Download to read offline
![4/21/2016 Ethiopia attack: 200 people dead, 100 children missing AJE News
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/04/ethiopiaattack200peopledead100childrenmissing160418045025770.html 1/23
Engagement: 55238
WAR & CONFLICT
Ethiopia attack: 200 people dead,
100 children missing
Death toll rises from cross-border cattle raid as government says more than 100
children were taken by attackers.
18 Apr 2016 15:04 GMT | War & Conflict, Africa, Ethiopia
Topics: Syria's Civil War US Election 2016 Middle East Ecuador
Afghanistan
Al-Aqsa 360: Inside Jerusalem
Take a tour of Islam's third holiest site
WATCH NOW
News
TV SCHEDULE
People & Power [IN 19 MIN.]
Nepal: After the Earthquake
How are people faring a year after the disaster?
NEWS PROGRAMMES OPINION INVESTIGATIONS
ABOUT
Watch Live](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/d11b657c-bea0-47c9-8bcc-cd0698e11d99-160429013725/85/Briana-final-36-320.jpg)
![2
qualitative study” (Weir 5). Specifically, IAK examined the extent to which the media covered
Israeli deaths over Palestinian deaths, and compared their findings to the actual data from the
B’Tselem. In each study, IAK discovered that every media outlet studied revealed “a pervasive
pattern of distortion” with regard to their coverage of the Palestine/Israel conflict (Weir 6).
In their books, Israel-Palestine On Record and The Record of the Paper, Richard Falk
and Howard Friel reported similar findings. In these books and the studies conducted by IAK,
the researchers analyzed the Times’ media coverage from long periods of time [IAK: Sept. 2000
– Sept. 2001 and Jan. 2004 – Dec. 31 2004; Falk/Friel: 2000 – 2006]. Although this is a
relatively small segment of time compared to the overall history of the Palestine/Israel conflict, it
still provided a long enough period of time to reveal and assess the patterns of bias existing in the
outlets (Falk and Friel 1).
During these periods, however, there is no study that analyzes the Times’ coverage of
deaths and casualties that happen during specific incidents. On one day, for example, forty
civilians may be killed in an air strike in the Gaza Strip, while there may be no deaths on the
following day in the West Bank. Although the bias that has been found and analyzed in the IAK
and Falk/Friel studies proves that distortions of the truth do exist over the specific date ranges,
no study of media bias has been made with regard to isolated, catastrophic events. My study
focuses on the impact of a catastrophic event upon the Times’ coverage of the event, and the
resulting effects on its pro-Israeli media bias. This study highlights a specific case study:
Operation Cast Lead, Gaza Strip [12/27/2008 - 1/18/2009]. The investigation was designed to
determine whether the Times’ media bias continued, diminished, or increased during this period.
By combining qualitative (content analysis) with quantitative (statistical data)
approaches, this study examines the Times’ manner of covering the Palestine/Israel conflict,](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/d11b657c-bea0-47c9-8bcc-cd0698e11d99-160429013725/85/Briana-final-66-320.jpg)
![8
3.0 NOT SO FAIR AND BALANCED
Media Bias, Audience, Group Representation, Framing, and Agenda Setting
Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. foreign tax aid, about $3 billion per year (“U.S. Military Aid
and the Israel/Palestine Conflict”). An estimate of the total cost to Americans is $3 trillion, an
amount “four times greater than the cost of the Vietnam War” (Stauffer). Given the history of
U.S. involvement in the conflict, both in financial linkage and in occupying a long-time role as
mediator [Camp David, Oslo Accords, etc.], continuous study and scrutiny of the role of the
media is particularly important (Ismail 254). Furthermore, in acknowledging that the U.S. is
“firmly committed to Israel’s security and to her military superiority in the Middle East,” it is
pertinent that American newspaper readers receive a clear and unaltered picture of the conflict
(Aruri 20).
However, post 9/11 discourse in the Western media, especially with regard to the
Palestine/Israel conflict, has led to an increased bias (Zuhur 40). When the media construct
reality as a “given,” presenting their information simply as “the way things are,” a more critical
eye for seeing through this constructed reality is necessary. This is where critical discourse
analysis (CDA) enters (Cameron 123). When applying CDA, systems begin to emerge from
within the texts which help to propose “an interpretation of the pattern, an account of its meaning
and ideological significance” (Cameron 137). If the reader of the Times, however, receives his or
her news from that medium only, then there is no alternative frame of reference or “reality” to](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/d11b657c-bea0-47c9-8bcc-cd0698e11d99-160429013725/85/Briana-final-72-320.jpg)
![26
this observation that led Weir to found IAK—to “provide this information to the public, as well
as to undertake a systematic study of U.S. media coverage of Israel/Palestine” (Weir 5).
5.2 IF AMERICANS KNEW AND THE TIMES
The studies by IAK prove the existence of a pro-Israel media bias in the pages of the Times and
other media outlets. A “media report card” was issued by IAK regarding the Times’ coverage of
the first year [September 2000 through September 2001] of the Palestinian uprising. IAK
examined the headlines, first paragraphs, and article entireties, studying the coverage of
Palestinian and Israeli deaths during that period of the conflict. IAK found that the Times
“significantly distorted” these number of deaths, reporting Israeli deaths “at a rate 2.8 times
higher than Palestinian deaths.” In a 2004 follow-up study, IAK sought to investigate whether
the Times’ pattern of distortion, discovered in their previous research, “continued, diminished, or
increased.” What IAK found was that the rate of distortion increased by 30%.
As a subcategory, IAK studied the coverage of children’s death caused by the conflict.
According to their findings, the Times’ “coverage of children’s deaths was even more skewed.”
Again, the rate of distortion in covering children’s deaths increased from 2000 to 2004, reporting
Israeli children’s deaths “6.8 times the rate of Palestinian deaths” in 2000 to “7.3 times greater
than the deaths of Palestinian children” in 2004 (“Off the Charts”). In her study, Ismail stated
that, although “child victimization in the conflict remained vivid,” the blame for Palestinian
children deaths was “inconsistent across the two sides” (Ismail 258).
As previously mentioned in the Times’ code of ethics, the newspaper purports to cover a
topic responsibly and accurately. To challenge this claim, the “media report cards” of IAK are](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/d11b657c-bea0-47c9-8bcc-cd0698e11d99-160429013725/85/Briana-final-90-320.jpg)
![44
‘Israel,’ ‘Palestine,’ ‘Israeli,’ ‘Palestinian,’ ‘Gaza,’ ‘Gaza Strip,’ and ‘Operation Cast Lead’ for
the period of the invasion [12/27/2008 – 1/18/2009]. I also analyzed an additional week after the
end of the operation as it allowed for the incorporation of the immediate aftermath of the
operation and updated numbers of casualties.
Each article was read before including it in the sample sets to ensure that it dealt with the
catastrophic event itself, rather than with an extraneous issue related to the conflict, such as the
visit of an American diplomat to the region. In the end, ninety-one articles were selected from
the Times’ news and editorial pages. The coding was straightforward: a tally was made for each
time an article mentioned an Israeli death or Palestinian death in the headlines, first paragraphs,
and in the article as a whole. Tallies were also made for each time the article referenced an
Israeli or Palestinian child’s death in the headline or first paragraph, and the article’s entirety.
The same procedure was done regarding references to Palestinian and Israeli injuries in the
headline, first paragraphs, and entirety.
Similar to the methodology used by IAK, this study applies the statistical data compiled
by B’Tselem of the deaths and injuries of Palestinians and Israelis during Operation Cast Lead.
Although content analysis can be a subjective experience, focusing on B’Tselem’s data helps to
minimize the subjectivity in this study.
Additionally, tallies were made for each time the article mentioned weapons being fired
from Palestinians into Israel. Key words such as ‘rockets,’ ‘Qassam,’ ‘mortar shells,’ and
‘missiles’ were included in these tallies. This aspect of the study connotes a more qualitative
approach for it compares these numbers with statistical data regarding the number of deaths and
injuries of Israelis and Palestinians. Comparing the number of references to rockets helps to](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/d11b657c-bea0-47c9-8bcc-cd0698e11d99-160429013725/85/Briana-final-108-320.jpg)
![57
9.0 ANALAYSIS
The Impact of Catastrophic Distortion
The procedures enacted in my study ensured a design that was as objective as possible, similar to
the studies done by If Americans Knew. IAK’s yearlong analysis of the Times’ coverage of the
Palestine/Israel conflict [Sept. 2000 – Sept. 2001] revealed that the newspaper covered 119% of
Israeli deaths and 42% of the deaths of Palestinians in the headlines and first paragraphs. Israeli
deaths were covered almost 3 times more than the deaths of Palestinians. In IAK’s 2004 study,
the Times’ distortion increased, covering 149% of Israeli deaths and 41% of Palestinian deaths in
the headlines and first paragraphs. The Israeli deaths were covered 3.6 times more than the
deaths of Palestinians. My study of the Times’ coverage of Operation Cast Lead, however,
reveals that the Times covered Israeli deaths 12 times more than the deaths of Palestinians in the
headlines and first paragraphs (38% of Israeli deaths were covered and only 3% of Palestinian
deaths were covered). In reality, 13 Israelis were killed and over 1,385 Palestinians were killed.
Furthermore, analysis of the full articles during Operation Cast Lead revealed that the Times
reported 431% of Israeli deaths and only 17% of Palestinian deaths, a ratio of 25 to 1.
In IAK’s 2000-2001 analysis of the Times, the group found that 125% of Israeli
children’s deaths were reported in the headlines and first paragraphs, while only 18% of
Palestinian children’s deaths were reported. In the 2004 analysis, IAK found that 50% of Israeli
children’s deaths were reported in the headlines and first paragraphs and 7% of Palestinian](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/d11b657c-bea0-47c9-8bcc-cd0698e11d99-160429013725/85/Briana-final-121-320.jpg)
![4/21/2016 Why Charlie Hebdo Gets More Attention Than Boko Haram | TIME
http://time.com/3666619/whycharliehebdogetsmoreattentionthanbokoharam/ 2/3
just weeks before Nigeria’s 2015
presidential election. Boko Haram,
like many Islamist fundamentalist
groups, oppose democratic elections.
MORE 5 facts that explain the threat
from Nigeria’s Boko Haram
Yet after the overwhelming global
show of support for France in the
wake of the Paris attacks, many are
asking why there wasn’t similar
widespread solidarity for Nigeria
where far more people were killed.
The hashtag #IamBaga, a variation on #JeSuisCharlie, has recently begun circulating to
call attention to the massacre in Baga, a slaughter that Amnesty International is calling
the group’s “deadliest act.” A Catholic Archbishop in Nigeria has called on the world
community to support Nigeria the way it supported France. But even if you consider the
brief blast of global awareness during last spring’s #BringBackOurGirls campaign, these
calls to action seem feeble compared to the millions of marchers and more than 40 world
leaders who flooded the streets of Paris this weekend.
No major dignitaries showed up in Abuja to support the Nigerian government after the
Baga attack. In the week since the attack on Charlie Hebdo, the French terror plot has
been the main headline in the national edition of the New York Times every day, but the
most recent Boko Haram attack hasn’t appeared once on the front page. It wasn’t on the
cover of the New Yorker. Nobody wore #IamBaga buttons at the Golden Globes.
Of course, the two tragedies are incomparable, as tragedies usually are. The reports
coming out of Baga are still sketchy, and there’s not yet an official death toll because Boko
Haram still controls the area. The details of the Charlie Hebdo attacks were immediately
available, and were accompanied by compelling video that quickly dominated every major
news network. French President Francois Hollande is somewhat unpopular, but at least
he responded quickly and effectively to the attack. Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan
has been widely criticized for his incompetence at stopping Boko Haram– Jonathan
released a statement condemning the Paris attacks, but his government reportedly played
down the death toll in Baga. More importantly, the attack in Paris was largely
unprecedented (Charlie Hebdo was firebombed in 2011, but nobody was hurt), while the
massacre in Nigeria is part of a long string of Boko Haram attacks that some are even
calling a “war“: the group killed over 10,000 people last year, according to the Council on
Foreign Relations, and 1.5 million have fled their homes since the insurgency started.
Plus, the fact that the Charlie Hebdo attack was a dramatic ambush of journalists may
have added a layer of panic to the media coverage.
