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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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 Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 12:34 pm Post subject: Jews are news |
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http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/12/29/michael-ross-jews-are-news.aspx
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While there may be dark clouds hovering over the boardrooms of companies and financial houses these days, there must have been collective whoops of joy in the world�s newsrooms � and in particular those belonging to network and cable TV news � at the onset of Israel�s offensive against Hamas in Gaza this past week.
Israel�s conflict with the Palestinians and its neighbours is no longer a news story but an industry complete with a revolving conveyor belt overloaded with ambitious career-minded journalists, dubious Middle East �experts�, clueless peace activists, and patronizing diplomats and envoys who can be counted on to talk endlessly in clich�s and platitudes about �halting the cycle of violence� and �getting the peace process back on track�.
One reason that this particular conflict attracts so much unqualified attention is because it is incredibly easy to cover while at the same time providing the necessary drama and �bang-bang� (newsroom slang for combat footage) that for reasons left better explained by a sociologist, seem to increase viewer ratings and heighten overall interest.
The other reason is that such is the nature of the Palestinian propaganda machine that it is all too willing to make sure that foreign journalists � and in most cases their Palestinian stringers � are granted access to scenes of death and destruction that clearly portray the Israelis as warmongering monsters and the Palestinians as simple villagers who were just minding their own business until several thousand pounds of ordinance was dropped on their coordinates.
This makes covering the conflict far less risky than say, in Iraq, where a journalist regardless of his political bias and that of his sponsoring news entity, could assuredly count on having his head separated from his body in a different kind of video-taped news story. The Palestinians know all too well the impact of bang-bang on our flat-screen TV�s and understand that scenes of civilian deaths are way more effective than a score of suicide bombers. This could be one reason why Hamas operates its missile batteries from well within civilian areas and from atop civilian buildings and structures - like schools for instance.
While no one is advocating or calling for a moratorium on the dissemination of news resulting from the events of this conflict, we have to question the motives of the myriad of news entities covering the hostilities in a manner best described in terms of a feeding-frenzy
A few weeks ago, a friend of mine working on a project in Nigeria fell out of communication for a few days and at the behest of his understandably distraught wife, I put into motion what resources I could call upon in the country to locate him. He was found safe and sound, but it was while trying to locate him that I found out that some 330 people had been killed in violence between warring Christian and Moslem factions in Africa�s most populated country. The army was out on the streets and what violence was reported was soon considered a non-event. Where was the khaki-attired BBC and CBC correspondents or CNN special reports complete with its garish graphics and endless parade of talking-heads? More people had died in this strategically important oil producing country of a 140 million people in one weekend than during the past few years between Israel and Palestinians. The cynical answer is simply that this is Africa and people are killed there all the time an expected event and therefore not really newsworthy. The really cynical answer however is that it�s far more comfortable to cover Israeli-Palestinian violence from the comfort of the terrace at the Jerusalem Hilton than from a country with a high degree of vector borne diseases like malaria and yellow fever and rampant crime and violence. It�s also a lot simpler to avoid an internecine conflict in a country with some 250 ethnic groups; to clearly understand the nuances of a conflict in Nigeria requires in-depth research and a clear historical context of it�s origins and let�s be honest � very few journalists these days are interested in devoting that much effort to understanding a news story � especially in Africa.
The unfortunate fact is that journalism schools are churning out technicians who know how to set up a satellite double-ender but wouldn�t know a history book if it was thrown at them.
The reticence to cover news in places like Nigeria and Sudan is in stark contrast to covering the Israeli-Palestinian state of affairs where consensus guides the news editors to continue the simplistic and heavily politicized reporting that does little but perpetuate the myth that it�s all about Israel�s �occupation� of Palestinian lands (Israel departed Gaza in 2005 and has since been on the receiving end of some 8,000 missiles launched from Gaza into Israel proper). The lack of perspective and insidious creep of media bias reached its tipping point for me in 2004 when BBC correspondent Barbara Plett admitted on air that she cried when a terminally ill Yasser Arafat was airlifted from his compound.
Incidents such as these must force us to question whether we are really being served in the best possible standards of journalistic integrity or simply being led by the nose by journalists and their editors with their own personal bias and agendas.
