 because of rounding. --By Category: Israeli retaliation: 118 mentions, of which 2 occurred in soundbites (79%) (ABC: 27 mentions; CBS: 53 mentions; NBC: 38 mentions) Palestinian retaliation: 14 mentions, of which 5 occurred in soundbites (9%) (ABC: 9 mentions; CBS: 5 mentions; NBC: Zero mentions) Ambiguous/both: 18 mentions (12%) (ABC: 6 mentions; CBS: 9 mentions; NBC: 3 mentions) --By Network: ABC total: 42 references (Israeli retaliation 64%, Palestinian 21%, Ambiguous 14%) CBS total: 67 references (Israeli retaliation 79%, Palestinian 7%, Ambiguous 13%) NBC total: 41 references (Israeli retaliation 93%, Palestinian 0%, Ambiguous 7%) ---------- Feel free to respond to FAIR ( [EMAIL PROTECTED] ). We can't reply to everything, but we will look at each message. We especially appreciate documented example of media bias or censorship. And please send copies of your email correspondence with media outlets, including any responses, to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . FAIR ON THE AIR: FAIR's founder Jeff Cohen is a regular panelist on the Fox News Channel's "Fox News Watch," which airs which airs Saturdays at 6:30 pm and Sundays at 11 pm (Eastern Standard Time). Check your local listings. FAIR produces CounterSpin, a weekly radio show heard on over 130 stations in the U.S. and Canada. To find the CounterSpin station nearest you, visit http://www.fair.org/counterspin/stations.html . Please support FAIR by subscribing to our bimonthly magazine, Extra! For more information, go to: http://www.fair.org/extra/subscribe.html . Or call 1-800-847-3993. FAIR's INTERNSHIP PROGRAM: FAIR accepts internship applications for its New York office on a rolling basis. For more information, see: http://www.fair.org/internships.html You can subscribe to FAIR-L at our web site: http://www.fair.org . Our subscriber list is kept confidential. FAIR (212) 633-6700 http://www.fair.org/ E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------- End of forwarded message ------- Murphy Halliburton Assistant Professor Department of Anthropology Queens College, City University of New York 65-30 Kissena Boulevard Flushing, NY 11367 Phone: 718-997-5528 Fax: 718-997-2928 ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Stock for $4 and no minimums. FREE Money 2002. http://us.click.yahoo.com/k6cvND/n97DAA/ySSFAA/TySplB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> =============================================================== SPY NEWS is OSINT newsletter and discussion list associated to Mario's Cyberspace Station http://mprofaca.cro.net/mainmenu.html =============================================================== *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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