“The psychological distance between us and France is smaller than the psychological
difference between us and Nigeria,” explains Paul Slovic, a professor of psychology at
University of Oregon and president of Decision Research, a nonprofit research institute
that studies decisionmaking. “There’s a sense of personal vulnerability [in the Paris
attack] that I don’t think one gets from the Boko Haram attacks,”
MORE How we failed the lost girls kidnapped by Boko Haram
A recent Pew survey tracking American news interest in foreign terrorist attacks found
that Americans were overwhelmingly more interested in attacks that happen in other
Western countries or attacks on children. The 2005 train bombings in London and the
2004 killing of Russian children by Chechen rebels were the most closely watched by
Americans (48% saying they’d followed each event closely), followed by the 2004
bombings in Madrid and the 2007 car bomb scare in London (34% said they followed
those stories). 29% of Americans closely followed the most recent Paris attacks.
The only terrorists attacks in nonWestern countries that got significant American
attention were attacks on destinations that attract affluent visitors. For example, 29%
said they closely followed the 2008 attack of Mumbai’s Taj Hotel. 25% followed the
attack on an upscale mall in Nairobi, Kenya in 2013, and 20% followed the bombing of a
nightclub in Bali, Indonesia in 2002. Recent terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, Iraq and at a
Pakistan school didn’t make the list.
She Smokes? 22 Shocking Celebrity
Smokers
Recommended by
Promoted](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/d11b657c-bea0-47c9-8bcc-cd0698e11d99-160429013725/85/Briana-final-148-320.jpg)
![4/20/2016 Why did the world ignore Boko Haram's Baga attacks? | World news | The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/12/spbokoharamattacksnigeriabagaignoredmedia 2/3
“I am Charlie, but I am Baga too”
1I am Charlie, but I am Baga too,2 wrote Simon Allison for the Daily Maverick, a partner on
the Guardian Africa network. 1There are massacres and there are massacres2 he said,
arguing that 1it may be the st century, but African lives are still deemed less newsworthy
– and, by implication, less valuable – than western lives2.
Allison recognises the challenges in reporting – 1the nearest journalists are hundreds of
kilometres away2 – but also points to the significance of the attack: taking control of Baga,
1Boko Haram effectively controls Borno state in its entirety. These aren4t just terrorists:
they are becoming a de facto state.2 Even more reason for the world to take notice.
But the blame does not just lie with western media; there was little African coverage either,
said Allison. No leaders were condemning the attacks, nor did any talk of a solidarity
movement, he said, adding that 1our outrage and solidarity over the Paris massacre is also a
symbol of how we as Africans neglect Africa4s own tragedies, and prioritise western lives
over our own.2
Silence from Nigeria’s politicians
Many pointed to the palpable silence of many of Nigeria4s politicians. Last week, Nigeria4s
president, Goodluck Jonathan, expressed his condolences for the victims of France but
stayed silent on the Boko Haram attacks on Baga.
Media analyst Ethan Zuckerman said that the president is 1understandably wary of
discussing Boko Haram, as it reminds voters that the conflict has erupted under his
management and that his government has been unable to subdue the terror group2.
Nigeria4s elections are set to take place on February. The president was also criticised for
celebrating his niece Ine4s wedding over weekend, in the aftermath of the killings.
Elnathan John, a Nigerian writer and lawyer who has changed his Twitter identity to 1I am
Baga2 in solidarity, shared a tweet from Nigeria4s finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,
who also expressed condolences over the Paris attacks but made no mention of the events
in Baga.
He also pointed to comments on the official Twitter account of Ahmadu Adamu Muazu,
from the ruling People4s Democratic party, who looked to downplay the death toll: 1We
know it4s a political period so some of this [sic] things are expected2.
Muazu has since taken to the account again to say he has been working with the security
services to ensure that 1peace will soon be restored2 to the people in Baga and other
regions in the north-east of the country.
‘The west is ignoring Boko Haram’
Ignatius Kaigama, the Catholic archbishop of Jos in central Nigeria – an area which has also
suffered terror attacks – added his voice to criticism of the west.
Speaking to the BBC, he argued that Nigeria could not confront the threat from Boko Haram
alone. 1It is a monumental tragedy. It has saddened all of Nigeria. But... we seem to be](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/d11b657c-bea0-47c9-8bcc-cd0698e11d99-160429013725/85/Briana-final-189-320.jpg)
![4/21/2016 Ethiopia attack: 200 people dead, 100 children missing AJE News
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/04/ethiopiaattack200peopledead100childrenmissing160418045025770.html 1/23
Engagement: 55238
WAR & CONFLICT
Ethiopia attack: 200 people dead,
100 children missing
Death toll rises from cross-border cattle raid as government says more than 100
children were taken by attackers.
18 Apr 2016 15:04 GMT | War & Conflict, Africa, Ethiopia
Topics: Syria's Civil War US Election 2016 Middle East Ecuador
Afghanistan
Al-Aqsa 360: Inside Jerusalem
Take a tour of Islam's third holiest site
WATCH NOW
News
TV SCHEDULE
People & Power [IN 19 MIN.]
Nepal: After the Earthquake
How are people faring a year after the disaster?
NEWS PROGRAMMES OPINION INVESTIGATIONS
ABOUT
Watch Live](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/d11b657c-bea0-47c9-8bcc-cd0698e11d99-160429013725/85/Briana-final-207-320.jpg)
![4/21/2016 Ethiopia attack: 200 people dead, 100 children missing AJE News
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/04/ethiopiaattack200peopledead100childrenmissing160418045025770.html 2/23
Getachew earlier told Al Jazeera that his country's forces had killed 60 of the assailants [File Photo: Tiksa
Negeri/Reuters]
The death toll from a raid carried out by attackers from South Sudan in western
Ethiopia has risen to 208 people, an Ethiopian official said, adding that 108 children
were kidnapped.
By Sunday afternoon, the number had risen to "208 dead and 75 people wounded"
from a figure of 140 a day earlier, government spokesman Getachew Reda told the
Reuters news agency.
Women and children were among the dead, he said, adding that the assailants had
also taken 2,000 head of livestock.
"Ethiopian Defence Forces are taking measures. They are closing in on the
attackers," Getachew said.
The attack happened on Friday in the Horn of Africa nation's Gambela region which,
alongside a neighbouring province, hosts more than 284,000 South Sudanese
refugees who have fled a conflict in that country.
Getachew earlier told Al Jazeera that Ethiopian forces had killed 60 of the attackers
and would cross the border into South Sudan to pursue the assailants if necessary.
No government link
Crossborder cattle raids have happened in the same area in the past, often involving](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/d11b657c-bea0-47c9-8bcc-cd0698e11d99-160429013725/85/Briana-final-208-320.jpg)
![4/23/2016 Beirut Wonders if Some Terror Attacks Mean More Than Others | TIME
http://time.com/4113615/parisbeirutterrorattacks/ 2/3
It was a news item, to be sure, and
the worst bombing since Beirut’s civil
war ended in 1990, but one largely
reduced to geopolitics: The attack
was claimed by ISIS, or the Islamic
State, and it took place in a
neighborhood that was a stronghold
for Hizballah, which is fighting in
Syria on behalf of President Bashar
Assad, with backing from Iran.
International coverage didn’t dwell
on the fallout or the families left
behind, an omission that makes it
seem almost inevitable that it will
happen again.
Which brings us to the traumatic events in Paris on Friday night. Already the victims are
being named, their brief biographies sketched out in a way that makes this attack much
more personal. The venues are familiar, not just to me, but to thousands of tourists with
happy holiday memories of those streets and bars and clubs, and millions more around
the world who know Paris as the City of Love. Beirut is a cosmopolitan city of culture, but
not long after I arrived, I installed safety film on all my windows, to keep shards of glass
from raining down on me in the event of a bomb attack.
Much has been made of the disparity of coverage between two attacks, one day apart, and
claimed by the same terror group. I don’t know what algorithm Facebook uses to activate
its Safety Check feature, which allows users to mark themselves and others as safe in the
wake of tragedies, and why Beirut didn’t trigger it. (Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said
that SafetyCheck had only been activated in the past after natural disasters, but that
going forward it will be activated “for more human disasters going forward as well.”) The
Twittersphere has lobbed, justifiably in some cases, accusations of Western bias, or
worse, racism. “Dear Facebook,” @ktbradford tweeted. “Nice French flag overlay. But
how do I change my profile picture to show solidarity with the people of Beirut?”
Whatever the reasons—and there are many—for the disparity of global reaction, the
message that emerges from these twinned events is that some lives matter more than
others. ISIS is not just a French problem, or, if the ISIS claims to have downed the
Russian airliner in Egypt are verified, a Russian problem. It is not just a Lebanese
problem. Until there is some recognition that an ISIS attack on one country is an attack
on all, ISIS will be everybody’s problem—a problem that won’t be solved.
WITNESS PARIS MOURN THE DAY AFTER DEADLY ATTACKS
21 Child Celebrities Who Kept Their
Fame [Pictures]
Recommended by
Promoted](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/d11b657c-bea0-47c9-8bcc-cd0698e11d99-160429013725/85/Briana-final-212-320.jpg)
![4/25/2016 Triple terror: Up to 60 killed, 80 wounded, 3 car bombs explode in Syrian Christian town — RT News
https://www.rt.com/news/325568terrorattacktelltamersyria/ 2/5
Aftermath of the explosions in the village of Tal Tamer in
#Hasakah which took the lives of 30 people & wounded 100+
4:12 PM 10 Dec 2015
22 4
IraqiSuryani
@IraqiSuryani1
Follow
“We could understand if they [the terrorists] were fighting with YPG, but they are devastating our city, killing small children,
destroying houses… What right do they have [to do it]? They have no right to deprive us of our homes, to bereave children of their
fathers,” a woman said in a video filmed soon after the terrorist attacks and published on YouTube by the Ajansa Hawar ANHA
news agency.
“[Islamic State militants] are killing innocent people… This is not Islam, this is irreligion… They have no compassion, no humanism
and no feelings. They are barbarians and no single religion would accept them,” an elderly man said in the same video.
ﺗﻣﺭ ﺗﻝ ﻓ ﺫ ﻹﻧﻘ ﺕ ﻋﻣﻠ ﺭ ﺳﺗﻣﺭ Li Til Temir xebatên rizgarkirinê didomin
The Kurdish security force, blamed the attack on Islamic State ﴾IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL﴿ in a statement, Reuters reports. The town of
Tell Tamer is mainly controlled by Kurdish YPG fighters battling IS in this part of Syria.
Later on Friday, IS claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted online, saying three of its fighters driving separate
vehicles blew themselves up while targeting "bases" of Kurdish fighters in the town, according to Reuters.
The town, also home to an Assyrian Christian community, has become a target of numerous terror attacks and incursions by
Islamic State ﴾IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL﴿ militants over the last months.
2Three suicide car bombs exploded in KurdishAssyrian town of
curdistani
@curdistani
Follow](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/d11b657c-bea0-47c9-8bcc-cd0698e11d99-160429013725/85/Briana-final-216-320.jpg)
![4/25/2016 Triple terror: Up to 60 killed, 80 wounded, 3 car bombs explode in Syrian Christian town — RT News
https://www.rt.com/news/325568terrorattacktelltamersyria/ 3/5
2Three suicide car bombs exploded in KurdishAssyrian town of
Tall Tamir.Civilian deaths are being reported #Syria
2:45 PM 10 Dec 2015
27 5
In September, IS militants organized a series of deadly terror attacks in the town of Hasakah, which killed 39 and injured more
than 100. Terrorists targeted the headquarters of the Kurdish militia and pro‐government forces, but most of the victims were
civilians, according to TASS.
In February, IS terrorists took 200 local Christians hostage and also destroyed five local churches. This caused most of the
residents to flee to nearby Hasakah, the governorate’s capital city 600km from Damascus. Kurdish forces and local fighters have
temporarily joined forces with the Syrian Army and cleared the region of IS jihadists.
The Syrian conflict has taken the lives of more than 250,000 people, according to UN estimates. The humanitarian crisis has
internally displaced more than 6.5 million Syrians and forced 4.3 million to flee the country. They have sought refuge in
neighboring countries and Europe.