Like a lot of people, I�m watching the news of the current Israeli response to Hamas missile bombardment and have still yet to hear anything about Hamas or its even more hyper-violent cousin, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and how both are committed to Israel�s destruction. Both are headquartered in Damascus and supported logistically and financially by the Islamic regime in Iran but this seems to have escaped the notice of the numerous experts offering their commentary for us on 24/7 cable news. There�s little editorial comment about how self-government is a better alternative to self-detonation but then where�s the bang-bang in that?
Years ago while watching a news program on Israel�s wars with its neighbours; a colleague summed it up for me by stating simply �Jews are news�. There seems to be no other rational explanation for it. It�s why you�ll always see or read reports about the situation in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv but hear very little about the goings on in Damascus or Abuja. It�s while you�ll see fiercely worded letters to the editor from places in Canada you�ve never heard of from people who would normally have a hard time finding Gaza on the map. There�s been a plethora of documentaries about the conflict since it started but what would be refreshing is a documentary about how the news agencies and their stringers cover the actual events on the ground themselves. It would probably be the most interesting story to emerge from the region since it became the news industry it has since evolved into. Michael Moore where are you? |
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/12/29/michael-ross-jews-are-news.aspx |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 12:54 pm Post subject: |
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The really cynical answer however is that it�s far more comfortable to cover Israeli-Palestinian violence from the comfort of the terrace at the Jerusalem Hilton than from a country with a high degree of vector borne diseases like malaria and yellow fever and rampant crime and violence. It�s also a lot simpler to avoid an internecine conflict in a country with some 250 ethnic groups; to clearly understand the nuances of a conflict in Nigeria requires in-depth research and a clear historical context of it�s origins and let�s be honest � very few journalists these days are interested in devoting that much effort to understanding a news story � especially in Africa.
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There's also the fact that Israel, unlike Nigeria, has been backed to the hilt by a succession of western sugar-daddies, the most recent being the US. This gives the country's ongoing war with the Palestinians a certain relevance to western media that other conflicts don't have.
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| This makes covering the conflict far less risky than say, in Iraq, where a journalist regardless of his political bias and that of his sponsoring news entity, could assuredly count on having his head separated from his body in a different kind of video-taped news story. |
So, is the National Post complaining that there has not been enough coverage of Iraq? It seems to me that outlets like the Post are always complaining about the NEGATIVE press that the American effort gets over there. Hard to see how there could be all this negative coverage of Iraq, if journalists are afraid to go over there. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 1:04 pm Post subject: |
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I don't know what the National Post is on about, but they have a point. There is another war brewing in Congo and the last one cost 5million lives. Totally off the radar. A coup in Africa last week, also off the radar. Western journos like their easy targets. Tibet/China, Israel/Pali's, America/"world" etc.
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| There's also the fact that Israel, unlike Nigeria, has been backed to the hilt by a succession of western sugar-daddies, |
Reminds me of my freshman poli-sci prof: "If it ain't in Europe, it ain't a war". Despite the greater body count elsewhere, media will myopically focus on Israel cause she gets Yank money? Totally unreasonable and, for fear of sounding like Gopher, represents their America-centric view of the world. |
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samcheokguy
Joined: 02 Nov 2008
Location: Samcheok G-do
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| Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 2:51 pm Post subject: |
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-Israel is to blame for this as well. Look at all the images of israelis running into shelters or being carried off on stretchers. Even though the body count during the lebanon-israeli war a few summers ago was thousands of arab dead for every israeli the BBC tried to show both sides suffering.
-Really there are two themes in this article. The first is that the arab-Israeli conflict is over covered, and other stories lack the exposure they should get. I agree.
-But the second, that the palestinians manipulate the media is not really accurate. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 4:10 pm Post subject: |
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| samcheokguy wrote: |
-But the second, that the palestinians manipulate the media is not really accurate. |
Both sides are very good at media manipulation. The Palestinians have been caught fabricating photos and staging mourning on several occasions. This is I think widely accepted. |
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ManintheMiddle
Joined: 20 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 7:58 pm Post subject: |
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OTOH quipped:
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| There's also the fact that Israel, unlike Nigeria, has been backed to the hilt by a succession of western sugar-daddies, the most recent being the US. This gives the country's ongoing war with the Palestinians a certain relevance to western media that other conflicts don't have. |
Yeah, right. Even if the U.S. government were to announce its intention to reduce aid and diplomatic support to Israel, the majority of the American people wouldn't stand for it. So your sugar daddy analogy is just a sugar plum fairy tale.
And there are more than a few Europeans who sympathize with the Jews.
