Monday, September 11, 2006

One from the Archives

This particular HonestReporting story ("Israeli Aid, Unreported", 28/12/04) has always struck me as the nadir of HonestReportings often mendacious, always strained, "Media Critiques" on alleged anti-Israel media bias.

Remember the asian tsumani of December 2004? Hundreds of thousands killed, millions affected. It was one of the worst natural disasters of modern times.

Not for HonestReporting. Quite incredibly, and tastelessly, for HR this was just another opportunity to push their anti-Israel media bias bandwagon. The problem this time being that the major media outlets weren't lauding Israels' humanitarian contribution.

It’s almost ghoulish in its’ focus on allegations of media bias at such a time. This is what HR found the time to worry about,

Yet, with the exception of UPI (as of this writing - Tues. 4pm EST), none of the major news outlets have dedicated an article to this remarkable Israeli humanitarian effort. This, despite the fact that the IDF sent all Israel-based journalists a press release Monday evening (Dec. 27), inviting them to the airport to cover the departure of one IDF group.
And why was HR so keen to have media organisations report this story?
The lack of media interest in this Israeli humanitarian effort means that Israeli benevolence toward other peoples is not fairly conveyed to the western world. Perhaps if it were conveyed, observers would come to understand something else ― that Israel's response to Palestinian violence is also motivated by the highest ethical concern for all human life….
That’s right, HR thought it was missing a great propaganda opportunity - to use the media coverage of the tsunami disaster to cast a better light on Israels’ treatment of the Palestinians.