Is there a writers strike?
The last few efforts from HonestReporting have been so dismal I’ve been unable to rouse myself to bother responding. First it was a rehash of the July 2 attack on the BCC. Then it was a call for the pro-Israel McCarthyism to be directed at local media.
Now,
"Why are an NGO's allegations against Israel accepted by an unquestioning media?”
The sheer stupidity makes me want to cry.
How does the media “accept" the allegations by NGO’s? By reporting them, apparently.
It’s back to Media Basics 101 for HR. Reporting is saying that "Person 1 said 'y is…..' ", as opposed to endorsing, which is “y is…..”.
When a media story provides an NGO statement/allegation as clearly coming from that organisation, that is reporting. Duh!
The problem really is that HR doesn’t want such perspectives aired in public.
And as always, HR are the complete hypocrites on the subject. Just a few weeks back HR was offering official IDF statements as reliable sources on incidents involving the IDF.
Independent NGOs are unreliable, but the IDF can be trusted……..only through the HonestReporting looking-glass where failure to be stridently pro-Israel is a sign of bias.
The substance of the story is that Physicians for Human Rights has alleged that the Israel security services are withholding medical services unless Palestinians collaborate. The only thing that would surprise me is if they weren’t. This is kind of what security services do. HRs 'critique' is mostly a lengthy excerpt from the mendacious NGO Monitor, whose long-winded waffle is best summed up as – ‘maybe it’s not true’.
That the Shin Bet use all sorts of nasty coercion to recruit informants in the Occupied Territories is way, way beyond contention.
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