READ MORE: Middle East attacks on Christians cause for concern ‐ Russian ombudsman
From The Web by Taboola Sponsored Links
Salesforce
Money.com
Morning Finance | LendingTree Quotes
Yahoo
HelloFresh
Wired for Master & Dynamic
How Lead Nurturing Works. Get the Complete Guide
Grab This Social Security Benefit Now Before It Disappears
You're In For A Big Surprise in 2016 If You Own A Home in Michigan
All You Need to Know About Reverse Mortgages on Yahoo Search
This Service in East Lansing is Changing the Way People Cook at Home
Best Wireless Headphones Ever
See Also by Taboola Promoted Links
Salesforce
The ROI of Marketing Automation [EBook]
Posting rules FAQ](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/d11b657c-bea0-47c9-8bcc-cd0698e11d99-160429013725/85/Briana-final-217-320.jpg)
![[Critica] Facebook colectivism](https://cdn.slidesharecdn.com/ss_thumbnails/facebookcolectivism-110106083623-phpapp02-thumbnail.jpg?width=640&height=640&fit=bounds)
Briana final
- 1. Effects of WesternConceptualized Race on Media Coverage of Terrorist Attacks Briana Ramos Professor Louie ANP 330 Article Scrapbook
- 2. Table of Contents Introduction Bibliography Sub-ThemeOne: Media Coverage of Terrorist Attacks on Whites Entry One: (September 11, 2001) Reaction to 9/11 Write Up Full Version Entry Two: (December 27, 2008- January 18, 2009) The Impact of Media Bias on Coverage on Catastrophic Events: Case Study from the New York Times' Coverage of the Palestine/Israel Conflict Write Up Full Version Entry Three: (January 7, 2015) Why Charlie Hebdo Gets More Attention Than Boko Haram. Write Up Full Version Entry Four: (November 13, 2015) "Paris Attacks: How the World Is Showing Solidarity with France." Write Up Full Version Entry Five: (March 22, 2016) Pray for Brussels: What People Are Saying Online After the Attacks Write Up Full Version Sub- Theme Two: Media Coverage of Terrorist Attacks on Blacks Entry Six: (January 12, 2015) "Why Did the Media Ignore Boko Haram's Baga Attacks?" Write Up Full Version
- 3. Entry Seven: (April2, 2015) "Paris Attack Measured With Kenyan Garissa Attack." Write Up Full Version Entry Eight: (June 17, 2015) "Many Ask, Why Not Call Church Shooting Terrorism?" Write Up Full Version Entry Nine: (March 13, 2016) "Terrorists Kill 22 At Beach Resort, But Nobody Cares Because It Wasn't In U.S. or Europe." Write Up Full Version Entry Ten: (April 16, 2016) Ethiopia Attacks: 200 People Dead, 100 Children Missing Write Up Full Version Sub-Theme Three: Media Coverage of Terrorist Attacks on Arabs/Middle Easterners Entry Eleven: (November 12, 2015) "Beirut Wonders If Some Terror Attacks Mean More Than Others." Write Up Full Version Entry Twelve: (November 13, 2015) "Iraq: Suicide Bomb and Road Blast Kill 26 in Baghdad." Write Up Full Version Entry Thirteen: (December 11, 2015) "Triple Terror: Up to 60 Killed, 80 Wounded, 3 Car Bombs Explode in Syrian Christian Town." Write Up Full Version Entry Fourteen: (March 13, 2016) "Car Bomb in Turkish Capital Kills at Least 34." Write Up
- 4. Full Version Entry Fifteen:(April 19, 2016) "Taliban Assault Kills 28, Wounds 300 in Kabul." Write Up Full Version Appendices
- 5. Timeline September 11, 2001 NewYork, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania, United States (White) December 27, 2008- January 18, 2009 Israel (White) January 7, 2015 Paris, France (White) January 12, 2015 Baga, Nigeria (Black) April 2, 2015 Garissa, Kenya (Black) June 17, 2015 Charleston, South Carolina, United States (Black) November 12, 2015 Beirut, Lebanon (Arab) November 13, 2015 Paris, France (White) Baghdad, Iraq (Arab) December 11, 2015 Tell Tamer, Syria (Arab) March 13, 2016 Ankara, Turkey (Arab) Grand Bassam Beach, Ivory Coast (Black) March 22, 2016 Brussels, Belgium (White) April 16, 2016 Gambela region, Ethiopia (Black)
- 6. April 19, 2016 Kabul,Afghanistan (Arab) Source: Bagley, Pat. "Some Lives Matter More." Cartoon. The Salt Lake City Tribune. March 23, 2016. Accessed April 25, 2016. http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/3699683-155/bagley-cartoon-some-lives-matter-more. Source: Hammond, Sean Darling. Number of Articles About Three November Attacks. Digital image. The Nation. January 13, 2016. http://www.thenation.com/article/lives-fit-for-print-exposing-media-bias-in-coverage-of-terrorism/.
- 7. Ramos 1 Introduction Throughout myscrapbook project, many common themes continued to present themselves. One of these themes is the fact that the Western media is extremely biased in the manner in which it covers terrorist attacks around the globe. The amount of media attention victims of terrorist attacks receive is highly correlated to the race, ethnicity and the nationality the Western media perceives these victims to be of. The Western media covers the attacks against white Westerners in extensive detail, stating names of the victims, giving personal stories and showing pictures, which evoke empathy from the reader. The same attention to detail is not given to people who are perceived as black or Arab, even though they are victims of the same violent crimes, most of the time from the same perpetrators. In the majority of the Western media coverage of terrorist attacks against blacks or Arabs, the articles were short and to the point. They explained what happened with no personal details or images. This speaks to how much we, as Westerners, have become desensitized to terrorist attacks when they occur against non-Western, non-white people. Be ause e thi k they happe so ofte i other ou tries, it does t seem like as big of a deal when you hear a quick blurb about it on the news. Americans also have a tendency to when they think of different races or nationalities around the globe, lump all Africans or all Arabs together in one group. The reality is that Africans and Arabs come from a vastly diverse amount of countries, and what is happening in one country is most times not related at all to what is occurring in the neighboring country. The failure of Americans and Westerners to recognize this makes it so that when an attack happens in an Arab country, regardless of if an attack has happened in that country before, we think oh, it s just a other terrorist atta k i the Middle East, happe s all the ti e, further desensitizing and dehumanizing the situation. Another theme that kept appearing in my article write ups was the presence of social media solidarity when terrorist attacks against whites occurred. The solidarity shown via social media for the
- 8. Ramos 2 attack inBrussels and the two attacks in Paris were in sharp contrast to the lack of social media attention any terrorist attack received in predominately black or Arab areas of the world. Social media is a semi-new form of media, and it has been changing the way we talk about terrorist attacks and also the way the Western media responds. If the Western media sees that because of a few articles they wrote, the world is responding via social media, they will continue to write articles on that attack because people will read them. If the media sees little to no interest in the social media medium of a terrorist attack, most likely against blacks or Arabs, they will not run more stories on those attacks. This is a perpetuating cycle. Not only are we (the West) subject to reading biased Western media, we are further perpetuating the bias by posting about the subject of the Western media on our social media forums. For the most part, I attempted to include articles that have happened recently, especially ones that happened in different parts of the world at around the same time. I included a timeline at the bottom of the table of contents to attempt to illustrate how close in proximity the dates of many of these attacks are. For example, three terrorist attacks occurred on November 12th and 13th , 2015, and only one of those attacks (Paris), received widespread international and social media attention. I feel that this is the best possible way to show the drastic difference in media coverage based on races and nationality. In Sub-Theme One: Media Coverage of Terrorist Attacks on Whites, I chose to include two articles that did not occur within the last few years. I chose to include the thesis about Israel and the overrepresentation of Israeli deaths compared to Palestinian deaths because I think it really demonstrates in concrete examples what I have discovered throughout this scrapbook project. White lives are just valued more by the media and the global society as whole more than black or brown lives. I also chose to include an article about 9/11 because I feel that this was really when Islamophobia and the anti-Muslim rhetoric began to take hold in the United States and also around the globe. I think that this attack was such a huge story internationally because at that time the United States seemed
- 9. Ramos 3 untouchable. Onceit happened here, it opened the door for the possibility that it could happen anywhere in the world. In 2001 when these attacks occurred, social media was not yet in full swing, and the hashtag was not yet invented. I am sure that if the hashtag would have been around during this attack, it would have been trending for weeks. The hashtag could be argued to be the single most influential sign of solidarity on social media. Hashtags are a way to spread news quickly, in short, digestible news bytes that people can easily retweet or share and then move on with their lives. I feel that more and more people are solely getting their news from what is trending on Facebook and Twitter, so if only Western attacks are showing up as trending because of their hashtag, than all of those people will only know about the Western attacks. While hashtags sprang up after the Brussels and the two Paris terrorist attacks, hardly any hashtags were seen trending after any other terrorist attacks. The hashtag #JeSuisCharlie, used after the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris is actually one of the most popular hashtags of all time. After the Charlie Hebdo attacks, I saw photos of protesters holding signs that said: We are Charlie, but we are never Baga. This goes a long way in saying that we, as Westerners, are willing and able to empathize with victims when we can relate to them, and the attack makes us feel like, That could have been me . So while the creation of the hashtag has done many great things, until it is extended to people of all race and nationality, it will only perpetuate the structural inequality of our world and country. Another observation I made through compiling this scrapbook is that the term terrorism gets tossed around a lot in the media, and sometimes it might not always be the best way to describe a situation. The example I used to attempt to discuss this issue was Entry Eight, which talked about the killings of an all-black congregation in Charleston, South Carolina, perpetrated by a white male. While the media largely did not label this attack a terrorist attack and instead labeled it a hate crime or a
- 10. Ramos 4 massacre, thearticle I cited argued that it could be labeled a terrorist attack. The article quotes We ster s Ne World College Di tio ary a d defi es terrorism as the use of force or threats to demoralize, intimidate and subjugate, especially such use as a political weapon or policy. Under this definition, just about any attack could be classified as terrorism. The article argues that because the white male perpetrator had a badge on his jacket that symbolized South African apartheid, this could be taken as a political attack. However, since the perpetrator did not come out and say he did it for political reasons, as many terrorist attackers do, this could be a little stretch to label these attacks as a terrorist attacks. The pro le ith usi g the ord terroris i pla es here it should t e used is that o , because of 9/11 and other well-known, mostly Western terrorist attacks, terrorism is a very powerful word. Using the word evokes fear in the reader. When this word is used to describe certain groups of people over and over again (not in this case because terrorism is rarely used to describe actions of white males) it can cast a very negative light on that group. This is what has happened to Muslims, because currently many of the terrorist attacks occurring around the world, regardless of where, are perpetrated by extremist Muslims. We then make the assumption that all Arabs are Muslim, hence projecting these negative stereotypes onto all Arabs as well as Muslims. This is especially occurring in the United States, which is something we have talked about extensively in class. So, while I think that a case could be made to classify this attack in Charleston as a terrorist attack, I think that it should be done with extreme caution. In another article from The Nation, from which I cited the graphic in the table of contents, discussed why the attacks in Lebanon and Iraq did not get the same attention as the Paris attacks, which all occurred within two days of each other. On top of discussing the bias in the media and the bias of the consumer, the author also delves into the history of the conflicts. Part of the reason that predominantly black and Arab countries do not get the same attention could be because these conflicts have been ongoing in some of these countries, whereas they have not been ongoing in Western countries. When
- 11. Ramos 5 an attackoccurs in a Western country we are shocked, which is a result of our privilege. We, as Westerners, have the privilege to go through our daily lives without seeing violence and war. However some other non- Western, non-white countries do not have that privilege. The problems that many of these countries face do not have very easy solutions, which could be deterrence for news outlets to cover it. Media likes to cover a quick story and move on, which is easy to do with terrorist attacks against Westerners because of all the support they receive, it is easier for them to rebuild afterwards. But as the article says Just e ause there is o easy a s er, does t ea e should t pay atte tio . In fact, not paying attention could even worsen the conflict because the terrorists feel that they are not being heard. One of the main objectives of terrorism is to cause as much damage and get as much attention as possible. If they do not get the attention they think they deserve, they will continue to attack. One of the last things that really stood out to me while making this project is a quote from an article used in Entry Eleven which states At what point during the arc of covering a war waged by terror atta ks do e stop gi i g the a es a d details that ake the dead o e of us, a d start assig i g simple death counts that makes the dead one of the ? This is so intriguing to me. When do we make the shift from talking about Je Suis Charlie to nameless victims who are just part of a death toll number in a brief headline? How did it become okay for us to dehumanize people in this way? Will we ever get to the point where we value all human lives equally? I am going to argue that this will not happen until we change the language and discourse that is used to describe not only race but also the us vs. them mentality that race and nationality imposes on us. The West practices selective sympathy. Like I talked about before, this means that it is very easy for the West to feel bad for some, and not feel bad for others. In order to combat this global inequality, we must begin to re-humanize all people again. Once we realize that all terrorist attacks are terrible and deserve attention regardless of where or to which race it occurred to, only then can we begin to change the international media discussion around them.
