Middle East and Israeli-Palestinian Conflict -- toward a new Pravda or Truth
Why Pravda? Pravda means "truth" in Russian, and was also the name of the major Soviet newspaper.
This blog questions whether the US mainstream media presents "truth" or "pravda" -- judge for yourself with coverage that is hard or impossible to find in the American media.
This blog is formed on the belief that it takes an informed American population to demand a just settlement -- and it takes "fair and balanced" American leadership to bring the parties to a just settlement.
Wednesday, September 03, 2003
Why did this Blog start?
At the outbreak of the intifada, I was engrossed in the Bush called presidential election like most Americans. I did see some of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on American mainstream TV and BBC America.
Over time it became apparent I needed to look elsewhere to get the whole story. ABC/CBS/NBC/Fox were only showing part of the picture, slotted in behind presidential politics. As I looked further, a much richer picture appeared in the world media, significantly different from that portrayed in American media.
At times it looked like they were reporting totally different events.
The reporting of violence is the most obvious where Palestinian deaths receive far less coverage than Israeli casualties. More than 400 Palestinians died before the first suicide bomber appeared, but there was muted coverage for such a large number. Once that first suicide owner appeared, reporting of Israeli casualties kicked into high gear. Reporting of Palestinian deaths also dwindles to a trickle whenever the US is preoccupied with another subject. The Iraq war saw some of the highest casualty rates among Palestinians in recent times, but drew little US frontline media coverage.
At other times the differences were disturbing, having overtones of selective reporting and propaganda. Complete subject areas are given short shrift or almost completely overlooked. (See Water, Neoconservatives, History, Sharon, Civil Rights and other sections of this multilevel blog.) US State Department reports of discrimination rarely reach daily papers or TV outlets.
In the US we are proud to have a free press, but do we have a "fair and balanced" press to play on the Fox News punchline? Do we really get "All the news that's fit to print" or an edited, summarized version missing critical content?
My conclusion: the US mainstream media portrays a self-censored part of the story, and simply cannot be relied upon you want an accurate picture of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
At the outbreak of the intifada, I was engrossed in the Bush called presidential election like most Americans. I did see some of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on American mainstream TV and BBC America.
Over time it became apparent I needed to look elsewhere to get the whole story. ABC/CBS/NBC/Fox were only showing part of the picture, slotted in behind presidential politics. As I looked further, a much richer picture appeared in the world media, significantly different from that portrayed in American media.
At times it looked like they were reporting totally different events.
The reporting of violence is the most obvious where Palestinian deaths receive far less coverage than Israeli casualties. More than 400 Palestinians died before the first suicide bomber appeared, but there was muted coverage for such a large number. Once that first suicide owner appeared, reporting of Israeli casualties kicked into high gear. Reporting of Palestinian deaths also dwindles to a trickle whenever the US is preoccupied with another subject. The Iraq war saw some of the highest casualty rates among Palestinians in recent times, but drew little US frontline media coverage.
At other times the differences were disturbing, having overtones of selective reporting and propaganda. Complete subject areas are given short shrift or almost completely overlooked. (See Water, Neoconservatives, History, Sharon, Civil Rights and other sections of this multilevel blog.) US State Department reports of discrimination rarely reach daily papers or TV outlets.
In the US we are proud to have a free press, but do we have a "fair and balanced" press to play on the Fox News punchline? Do we really get "All the news that's fit to print" or an edited, summarized version missing critical content?
My conclusion: the US mainstream media portrays a self-censored part of the story, and simply cannot be relied upon you want an accurate picture of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