No Western country would show the same restraint that Israel did since Hamas came to power. Now they're telling the world: enough is enough. |
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ReeseDog
Joined: 05 Apr 2008
Location: Classified
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| Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 11:04 pm Post subject: |
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| ManintheMiddle wrote: |
No Western country would show the same restraint that Israel did since Hamas came to power. Now they're telling the world: enough is enough. |
...and still the US is asking Israel to back of a little bit. We don't want to open (yet another) front in the war on terror. |
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wesharris
Joined: 10 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 6:44 am Post subject: |
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Honestly the Israelis should go to war full tilt.
Push them to the sea.
Salt the lands.
Poison the wells.
Make ashes of the dead.
Then can they live peacefully at night.
Alone with the nightmares of their dead.
And the dead of their enemies children.
This is both atrocious.
And necessary.
-=-
Wes |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 3:41 pm Post subject: |
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gPW6vtdfI0ip4z9X2iqfVibBao8gD96BFKV81
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Rohingya are Muslim outcasts, not welcome anywhere
By AMBIKA AHUJA and MICHAEL CASEY � 1 day ago
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) � For generations, the ethnic Muslim Rohingya have endured persecution by the ruling junta of Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist country.
The plight of the Rohingya, descendants of Arab traders from the 7th century, gained international attention over the past month after five boatloads of haggard migrants were found in the waters around Indonesia and the Andaman Islands.
But unlike the Kurds or the Palestinians, no one has championed the cause of the Rohingya. Most countries, from Saudi Arabia to Malaysia, see them as little more than a source of cheap labor for the dirtiest and most dangerous jobs.
"The Rohingya are probably the most friendless people in the world. They just have no one advocating for them at all," said Kitty McKinsey, a spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. "Hardly any of them have legal status anywhere in the world."
There are an estimated 750,000 Rohingya living in Myanmar's mountainous northern state of Rakhine, which borders Bangladesh. Thousands flee every year, trying to escape a life of abuse that was codified in 1982 with a law that virtually bars them from becoming citizens.
A spokesman for Myanmar's military government did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment. It has repeatedly denied abusing the Rohingya, though Amnesty International said the junta has described them as less than human. Rights groups have documented widespread abuses, including forced labor, land seizures and rape.
"It was like living in hell," said Mohamad Zagit, who left after soldiers confiscated his family's rice farm and then threw him in jail for praying at a local mosque. The 23-year-old spoke from his hospital bed in Thailand, where he had been detained after fleeing Myanmar.
"We have no rights," said Muhamad Shafirullah, who was among 200 migrants rescued by the Indonesian navy last week. He recalled how he was jailed in Myanmar, his family's land stolen and a cousin dragged into the jungle and shot dead. "They rape and kill our women. We can't practice our religion. We aren't allowed to travel from village to village ... It's almost impossible, even, to get married or go to school."
Twice since the 1970s, waves of attacks by the military and Buddhist villagers forced hundred of thousands of Rohingya to flee over the border to Bangladesh, a Muslim country whose people speak a similar language. Many have since been repatriated, but 200,000 still work there as illegal migrants and another 28,000 live in squalid refugee camps.
Violence against Rohingya women is common, and they face the threat of prison because of their illegal status, said Chris Lewa, coordinator of the Bangkok-based Arakan Project, an advocacy group for the Rohingya. Thousands of Rohingya have taken to the seas from Bangladesh in search of better jobs, but ended up drowning or at the mercy of traffickers.
For years, the Rohingya traveled to the Middle East for work, with nearly a half million ending up in Saudi Arabia.
But in recent years � partly because of bureaucratic hurdles faced by Muslims following 9/11 � many now try to go instead by boat to Thailand and then overland to Malaysia, another Islamic nation.
But even those who make it to Malaysia then struggle find good jobs and quickly discover that, there too, intolerance is growing. Many of the 14,300 Rohingya in Malaysia live in cramped, rundown apartments in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, and face the constant threat of deportation, community leaders said. If caught, the migrants can be caned and imprisoned for up to five years.
Yet most refugee advocates expect Rohingya migrants will keep coming.
"My 14 children rely on me. They have no safety, no food, nothing," said Mohamad Salim, a 35-year-old, bearded fisherman who also was detained and hospitalized in Thailand and begged to be allowed to continue onto Malaysia.
"What will they eat? How will they live if I don't find work?" he said, his voice trembling. |
They should have the right mind to be oppressed by Jews. Would solve their problems. |
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