- 12. Bibliography Entry One: History.com Staff."Reaction to 9/11." History.com. 2010. Accessed April 16, 2016. http://www.history.com/topics/reaction-to-9-11. Entry Two: Caballero, Jonas Xavier. "The Impact of Media Bias on Coverage on Catastrophic Events: Case Study from the New York Times' Coverage of the Palestine/Israel Conflict." Master's thesis, University of Pittsburg, 2010. Accessed April 16, 2016. http://d- scholarship.pitt.edu/7515/1/Caballero_2010.pdf. Entry Three: Alter, Charlotte. "Why Charlie Hebdo Gets More Attention Than Boko Haram." TIME, January 15, 2015. Accessed April 21, 2016. http://time.com/3666619/why-charlie-hebdo-gets-more- attention-than-boko-haram/. Entry Four: Wilkinson, Michael, Sally Biddall, and Lowenna Waters. "Paris Attacks: How the World Is Showing Solidarity with France." The Telegraph, November 15, 2015. Accessed April 16, 2016. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11995266/Paris-shooting-how- events-unfolded-on-social-media.html. Entry Five: Wendling, Mike. "'Pray for Brussels': What People Were Saying Online after Attacks - BBC News." BBC News. March 22, 2016. Accessed April 14, 2016. http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs- trending-35872170. Entry Six: Shearlaw, Maeve. "Why Did the Media Ignore Boko Haram's Baga Attacks?" The Guardian, January 12, 2015. January 12, 2015. Accessed April 20, 2016. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/12/-sp-boko-haram-attacks-nigeria-baga- ignored-media. Entry Seven: James, Christabell. "Paris Attack Measured With Kenyan Garissa Attack." BuzzKenya. November 18, 2015. Accessed April 22, 2016. http://buzzkenya.com/coverage-of-the-kenyan-garissa- attack-measured-with-the-paris-attack/. Entry Eight:
- 13. Gladstone, Rick. "ManyAsk, Why Not Call Church Shooting Terrorism?" The New York Times, June 18, 2015. June 18, 2015. Accessed April 20, 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/19/us/charleston-shooting-terrorism-or-hate- crime.html?_r=0. Entry Nine: David, M., and Shante Wooten. "Terrorists Kill 22 At Beach Resort, But Nobody Cares Because It Wasn't In U.S. or Europe." Counter Current News. March 24, 2016. Accessed April 22, 2016. http://countercurrentnews.com/2016/03/terrorists-22-at-beach-resort-but-nobody-cares- because-it-wasnt-in-u-s-or-europe/. Entry Ten: "Ethiopia Attack: 200 People Dead, 100 Children Missing." Aljazeera, April 18, 2016. Accessed April 21, 2016. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/04/ethiopia-attack-200-people-dead-100- children-missing-160418045025770.html. Entry Eleven: Baker, Aryn. "Beirut Wonders If Some Terror Attacks Mean More Than Others." TIME, November 15, 2015. Accessed April 23, 2016. http://time.com/4113615/paris-beirut-terror- attacks/. Entry Twelve: The Associated Press. "Iraq: Suicide Bomb and Road Blast Kill 26 in Baghdad." The New York Times, November 13, 2015. Accessed April 25, 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/14/world/middleeast/iraq-suicide-bomb-and-road-blast-kill- 26-in-baghdad.html?_r=0. Entry Thirteen: "Triple Terror: Up to 60 Killed, 80 Wounded, 3 Car Bombs Explode in Syrian Christian Town." Reuters, December 11, 2015. Accessed April 25, 2016. https://www.rt.com/news/325568- terror-attack-telltamer-syria/. Entry Fourteen: Ansari, Azadeh, and Gul Tuysuz. "Car Bomb in Turkish Capital Kills at Least 34." CNN. March 14, 2016. Accessed April 24, 2016. http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/13/world/ankara-park-blast/. Entry Fifteen: Onyanga-Omara, Jane, and John Bacon. "Taliban Assault Kills 28, Wounds 300 in Kabul." USA Today, April 19, 2016. Accessed April 25, 2016.
- 14.
- 15. Sub-Theme One: MediaCoverage of Terrorist Attacks on Whites
- 16. Close Shows (http://www.history.com/shows) Videos (http://www.history.com/videos) Schedule(http://www.history.com/schedule) Topics (http://www.history.com/topics) Shop (http://www.shophistorystore.com/? utm_source=history&utm_medium=globalshoptab&utm_campaign=history) This day in history (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history) News (http://www.history.com/news) Ask History (http://www.history.com/ask-history) History Lists (http://www.history.com/history-lists) Hungry History (http://www.history.com/hungry-history) Speeches & Audio (http://www.history.com/speeches) Email Updates (http://www.history.com/emails) REACTION TO 9/11 OPEN We know you love history. Sign up for more! SIGN ME UP () ()
- 17. Entry One WriteUp Reaction to 9/11 by History.com Staff When: September 11, 2001. Where: World Trade Center, New York City, New York. Pentagon, Washington D.C. Shanksville, Pennsylvania, United States. Perpetrator: Al- Qaeda Outcome: 2,996 died, more than 6,000 wounded. This is an article about the reaction to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States from both an international and domestic point of view. This article was published on History.com, which is a popular news source as well as television channel. This channel is known for being historically accurate. The main argument of this article argues that when these attacks occurred, the whole world came together in solidarity for the American people. While there were some groups who did not support the United States, like Hamas from the Palestinian Authority and Reverend Jerry Falwell from the TV show The 700 Club , the majority of the world mourned for the loss of lives. Media coverage of this event was extensive all over the world. Some international media coverage included a headline in the French newspaper Le Monde which stated, Today, We Are All Americans. Several international leaders came out in support of the United States, which was all extensively covered by the media, including the Russian president Vladmir Putin, the German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and the Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien. While these events were of course not the first ever terrorist attacks, they could be argued to be the first terrorist attacks that received immense Western media coverage. These events spurred the terrorism fear and Islamophobia that we are currently experiencing today. Some reasons why these events warranted so much media coverage and international solidarity are because the United States was seen as untouchable since the end of World War II, the United States is a world superpower, and of course because the majority of the United “tates’ population is white. Other forms of international support were shown through candlelight vigils, donations and flowers piled up at U.S. Embassies in countries all over the world. The American National Anthem was sung at the changing of the guards in Buckingham Palace, England and the Christ the Redeemer Statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was shown on billboards all over the country to be holding up the city of New York City. All of these things do not happen when terrorist attacks are committed against countries whose population is not majority white. Additional facts source: Plumer, Brad. "Nine Facts about Terrorism in the United States since 9/11." Washington Post. September 11, 2013. Accessed April 16, 2016. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/09/11/nine-facts-about-terrorism-in-the- united-states-since-911/.
- 18. THE IMPACT OFMEDIA BIAS ON COVERAGE OF CATASTROPHIC EVENTS: CASE STUDY FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES’ COVERAGE OF THE PALESTINE/ISRAEL CONFLICT by Jonas Xavier Caballero Submitted to the Faculty of University Honors College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2010
- 19. Entry Two WriteUp The Impact of Media Bias on Coverage on Catastrophic Events: Case Study from the New York Times' Coverage of the Palestine/Israel Conflict When: December 27, 2008- January 18, 2009. Where: The Gaza Strip and Southern Israel. Perpetrator: Hamas. Outcome: More than 1,400 Palestinians died and at least 6,000 wounded. 13 Israelis died and at least 4 wounded. This is a thesis written by Jonas Xavier Caballero for the University of Pittsburg. In his thesis he argues that the American media, he specifically studied the New York Times, is extremely biased in the way they present the Palestine/Israeli conflict to the American public. In his thesis he chooses to focus on Operation Cast Lead, which was carried out from December 27, 2008 until January 18, 2009. Operation Cast Lead was an Israeli bombardment and blockade of the Gaza strip in response to terrorist attacks from the Palestinian party Hamas. These terrorist attacks were in the form of rockets shot into southern Israel. While this event is different than the rest of the terrorist attacks noted in this project, the reason I am including it is because Israel continues to define Hamas as a terrorist group, a d defi es the 13 Israeli’s killed i this o fli t as i ti s of terrorism, not of war. In his thesis, Caballero examined 91 articles from the New York Times which were written during this conflict. He discovered that Although Palestinians died at a rate 106 times more than Israelis, the New York Times engaged in a practice of media bias that resulted in coverage of only 3% of Palestinian deaths in the headlines and first paragraphs. When he analyzed the content of the articles, he found that they covered 431% of the 13 Israeli deaths and only 17% of the 1,400 Palestinian deaths. This means that for every one article about a Palestinian death, there were 25 articles about an Israeli death. This is a prime example of the media reporting on the view that white lives matter more than, in this case, brown lives. If during this time Americans only news source was the New York Times, it is easy to see how the American public would assume that more atrocities were occurring to Israelis and not the Palesti ia s. This ould the ake the less i li ed to elie e that the Israeli’s are capable of things such as terrorism against the Palestinians because they have only seen messages of Israelis being portrayed as the victims. Additional facts source: Amnesty International Report 2010: State of the World's Human Rights. Report. May 27, 2010. Accessed April 16, 2016. https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/pol10/001/2010/en/.
- 20. 4/21/2016 Why Charlie Hebdo Gets More Attention Than Boko Haram | TIME http://time.com/3666619/whycharliehebdogetsmoreattentionthanbokoharam/ 1/3 IDEASNIGERIA Why Charlie Hebdo Gets More Attention Than Boko Haram Charlotte Alter @charlottealter Jan. 15, 2015 RECOMMENDED FOR YOU Charlotte Alter covers women, culture, politics and breaking news for TIME in New York City. Americans care a lot about attacks that seem like they could happen to them A series of attacks, both in the name of Islamist extremism, occur in the same week. Three linked attacks kill 17 in Paris, another kills at least 150 in Nigeria (but perhaps up to 2,000). Guess which one gets most of our attention? Many are calling the Jan. 7 attack on the office of Charlie Hebdo an attack on freedom of speech, or even an assault on Western values as a whole. Yet elsewhere in the world, those same values are being threatened by other extremists who want to spread fundamentalism. I’m talking, of course, about Boko Haram, the Islamist terrorist group in Nigeria that kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from their dorm last spring, murdered up to 2,000 civilians in Baga last week (although the bodies have not yet been officially counted), and over the weekend used a 10year old girl as a suicide bomber to kill at least 16 people at a market (two other young girls wearing suicide vests killed three people in a separate attack.) These attacks aren’t just brutal, they’re also part of a larger assault on freedom of religion and democracy, since the group targets Christians, nonMuslims, and anybody suspected of opposing their efforts to establish an African caliphate. Baga was reportedly perceived to have loyalties to the Nigerian government instead of Boko Haram, and the attack comes Aminu Abubakar—AFP/Getty Images A man injured in a suicide blast is transported to the General Hospital in the northeast town of Potiskum, Nigeria on Jan, 12, 2015. Watch Justin Trudeau Explain Quantum Computing to a Sarcastic… The 15 Best Historically Black Colleges and Universities Watch Queen Elizabeth's Most Iconic Moments
- 21. Entry Three WriteUp "Why Charlie Hebdo Gets More Attention than Boko Haram" When: January 7, 2015. Where: Charlie Hebdo magazine and other places, Paris, France. Perpetrator: French citizens describing themselves as members of Al-Qaeda. Outcome: 12 died, 5 wounded. This is an opinion article published by TIME magazine, which is a popular American magazine but is also known for publishing articles about political and social issues. In this article, the author examines why the attacks on Charlie Hebdo mattered more to the Western media (the United States in particular) than the Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria just a few days later. Charlie Hebdo is a satirical magazine which often publishes satirical cartoons about the Islamic prophet Muhammad. In response to these cartoons, two French citizens describing themselves as members of Al- Qaeda attacked the magazine office, killing 12 people. This attack caused major global outrage, spurring claims of Western values being attacked, like the right to freedom of speech. A prominent hashtag appeared to support the magazine, #JeSuisCharlie, or #WeAreCharlie and has become one of the most popular hashtags on Twitter of all time. Thousands of people showed up to march in the streets of Paris, including 40 world leaders. News about the attack appeared in the headlines of the New York Times every day in the week after the attack, but the attacks in Baga, Nigeria, which occurred only five days later, never appeared on the front page. The response to the attacks was overwhelming, and greatly overshadowed the Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria, despite the drastic difference in the number of deaths. (See Entry Six). The author of this article proposes several reasons why the Western media seems to care more about the Charlie Hebdo attacks than the Boko Haram attacks. One reason is because Americans seem to care more about the attacks that seem like they could happen to them. Because the United States is a predominantly white, developed country, it would be more likely for a terrorist attack to occur at a magazine instead of a village like in Nigeria. An interviewee in the article said The psychological distance between us and France is smaller than the psychological difference between us and Nigeria. By making Nigerian and all black lives the other it is easier for Americans to think that something like that could never happen to them. Another quote from the article is When terrorists kill villagers in non- Western countries, it feels like one of many bad things that happen to poor people in far-away places. When terrorists attack Western cities Americans might live in, hotels Americans might stay in or nightclubs Americans might dance in, it feels like a bad thing that could happen to you. This is very similar to how I think racism is perpetuated in our society. Because racism never affects white people, they feel like it will never happen to them. It is only when rare racist acts against whites happen that whites begin to feel like maybe there is such a thing as racism, or as many people call it reverse racism .
- 22.
- 23. Entry Four WriteUp Paris attacks: How the world is showing solidarity with France . When: November 13, 2015. Where: Bataclan Theatre and other locations, Paris, France. Perpetrator: ISIS Outcome: 130 died and 368 wounded. This is an article written by The Telegraph, a popular United Kingdom news source. I think that in doing a project that is about the Western media, it is important to include news sources outside of the United States. This article is similar to the Brussels article (See Entry Five) in that it focuses mainly on media reaction to the Paris terrorist attacks via social media. It could be argued that the Paris attacks are one of the terrorist attacks that have received some of the most media attention, especially on social media. Some symbols that were used in order to express solidarity with Paris during this attack were a peace sign with the Eiffel Tower at the center as well as the still popular today Facebook filter which enabled people to place the French flag colors on top of their profile pictures. This is something that was very popular on my own Facebook news feed, and many people still have this as their profile picture today, five months later. Facebook also enabled the use of the safety check function, so people in Paris could tell all of their Facebook friends they were safe. This was previously only used after natural disasters, and has not been used in any terrorist attack since the Paris attack. A hashtag that was used after the attack was #PourteOuverte, #OpenDoor in French, which was a means to offer a safe place to stay in Paris after the attacks. One of the most astounding showings of support around the world after the attacks was the buildings around the world that displayed the colors of the French flag as a showing of solidarity. Some monuments that participated in this display of solidarity were the London Eye and the Tower Bridge in the United Kingdom and the Empire State Building in New York. According to this article, many world leaders also came out condemning the attack and showing support for France, which is not always the case in non-Western, non-white countries. Some of those leaders included the Prime Minister of Greece, Great Brittan and Australia, the Queen of England, the Chancellor of Germany and many other prominent political figures. Notice that all of these leaders are from predominantly white countries. While this is not to say that there were no leaders of predominantly non-white countries who issued a statement about the Paris attacks, this article in particular does not mention them. This goes to show that not only do the Western media pick what terrorist attack to cover, but it also picks whose voice is heard when expressing solidarity with the Western countries. Predominantly non-white countries are continually excluded from media coverage, even if it is just in the comments. (See Entries Eleven and Twelve for a comparison to Arab terrorist attacks which occurred around the same time.) Additional facts source:
- 24. "Paris Attacks DeathToll Rises to 130." RTÉ, November 20, 2015. Accessed April 20, 2016. http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/1120/747897-paris/.
- 25.
- 26. Entry Five WriteUp Pray for Brussels: What People Are Saying Online After the Attacks . When: March 22, 2016. Where: Airport and train station in Brussels, Belgium. Perpetrator: ISIS Outcome: 34 died, 190 wounded. This is a blog article by Mike Wendling that I obtained from the popular news source BBC. In this news article they show a multitude of different ways in which people from around the world were showing their support for the victims of the Brussels terrorist attacks which occurred on March 22, 2016. This article shows that many people heard about this terrorist attack and wanted to show solidarity with Brussels afterwards. Many of the signs of support came via social media. Some examples given in the article are the fact that the hashtag #Brussels, spelled in several different languages, and #PrayForBrussels was trending on Twitter immediately following the attacks. Several cartoons linking the Paris terrorist attacks and Brussels were shared. Also shared were images of the Belgium flag and images containing the colors of the Belgium flag. Many pictures were also shared on social media outlets of chalked messages outside of the Belgium stock exchange, which sprung up in a spontaneous tribute to the victims. While the events that happened in Brussels were terrible and no one should ever try to discount that, they received much more attention than they would have had they been carried out in a non- Western, non-white country. Instantly after the attacks happened, it was broadcasted on every Western media news outlet and was trending on Twitter. People chose to share pictures which linked it to another Western, white country, France. This access to media as well as international solidarity and assistance is a product of white privilege on a global scale. It is much easier for a city to rebuild and get back on track after an atrocity like this occurs if they have the support and empathy of the entire world. Additional facts source: John, Tara, Katie Reilly, and Charlotte McDonald-Gibson. "What To Know About the Brussels Terrorist Attacks." Time. March 22, 2016. Accessed April 14, 2016. http://time.com/4267339/brussels-terrorist- attacks-latest/.
- 27. Sub- Theme Two:Media Coverage of Terrorist Attacks on Blacks
- 28. 4/20/2016 Why did the world ignore Boko Haram's Baga attacks? | World news | The Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/12/spbokoharamattacksnigeriabagaignoredmedia 1/3 Whydid the world ignore Boko Haram's Baga attacks? As media coverage focused on the Paris terror attacks last week, more than 2000 Nigerians were reported to have been killed by Islamist militants. What makes one massacre more newsworthy than another? Maeve Shearlaw Monday 12 January 2015 08.44 EST France spent the weekend coming to terms with last week4s terror attacks in Paris that left dead. The country mourned, and global leaders joined an estimated . million people on its streets to march in a show of unity. In Nigeria, another crisis was unfolding, as reports came through of an estimated , casualties after an attack by Boko Haram militants on the town of Baga in the north-eastern state of Borno. Amnesty International described as the terror group4s 1deadliest massacre2 to date, and local defence groups said they had given up counting the bodies left lying on the streets. Reporting in northern Nigeria is notoriously difficult; journalists have been targeted by Boko Haram, and, unlike in Paris, people on the ground are isolated and struggle with access to the internet and other communications. Attacks by Boko Haram have disrupted connections further, meaning that there is an absence of an online community able to share news, photos and video reports of news as it unfolds. But reports of the massacre were coming through and as the world4s media focused its attention on Paris, some questioned why events in Nigeria were almost ignored. On Twitter, Max Abrahms, a terrorism analyst, tweeted: 1It4s shameful how the K people killed in Boko Haram4s biggest massacre gets almost no media coverage.2 Musician Nitin Sawhney said: 1Very moving watching events in Paris – wish the world media felt equally outraged by this recent news too.2 1Mom Blogger2 @Mom asked: 1How is this not the lead story on every single news network, every Twitter newsfeed right now?2 That sentiment was echoed by a number of Guardian readers over the weekend. So why did the Paris attacks receive more coverage than the Boko Haram killings?
- 29. Entry Six WriteUp "Why Did the Media Ignore Boko Haram's Baga Attacks?" When: January 12, 2015. Where: Baga, Nigeria. Perpetrator: Boko Haram Outcome: 2,000 died. This is an article published by The Guardian, which is a news source, based out of the United Kingdom, which is known for covering topics the mass media usually does not. In this article it talks about how the attacks on the city of Baga, Nigeria were not covered nearly as much as the attacks on Charlie Hebdo in Paris (See Entry Three), which occurred in the same week. The attack on Baga killed early 2,000 people, a d a ordi g to A esty I ter atio al as Boko Hara ’s deadliest attack to date. The article states that one reason this attack was reported on less than the one in Paris could be because in Nigeria, journalists have been targeted by the terrorist group Boko Haram, and unlike Paris, people on the ground are isolated and struggle with access to the internet and other communications. However this does not mean that no news makes it out of Nigeria. The media was well aware of this attack and chose to focus on another attack instead. The article also describes how it was not just the Wester edia’s failure to o er the attacks; it was also the African media and African politicians as well. The Nigerian president expressed his condolences for France, but said absolutely nothing about what had happened in his own country. There were some hashtags used on social media to show solidarity after this event, some including #BagaTogether and #WeAreAll Baga, but they were drastically out shadowed by the outpouring of hashtags and social media solidarity with the victims of the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris. Simon Allison, who is a partner in The Guardian African Network, is quoted in the article as saying that It may be the 21st century, but African lives are still deemed less newsworthy – and, by implication, less valuable – than western lives . He also addresses the fact that leaders in Africa also took little notice of the attack, saying that our Afri a’s outrage and solidarity over the Paris massacre is also a sy ol of ho e as Afri a s egle t Afri a’s o tragedies, a d prioritise ester li es o er our own. This is such an interesting concept, and goes to show how the prioritization of white Western lives goes much farther than just what we read in our daily news. This is something that has been shown in countless studies, and we even talked about a similar example in class. In class we discussed an American Girl Doll study and how every young girl in the study, regardless of her race, was more likely to purchase a broken white American Girl Doll than a perfectly fine black American Girl Doll. This draws many parallels to the above quote by Allison. Even though Western media is broken and does not report on the African stories as equally as the Western stories, all people, regardless of race, are more likely to only consume Western media news sources.
- 30. 4/22/2016 Paris Attack Measured With Kenyan Garissa Attack http://buzzkenya.com/coverageofthekenyangarissaattackmeasuredwiththeparisattack/ 1/14 Search.. FollowUs SOCIAL SHARING CORD Statement On How It Will Punish Eurobond Misappropriation Ex- Slave And Ex- Master Oddly Turn Couple On $20 Bill LATEST NEWS Robert Mugabe: Bodyguards Avoid Another Trouble At All Cost READ MORE ‘Doom’ Looms For Kenya Despite ICC Terminating Cases Against Kenyan Leaders READ MORE Ugandan Academic Stella Nyanzi Goes Nude In Protest TOP NEWS ENTERTAINMENT POLITICS LIFE & STYLE +MORE +ABOUT Advertisement BREAKING NEWS CORD Statement On How It Will Punish Eurobond Misappropriation Everything Else Coverage Of The Kenyan Garissa Attack Measured With The Paris Attack Post by Christabell James on 18 Nov 2015 On April 2nd 2015, Al-Qaeda a甇liate known as Al- Shabaab stormed Garissa University College in Garissa, Kenya, killing 147 people, and leaving more than 79 people injured. The militant group shot randomly killing innocent students and civilians and it was clearly the biggest carnage the
- 31. Entry Seven WriteUp "Paris Attack Measured With Kenyan Garissa Attack." When: April 2, 2015. Where: Garissa University College, Garissa, Kenya. Perpetrador: Al- Shabaab, Al- Qaeda afíliate. Outcome: 147 died, 79 wounded. This article is from a Kenyan news source called BuzzKenya. I thought that it was important in this project to bring in articles from the country the terrorist attack occurred in, in order to more properly understand the view of the country itself on this attack. This article not only discusses the terrorist attacks on university students at Garissa University College, but it also draws comparison to the Paris attacks and how the media coverage is not nearly the same. On April 2, 2015 Al-Shabaab, an Al- Qaeda affiliate, invaded Garissa University College in Garissa, Kenya and shot randomly, killing innocent students and civilians. This article claims that media coverage of this event ceased the day after the attack, whereas attacks on Western countries are covered by the media for week after week. The article also laments that shortly afterwards President Obama went to Kenya after the attack; there were many international concerns for his safety. The media made it seem like terrorism was something only Kenya had experienced and that attacks like that occurred all the time in Kenya. It made it seem like it was unsafe for people of importance to visit the country. Other unfair media treatment for this conflict could also include the lack of a Kenyan flag Facebook filter alongside the French flag Facebook filter. This is a e a ple that is er ear a d dear to ollege stude t’s hearts. Garissa U i ersit College is just like Michigan State University. It is not unheard of, dare I say frequent, that an active shooter could come into a classroom and start randomly shooting like they did in Kenya. While Al- Shabaab seemed to attempt to pick their victims based on religion, for the most part it was random, just like it would be here. For me, it is easy to imagine myself in the shoes of one of the Kenyan students, because I do not think we are that far off from situations like that here in the United States. However, there is one major difference between the United States and Kenya. Should an active shooter situation/terrorist attack happen at MSU, we have access to emergency help, officers who are extensively trained to handle situations like that, access to medical care should we survive the incident and also access to the media. With access to the media, we would be able to get our story out to the orld, a d o dou t, the glo al support ould o e pouri g i . We ould ’t eed to orr a out being forgotten if another similar attack happened in a country soon afterwards where the majority of the population just so happened to have white skin. This is the privilege we have living in the United States.
- 32. 4/20/2016 Many Ask, Why Not Call Church Shooting Terrorism? The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/19/us/charlestonshootingterrorismorhatecrime.html?_r=0 1/3 http://nyti.ms/1dNeAWt U.S. Many Ask, Why Not Call Church Shooting Terrorism? By RICK GLADSTONEJUNE 18, 2015 The massacre of nine AfricanAmericans in Charleston has been classified as a possible hate crime, apparently carried out by a 21yearold white man who once wore an apartheid badge and other symbols of white supremacy. But many civil rights advocates are asking why the attack has not officially been called terrorism. Against the backdrop of rising worries about violent Muslim extremism in the United States, advocates see hypocrisy in the way the attack and the man under arrest in the shooting have been described by law enforcement officials and the news media. Assaults like the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 and the attack on an antiIslamic gathering in Garland, Tex., last month have been widely portrayed as acts of terrorism carried out by Islamic extremists. Critics say, however, that assaults against AfricanAmericans and Muslim Americans are rarely if ever called terrorism. Moreover, they argue, assailants who are white are far less likely to be described by the authorities as terrorists. “We have been conditioned to accept that if the violence is committed by a
- 33. Entry Eight WriteUp "Many Ask, Why Not Call Church Shooting Terrorism?" When: June 17, 2015. Where: Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Perpetrator: Dylann Roof, 21 year old white male. Outcome: 9 died. This is an article by Rick Gladstone published in The New York Times. The New York Times is a reputable American news source, but as discussed in Entry Two, can be biased in the way it presents the information to its audience. In this article, the author describes the attacks on the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, a predominantly African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina. The author addresses concerns that this was an act of terrorism, but because the victims of this tragedy were black and not white, it is not called an act of terrorism. Instead people look to make excuses for the perpetrator like attributing the attack to mental illness or calling it a hate crime or a massacre instead. The article mentions that the perpetrator had an apartheid flag on his jacket. A person quoted in the article says that if a Muslim were to wear an ISIS flag on his jacket, he ould ’t even make it past mall security . Ho e e , do ’t these t o flags ha e e y si ila ea i g i A e i a so iety today? The a ti le uotes We ste ’s New World College Dictionary and defines terrorism as the use of force or threats to demoralize, intimidate and subjugate, especially such use as a political weapon or policy. Many people interviewed for the article claim that this attack is a terrorist attack, and is not recognized as one because the perpetrator was white and the victims all black. The fact that Dylann Roof had the apartheid flag on his jacket adds a political aspect to this attack, just as an ISIS flag would indicate that an attack was done for political factors, as mentioned earlier. The political aspect of an attack is what makes it able to fit into the definition of terrorism. Ever since 9/11, Americans have been so focused on making Islam the other and the enemy that we forget that terrorism comes from all colors. When the media constantly bombards us with images of Islamophobia, it is easy to think that the only terrorism comes from radical Muslims. This is a dangerous and very powerful tool the media has at their disposal that has the power to shape the way terrorism from different races is perceived and ultimately the punishment and reparations that are given to the perpetrators after attacks. Additional facts source: "Charleston Shooting." CBSNews. Accessed April 20, 2016. http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/charleston-south-carolina-church-shooting/
- 34.
- 35. Entry Nine WriteUp "Terrorists Kill 22 At Beach Resort, But Nobody Cares Because It Wasn't In U.S. or Europe." When: March 13, 2016. Where: Grand Bassam Beach, Ivory Coast. Perpetrator: Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Outcome: 22 died, including the 6 gunmen. This article is from a news site called Counter Current News. This news site seems to be a forum where anyone can submit their article to the team of Counter Current News, who then review it and decide if it should be published on the website or not. While this is not a legitimate news site, it is a place where anyone can give their opinions on topics that the Western media does not give as much coverage to, which I think is also important to include in a project like this. While it may not be exactly accurate, it still offers viewpoints from the common global citizen. Some examples of the topics included in this website are Race and Ethnicity, Activism, and World News. In this particular article, the authors highlight that while this attack happened right before the Brussels terrorist attack, it did not receive nearly as much attention as Brussels (See Entry Five). The authors blame this on the Western media s attempts to only highlight the deaths of Europeans and Americans, even though the perpetrators of the violence are affiliates of the same group. The article also points out that ISIS and affiliated groups kill more African and Muslim lives than any other group, but most of the world probably does not know this because of the difference in media coverage. According to the article, this feeds i to a Musli s are agai st us mentality, when in fact what we are facing is an imperialist terrorist cult, that targets Muslims more than any other group of people. During the attack, members of AQIM stormed the Grand Bassam Beach and randomly shot at all the people who were enjoying the coast. They killed 22 people; four of those were westerners, one from France and one from Germany. The article also makes a point to quote the Associated Press in saying that no U.S. citizens were targeted or harmed. The authors then go on to describe what happened through eyewitness accounts, further explaining the atrocities and posing the question to the readers at the end: Why do you think these attacks not receiving much attention in the Western media? The atrocities committed seemed to be on the same level as some of the other attacks, but this was just not o a yo e s radar whe it happe ed, ot to e tio there were absolutely o hashtags or Facebook filters for the Ivory Coast. Not only was this not covered by the mass media, but I am sure that many Americans and Westerners did not even know that the Ivory Coast was a country. Americans tend to think of Africa as one single country with absolutely no diversity. There is also a stigma when Africa is mentioned in American conversations as it being a third world, filthy place. I feel that these thoughts were, and still are, transferred to African Americans living in the United States today. This only perpetuates negative stereotypes of African Americans and Africans, and perpetuates the structural racial inequality we see today. (See Entry Fourteen for the attack that occurred the same day in Turkey).
- 36. 4/21/2016 Ethiopia attack: 200 people dead, 100 children missing AJE News http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/04/ethiopiaattack200peopledead100childrenmissing160418045025770.html 1/23 Engagement: 55238 WAR & CONFLICT Ethiopia attack: 200 people dead, 100 children missing Death toll rises from cross-border cattle raid as government says more than 100 children were taken by attackers. 18 Apr 2016 15:04 GMT | War & Conflict, Africa, Ethiopia Topics: Syria's Civil War US Election 2016 Middle East Ecuador Afghanistan Al-Aqsa 360: Inside Jerusalem Take a tour of Islam's third holiest site WATCH NOW News TV SCHEDULE People & Power [IN 19 MIN.] Nepal: After the Earthquake How are people faring a year after the disaster? NEWS PROGRAMMES OPINION INVESTIGATIONS ABOUT Watch Live
- 37. Entry Ten WriteUp "Ethiopian Attacks: 200 Dead, 100 Children Missing . When: April 16, 2016. Where: Gambela region, Ethiopia. Perpetrator: South Sudanese gunmen. Outcome: 208 died, 75 wounded, 100 children missing. This is a short informative article published by the popular world news source, Al Jazeera. While Al Jazeera is not very popular in the United States, it is popular around the world for reporting on things the Western media usually does not report on. This article briefly informed the reader of an attack that occurred in the Gambela region of Ethiopia just this last week. South Sudanese gunmen crossed the border of Ethiopia, killed 208 people, kidnapped 100 children and stole 2,000 heads of livestock. The article gives some background on the situatio , e plai i g that “outh “uda ’s feudi g sides had just sig ed a pea e agree e t a ear efore due to i ter atio al pressure fro NGO’s like the United Nations. While cattle raids (not always with human deaths and never with this many deaths) happened before the peace agreement, it is thought that this attack is not affiliated with the South Sudanese government. The article also mentions that the area that was attacked is populated with over 284,000 South Sudanese refugees. While there is not much information given in the article, this was the most substantive article I could find on the attack from a credible source. Most of the sources that wrote anything about this attack are non-credible, non-Western sources. I personally have not seen this splayed across news headlines or showing up in my Facebook newsfeed. While the article does not call this attack a terrorist attack , I think that based off the definitions of terrorist attacks I have already discussed, this would fit perfectly. This attack was meant to cause widespread harm, possibly to the refugees who had fled from the conflict in South Sudan in the first place. If that were the case, then that would be a political motive. One thing about this attack that sticks out to me the most is the fact that there were 100 children taken, and the Western media is staying silent. If this attack had occurred in a Western, predominately white country, this would be all over the news and the Western governments would not stop until they found the missing children. I think that this attack is perhaps the most prominent example of how white lives matter more than black lives not only in the United States, but also all over the world. It makes me think back to a discussion we had in class where we talked about the political movement, #BlackLivesMatter. We talked about how #AllLivesMatter should not be used because this movement is about black lives, not everyone else. In the video we watched with a Black Lives Matter activist, he said that others (whites) need to use their privilege to help elevate la k people’s voi es. This is so ethi g that I thi k is not only needed to help blacks in the United States, but is needed to help elevate black peoples voices all around the world, especially in cases like this where their story is simply not being told.
- 38. Sub-Theme Three: MediaCoverage of Terrorist Attacks on Arabs/Middle Easterners
- 39. 4/23/2016 Beirut Wonders if Some Terror Attacks Mean More Than Others | TIME http://time.com/4113615/parisbeirutterrorattacks/ 1/3 IDEASPARIS ATTACKS Beirut Wonders if Some Terror Attacks Mean More Than Others Aryn Baker @arynebaker Nov. 15, 2015 RECOMMENDED FOR YOU Aryn Baker is TIME’s Africa correspondent. She lives in Cape Town, and was previously based for TIME in Beirut, Lebanon as Middle East Bureau Chief, and in Kabul and Islamabad as the Pakistan/Afghanistan correspondent. She started with TIME in Hong Kong in 2001. Over 40 died in Beirut in an ISIS terror attack a day before the Paris strikes, but Lebanese victims haven't gotten the same attention I’m not much of a mathematician, but back when I was a correspondent in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the middle 2000s, I tried to make sense of the barrage of terror attacks by developing my own little algorithm. I called it Taliban math. The first suicide bombing—in a market, in a capital city, in a school—was international news. In order for the next bombing to make a story, the number of dead had to be exponentially higher. I tried to pin down a ratio: how many Pakistani or Afghan dead would it take to generate the same newsworthiness as the death of an American? At what point during the arc of covering a war waged by terror attacks do we stop giving the names and details that make the dead one of “us,” and start assigning simple death counts that makes the dead one of “them?” I thought about that this week as terror attacks unfurled in both Beirut, where I was based from 2010 to 2014, and Paris, where I lived in the late 1990s. The Beirut bombings, on Nov. 12, killed 43. A pair of motorcyclemounted suicide bombers left a further 200 injured. Bilal Hussein—AP Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of Thursday's twin suicide bombings in Burj al-Barajneh, southern Beirut, Lebanon on Nov. 13, 2015. How Lin Manuel Miranda Survived His 20s Why Is Passover Food So Expensive? Watch Amy Schumer and Jimmy Fallon Play 'Explain This Photo'
- 40. Entry Eleven WriteUp "Beirut Wonders If Some Terror Attacks Mean More Than Others." When: November 12, 2015. Where: Beirut, Lebanon. Perpetrator: ISIS. Outcome: 43 died, over 200 wounded. This is another article from TIME magazine in the Ideas section. In the article, the author talks a out ho she used to e a orrespo de t i Afgha ista a d Pakista duri g the iddle 2000 s, a d how she developed an algorithm to determine which terrorist attacks would be covered by the media. She called it Taliban Math . She explained how the first attacks always received international attention, but after that in order for the attacks to continue to receive attention the death toll must be significantly higher than the first. She posed the question: At what point during the arc of covering a war waged by terror attacks do we stop giving the names and details that ake the dead o e of us, and start assigning simple death counts that akes the dead o e of the ? This has extreme relevance to the Beirut attacks, because these terrorist attacks happened just one day before the terrorist attacks in Paris (See Entry Four). This article examines once again the disparity in media coverage as well as the lack of solidarity shown on social media in regards to these events. The attacks occurred in the southern section of Beirut, perpetrated by two suicide bombers. The media coverage did not talk extensively about the victims, which the author describes as an omission that makes it seem almost inevitable that it will happen again. Terrorists want attention, which is why they carry out quick, horrific attacks, often times on innocent civilians. If the media fails to give them the attention they want, they will continue to carry out further attacks. This could be part of the reason that more attacks are carried out against countries with a majority black and Arab population. The author compares the Beirut attacks coverage to the Paris attack coverage by saying that victims of the Paris attacks were named, with brief biographies given of each victim. This personalizes the victims, and makes it easier for us as consumers of the media to relate to the victims. When this is not done for terrorist attacks in Africa or the Middle East, it is easier to brush them off as if the victims were somehow not as important as the ones that clearly had a normal life, or lives that were more like the common American life. This is effectively valuing some lives over others, and it almost always comes down to race and nationality. The author states that Until there is some recognition that an ISIS attack o o e ou try is a atta k o all, I“I“ ill e e ery ody s problem—a pro le that o t e sol ed. I full heartedly agree with this statement. In order to combat terrorism, the world must stop presenting non-Western people as the other . We are all people, and terrorists show no mercy regardless of where we live or what color our skin is.
- 41. 4/25/2016 Iraq: Suicide Bomb and Road Blast Kill 26 in Baghdad The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/14/world/middleeast/iraqsuicidebombandroadblastkill26inbaghdad.html?_r=0 1/1 http://nyti.ms/1kvjfjY MIDDLE EAST | WORLD BRIEFING Iraq: Suicide Bomb and Road Blast Kill 26 in Baghdad By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NOV. 13, 2015 The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for a suicide blast and a roadside bombing that targeted Shiites in Baghdad on Friday, killing 26 people and wounding dozens. The suicide bomber struck a memorial service held for a Shiite militia fighter killed in battle against the Islamic State in the Baghdad suburb of Hay alAmal, a police official said. That explosion killed 21 people and wounded at least 46, he said. Also on Friday in Baghdad, a roadside bomb detonated at a Shiite shrine in Sadr City, killing at least five people and wounding 15, police officials said. Since the emergence of Islamic State extremists, attacks in Baghdad have taken place almost daily, with roadside bombs, suicide blasts and assassinations targeting Iraqi forces and government officials, causing significant civilian casualties. A version of this brief appears in print on November 14, 2015, on page A6 of the New York edition with the headline: Middle East; Iraq: Explosions Kill 26 in Baghdad. © 2016 The New York Times Company
- 42. Entry Twelve WriteUp "Iraq: Suicide Bomb and Road Blast Kill 26 in Baghdad." When: November 13, 2016. Where: Baghdad, Iraq. Perpetrator: ISIS. Outcome: Two separate attacks: First: 21 died, 46 wounded. Second: 5 died, 15 wounded. This is an article from the popular American news source, The New York Times. This is another very short article (I am seeing a trend here), that only gives the very basic details of the attacks. The article explains that the attacks were from ISIS suicide bombers that targeted Shiites. The first attack was detonated at the memorial service for a militant who died fighting ISIS. The second attack was a roadside bomb detonated at a Shiite shrine. Together the attacks, which occurred in one day, killed 26 and wounded 61. The last thing mentioned in this short article was a short blurb about the violence occurring in Baghdad: Since the emergence of Islamic State extremists, attacks in Baghdad have taken place almost daily, with roadside bombs, suicide blasts and assassinations targeting Iraqi forces and government officials, causing significant civilian casualties. Attacks have taken place almost daily, and all they attention these attacks get on the news is a little article once in a while with a line explaining that this kind of stuff happens all the time, so it is not newsworthy anymore. The fact that these attacks happened on the same exact day as the Paris terrorist attacks (See Entry Four) also probably had a huge impact on the amount of space a terrorist attack in Baghdad would be allowed in a paper like The New York Times. In the Paris attacks news coverage, there were endless pages allotted in newspapers and 24-hour news coverage. That day an American could not leave their house without hearing about what happened in Paris. The stories in the news were much more personalized, showing pictures of the victims, their families, the mourners and spots around the city where memorials had begun to build up soon after the attacks happened. The articles talked about the famous buildings and streets in Paris that many people around the world are familiar with. They described the victims as people just going to enjoy themselves out in the city for an evening. None of this was present in this article about the attacks on Baghdad. There were no pictures present. Photo journalism can be a powerful took to evoke empathy and give realness to the situation. There was no mention of the victims, names or otherwise. There was no talk of memorial cites being built for the mourners. What is ironic about this whole situation was that the people affected by these attacks in Baghdad were already mourning someone who had been killed by ISIS, and now ISIS has created even more mourners. The second attack was at a Shiite place of worship. The Iraqis were not just out for a night to enjoy themselves. They were participating in events that were sacred and should be protected. However this still only generated a little blurb in the news, all because their perceived race and nationality are not worth as much as the race and nationality of the Parisians or any white, Western country.
- 43. 4/25/2016 Triple terror: Up to 60 killed, 80 wounded, 3 car bombs explode in Syrian Christian town — RT News https://www.rt.com/news/325568terrorattacktelltamersyria/ 1/5 ApplicationsﺍﻟﻌﺮﺑﻴﺔESP DE FR И В RTД RUPTLY RSSR QUESTION MORE LIVE 19:14 GMT, Apr 25, 2016 AT LEAST 3 DEAD, 7 INJURED AS BLAST HITS PASSENGER BUS IN ARMENIAN CAPITAL Triple terror: Up to 60 killed, 80 wounded, 3 car bombs explode in Syrian Christian town Published time: 11 Dec, 2015 07:05 Edited time: 11 Dec, 2015 16:19 FILE PHOTO. © SANA / Reuters Three truck bombs killed up to 60 people and injured more than 80 in the town of Tell Tamer in Syria's northeastern Al Hasakah province on Thursday, a spokesman for the Syrian Kurdish YPG has told Reuters. The blasts struck near a Kurdish militia forces field hospital and in the crowded Souk Al Jumla market square, where the majority of the fatalities occurred. Most of the affected people were civilians, but there were some Kurdish and Assyrian self‐defense fighters among them. The vehicles were allegedly packed with large amounts of explosives, which also caused significant damage to nearby buildings and infrastructure. Home / News / Trends Syria unrest ss
- 44. Entry Thirteen WriteUp "Triple Terror: Up to 60 Killed, 80 Wounded, 3 Car Bombs Explode in Syrian Christian Town." When: December 11, 2015. Where: Tell Tamer, Syria. Perpetrator: ISIS. Outcome: 60 died, 80 wounded. This is an article from the independent news source, Reuters. This news source publishes in English, Spanish and Arabic, giving it a wider audience than Western news sources, who usually only publish in English. While this is not a widely known news source, it describes itself as independent and attempts to cover things that are not normally covered in Western media. In the article the authors describe how members of ISIS detonated three separate car bombs in the majority Christian city Tell Tamer. ISIS claims it was targeting Kurdish armies, but in reality the majority of the victims were civilians. This has been a popular target in the past for ISIS because of the Christian minority who live there. Instead of just attempting to destroy the militants, they are aiming to destroy as much as possible, which includes civilians and vital infrastructure. While Syrian refugees are a topic that tends to get a lot of attention in the Western media at times, the actual attacks that are occurring in Syria are not often reported on. Not only is Syria in a brutal civil war, but the civilians are being constantly bombarded by terrorist attacks from ISIS. Imagine if terrorist attacks the size of Brussels happened almost every single day in a Western country. There would be a real full out war on terrorism . I would bet that many countries would come to their aid and ISIS would be stopped for once and for all by the collective powers of the world. Even though this is exactly what is occurring in Syria today, the world stands by and averts its eyes. We only are forced to look at what is really going on when the effects of this terrorism shows right up on our doorstep (refugees in Europe). When this happens, we are not able to look away for fear of looking bad in the international community. This was one of the only articles I could find regarding the ongoing terrorist attacks in Syria. The fact that it came from an independent news source speaks volumes to the failure of the Western media to cover these attacks. The failure of the Western media to cover these attacks not only makes the readers desensitized to the attacks themselves, but also to the victims of the attacks. I would argue that because the terrorism in Syria itself is not properly covered, this feeds into the anti- refugee sentiment that we have seen recently not only in the United States, but around the world. Because the public does not really know what is going on in Syria, it is easier for people to say that we should not let refugees into our country or that they should go back to Syria. By describing Syrians in this way, it opens the door to project these negative feelings onto all people that, to Americans, look like Syrians (mostly because Americans are ignorant of diversity in that part of the world). This is part of the reason for the influx of Islamophobia and the anti-Arab sentiment that is present in the United States today, which we have discussed several times in class.
- 45. 4/24/2016 Turkey car bomb explosion kills at least 34 CNN.com http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/13/world/ankaraparkblast/ 1/3 Ankaracar bomb explosion kills 34; Turkey condemns 'terror attack' Updated 11:22 PM ET, Mon March 14, 2016 By Azadeh Ansari and Gul Tuysuz, CNN Story highlights Turkey's health minister says the blast killed 34 people and wounded at least 125 others "We condemn this terror attack," Turkey's interior minister says The explosion apparently targeted a transit hub, state media says (CNN) — A car bomb explosion ripped through a busy square in the Turkish capital Sunday evening, killing at least 34 people and wounding 125 others, o洃cials said. The death toll could include one or two attackers, Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu said. Scores of police cars, firefighters and medical personnel rushed to the scene. Security forces evacuated the area, the o洃cial Turkish news agency Anadolu reported. "We condemn this terror attack. ... People who carried out this attack will never succeed," Interior Minister Efkan Ala said. "Turkey will overcome. Our determination to fight against terror will never be deterred by attacks like this." President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed regional Explosion rocks Turkish capital 03:35 World + Live TV
- 46. Entry Fourteen WriteUp Ankara car bomb explosion kills 34; Turkey condemns 'terror attack' When: March 13, 2016. Where: Ankara, Turkey. Perpetrator: Kurdish militants. Outcome: 34 died, 125 wounded. This is an article from the popular American news source, CNN. While this is a short article that is just meant to tell the reader the basics of what occurred, I thought it was important to include because this is one of the only articles from a legitimate news source that pops up in a Google search for Ankara terrorist attacks . However when you compare this to legitimate news sources that appear in a Google search for Brussels terrorist attacks , the difference in the amount of news articles is astounding, even though these attacks only happened nine days apart. In the article it talks about how many people were killed and injured, how the attack was carried out and it also included a few statements from the Turkish government condemning the attacks. There were no statements from other governments condemning the attacks like was seen in the United States, Israel, Paris and Brussels attacks. In the article there was also no personalization of the victims, which is often seen in coverage of white, Western countries. There were no names or pictures of the victims, only a mere number. It is important to note that while not all Western media completely ignores terrorist attacks in non-Western, non-white countries, most of the coverage of attacks in these other areas are short, to the point articles like this one. I would argue that the difference in the coverage as far as length and depth goes a long way in shaping the way that Western readers feel about certain people and places. When a certain place and people become reduced to just a number in the constant death toll reported in the news, it is easier to become desensitized to those people. Another thing I think fuels the desensitization towards the Turkish people in the eyes of the West, especially in the United States, is the fact that they are a predominantly Muslim country. Ever since 9/11, the United States public has been slowly radicalizing all Muslims. Even though Turkey shares a border with a European country, it also shares a border with Syria, Iran and Iraq, automatically associating it with radical Islam and terrorism, in the eyes of a y A erica s. This akes it so e ery ti e there is a terrorist attack i Turkey; e do ’t feel as much empathy for them because we think attacks like that happen all the time over there. While this is completely not true, this is what the media has conditioned us to think.
- 47. Taliban assault kills 28, wounds 300 in Kabul Jane OnyangaOmara and John Bacon, USA TODAY 4:18 p.m. EDT April 19, 2016 Explosions and gunfire ripped through the Afghan capital of Kabul on Tuesday as the Taliban spring offensive's most brutal assault yet left dozens dead and wounded hundreds more. The United Nations special representative for Afghanistan said the attack "may amount to war crimes." The streets were bustling during morning rush when a suicide bomber detonated a vehicle laden with explosives near the compound of a government secret service unit whose role is to protect VIPs, Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said. Militants then rushed into the building, sparking a gunfight with security forces that lasted more than two hours, local broadcaster TOLOnews reported. At least 28 people were killed and more than 300 wounded, Rahimi said. He added that most of the victims were civilians, including women and children, and that many of the wounded were in critical condition. Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said at least one of the attackers was killed in a gun battle, the Associated Press reported. President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack, which started about 9 a.m. local time. Atta Mohammad Noor, the acting governor of northern Balkh province, encouraged residents to launch a massive public uprising against the Taliban, Pajhwok news service reported. USA TODAY Taliban warnof attacks in new fighting season (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/04/12/talibanwarnattacksnew fightingseason/82929080/) Kabul Police and other security forces are in Pule Mahmoud Khan after the suicide bomb, MOI will release more updates 1:26 AM 19 Apr 2016 10 35 Sediq Sediqqi @moispokesman Follow Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the assault. The Taliban has stepped up attacks since announcing the start of its spring offensive dubbed "Operation Omari" a week ago. Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar is believed to have died of illness in 2013. The terror group didn't acknowledge his death until last year. Tadamichi Yamamoto, the secretarygeneral’s deputy special representative for Afghanistan, said the attack demonstrated the Taliban's "complete disregard for the lives of Afghan civilians." He also said the attack, “ in circumstances almost certain to cause immense suffering to civilians," might be considered a war crime. Police commander Obaidullah Tarakhail told AP he couldn't hear or see for 20 minutes after the initial blast. “This was one of the most powerful explosions I have ever heard,” he said. "All around was dark and covered with thick smoke and dust." The U.S. Embassy in Kabul condemned the "senseless act of violence" that it said underscores the brutality of the Taliban. attack hits Kabul Security Agency hundreds (Photo: Rahmat Gul, AP)
- 48. Entry Fifteen WriteUp "Taliban Assault Kills 28, Wounds 300 in Kabul." When: April 19, 2016. Where: Kabul, Afghanistan. Perpetrator: Taliban. Outcome: 28 died, 300 wounded. This is an article from the popular American news source, USA Today. The article explains how the attacks were carried out in great detail, which is something that is not always done when it comes to Western media coverage of Arab countries. The article explains that a suicide bomber detonated a vehicle that was parked near a governmental secret service building. Afterwards militants rushed into the building and a gun fight ensued, lasting more than two hours. Most of the casualties were civilians, on their way to work or school. Reading the description, it seems like a scene out of an action movie or a video game. If something like this were to happen in the United States, or even any other Western country, it would be 24- hour news. However, I did not even hear about this attack until today, 4 days later. The fact that it was even covered so extensively by an American news outlet is surprising. I would guess that the reason it was covered so extensively was because of the way the attack was carried out. Not every attack ends with a gun fight, which is more exciting and probably gets more readers than just an article about a suicide bomber. Overtime, American consumers of the news become accustomed to hearing certain things replayed over and over. I think that one of those things that people are used to hearing about is suicide bombers. If a suicide bomber were to detonate their bombs in the United States, it would be worldwide news, and everyone would be shocked. However, this is something that we almost expect to happen in Arab countries. We are constantly bombarded with images of suicide bombers and deaths in Arab countries, and we forget over time what a horrific event it really is. We then project this non-chalant attitude about suicide bombers on all Muslims, which is how we end up with the tense race/religion relations we have here in the United States today between Arabs and the white majority. In class we talked multiple times about Arab- Americans and the unfair treatment they receive living in the United States. They are often stopped at airport security for no reason other than they look Arab. Recently a college student was even kicked off a plane because he was overheard speaking Arabic. All of this fear starts with the media and its approach on covering not only suicide bombers but all terrorist attacks. The media instills fear into the public, who then take it out on undeserving real life people.
- 49.
- 50. Close Shows (http://www.history.com/shows) Videos (http://www.history.com/videos) Schedule(http://www.history.com/schedule) Topics (http://www.history.com/topics) Shop (http://www.shophistorystore.com/? utm_source=history&utm_medium=globalshoptab&utm_campaign=history) This day in history (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history) News (http://www.history.com/news) Ask History (http://www.history.com/ask-history) History Lists (http://www.history.com/history-lists) Hungry History (http://www.history.com/hungry-history) Speeches & Audio (http://www.history.com/speeches) Email Updates (http://www.history.com/emails) REACTION TO 9/11 OPEN We know you love history. Sign up for more! SIGN ME UP () ()
- 51. INTRODUCTION Shortly after theTwin Towers fell on September 11, 2001, the nation began to mourn, and around the country Americans began to commemorate the victims and demonstrate their patriotism. Some တew the American တag from their front porches and car antennas. Others pinned it to their lapels or wore it on t-shirts. Sports teams postponed games. Celebrities organized bene†t concerts and performances. People attended impromptu candlelight vigils and participated in moments of silence. They gathered in common places, like Chicago’s Daley Plaza, Honolulu’s Waikiki Beach and especially New York City’s Union Square Park, to post tributes to the dead and to share their grief with others. “I don’t know why I’ve been coming here, except that I’m confused” one young man in Union Square told a reporter from the New York Times. “Also a sense of unity. We all 9/11 Timeline (/topics/9-11-attacks/videos/911-timeline) A timeline of the events on September 11, 2001.
- 52. A+E Networks (http://www.aenetworks.com/) ContactUs (http://www.aenetworks.com/contact) Copyright Policy (http://www.aenetworks.com/copyright) Privacy Policy (http://www.aenetworks.com/privacy) Terms of Use (http://www.aenetworks.com/terms) Ad Choices (http://www.aenetworks.com/adchoices) Closed Captioning (http://www.aenetworks.com/closed-caption-support) © 2016, A&E Television Networks, LLC. All Rights Reserved. feel diတerently about what to do in response, but everybody seems to agree that we’ve got to be together no matter what happens. So you get a little bit of hope in togetherness.” TAGS 9/11 ATTACKS () Home (/) • Topics (/topics) • Reaction to 9/11 (/topics/reaction-to-9-11) 9/11 ATTACKS: U.S. REACTION 9/11 ATTACKS: INTERNATIONAL REACTION
- 53. THE IMPACT OFMEDIA BIAS ON COVERAGE OF CATASTROPHIC EVENTS: CASE STUDY FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES’ COVERAGE OF THE PALESTINE/ISRAEL CONFLICT by Jonas Xavier Caballero Submitted to the Faculty of University Honors College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2010
- 54. ii UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH UNIVERSITYHONORS COLLEGE This thesis was presented by Jonas Xavier Caballero It was defended on April 16, 2010 and approved by Jennifer Saffron, Adjunct Faculty, English Department Loubna El Abbadi, Faculty, Department of Linguistics Dr. Hatem Bazian, Senior Lecturer, Near Eastern Studies Department, University of California Berkeley Thesis Director: Mohammed A Bamyeh, Visiting Professor, Sociology
- 55. iii Copyright © byJonas Xavier Caballero 2010
- 56. iv This study investigateshow the impact of media bias affects the news coverage of catastrophic events with regard to the Palestine/Israel conflict. Particularly, this study focuses on Operation Cast Lead, the 3-week Israeli military assault on the Gaza Strip that resulted in the death of nearly 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis. The New York Times’ manner of covering the conflict, characterized in previous research as manifesting media bias toward Israel, is examined within a context of media manipulation, misrepresentation, framing, slant, and linguistic determinism. This study provides insight into the role played by the mainstream media in distorting the facts of the Palestine/Israel conflict in order to present a picture that portrays Israel in a more favorable light. Ninety-one articles were chosen from the New York Times’ news and editorial coverage of Operation Cast Lead, from December 27, 2008 to January 18, 2009, plus an additional week as to allow for corrections and further coverage. This study employs content analysis to determine how the New York Times presents its stories and how often it reports Palestinian deaths and injuries incurred during the catastrophic period versus the number of Israeli deaths and injuries covered in the texts. B’Tselem, the Israeli human rights organization, provides data on the number of deaths and injuries during Operation Cast Lead, providing the quantitative base to which this study’s results are compared. Although Palestinians died at a rate 106 times more than Israelis, the New York Times engaged in a practice of media bias that resulted in coverage of only 3% of Palestinian deaths in the headlines and first paragraphs. Upon analyzing the THE IMPACT OF MEDIA BIAS ON COVERAGE OF CATASTROPHIC EVENTS: CASE STUDY FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES’ COVERAGE OF THE PALESTINE/ISRAEL CONFLICT Jonas Xavier Caballero, BPhil University of Pittsburgh, 2010
- 57. v articles’ entireties, thisstudy found that the New York Times covered 431% of Israeli deaths and only 17% of Palestinian deaths, a ratio of 25:1. Only 17% of Palestinian children deaths were covered in the full articles.
- 58. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.......................................................................................................XI! PART 1....................................................................................................................................... XII! 1.0! INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................ 1! 2.0! ISRAEL/PALESTINE: A FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT.............................................. 5! 3.0! NOT SO FAIR AND BALANCED............................................................................. 8! 3.1! MEDIA BIAS ..................................................................................................... 10! 3.2! AUDIENCE........................................................................................................ 12! 3.3! GROUP REPRESENTATION AND LINGUISTIC DETERMINISM........ 14! 3.4! FRAMING/LABELING.................................................................................... 16! 3.5! AGENDA SETTING AND SLANT ................................................................. 17! 4.0! HAVE IT OUR WAY ................................................................................................ 20! 4.1! MEDIA BIAS AND THE NEW YORK TIMES............................................. 20! 4.2! FRAMING THE INTIFADA............................................................................ 21! 4.3! THE NEW YORK TIMES: ETHICS IN JOURNALISM............................. 23! 5.0! IF AMERICANS KNEW .......................................................................................... 24! 5.1! IF AMERICANS KNEW: A CATALYST...................................................... 24! 5.2! IF AMERICANS KNEW AND THE TIMES ................................................. 26! 5.3! IF AMERICANS KNEW 2000 STUDY .......................................................... 27!
- 59. vii 5.3.1! Coverage ofChildren’s Deaths..................................................................... 30! 5.4! IF AMERICANS KNEW 2004 STUDY .......................................................... 32! 5.4.1! Coverage of Children’s Deaths..................................................................... 34! 5.5! FULL ARTICLES ............................................................................................. 36! 6.0! FALK/FRIEL STUDIES........................................................................................... 37! 6.1! A SIX-YEAR MISREPRESENTATION OF DEATHS ................................ 40! PART II........................................................................................................................................ 42! 7.0! A CATASTROPHIC DISTORTION....................................................................... 43! 7.1! HEADLINES, FIRST PARAGRAPHS, AND FULL ARTICLES ............... 45! 8.0! OPERATION CAST LEAD...................................................................................... 47! 8.1! OPERATION CAST LEAD AS A CATASTROPHE.................................... 47! 8.2! FINDINGS: COVERAGE OF TOTAL DEATHS ......................................... 49! 8.3! FINDINGS: COVERAGE OF INJURIES...................................................... 52! 8.4! FINDINGS: COVERAGE OF ROCKETS FIRED........................................ 55! 9.0! ANALAYSIS............................................................................................................... 57! 10.0! MOBILIZATION IN PITTSBURGH...................................................................... 59! 11.0! CONCLUSION........................................................................................................... 63! APPENDIX A.............................................................................................................................. 66! APPENDIX B .............................................................................................................................. 71! APPENDIX C.............................................................................................................................. 75! APPENDIX D.............................................................................................................................. 77! BIBLIOGRAPHY....................................................................................................................... 79!
- 60. viii LIST OF TABLES Table1. Summary of Data (Deaths) ............................................................................................. 77! Table 2. Summary of Data (Injuries)............................................................................................ 78!
- 61. ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure1. Israelis and Palestinians Killed, First Year of Intifada.................................................. 28! Figure 2. Percentage of Deaths Reported in Headlines, First Paragraphs.................................... 29! Figure 3. Israeli and Palestinian Children Killed, First Year of Intifada...................................... 30! Figure 4. Percentage of Children’s Deaths Reported in Headlines, First Paragraphs .................. 31! Figure 5. Israelis and Palestinians Killed, 2004............................................................................ 32! Figure 6. Percentage of Deaths Reported in Headlines, First Paragraphs.................................... 33! Figure 7. Israeli and Palestinian Children Killed, 2004................................................................ 34! Figure 8. Percentage of Children’s Deaths Reported, 2004.......................................................... 35! Figure 9. Total Deaths During Operation Cast Lead.................................................................... 49! Figure 10. Actual Deaths vs. Deaths Reported in Headlines, First Paragraphs............................ 50! Figure 11. Actual Deaths vs. Actual Deaths Reported in Full Articles........................................ 51! Figure 12. Total Deaths vs. Total Deaths Reported (3-D)............................................................ 52! Figure 13. Actual Injuries vs. Injuries Reported in Headlines, First Paragraphs ......................... 53! Figure 14. Actual Injuries vs. Injuries Reported in Full Articles ................................................. 54! Figure 15. Coverage of Palestinians Deaths vs. Coverage of Rockets Fired................................ 55! Figure 16. CPJME’s “March of the Dead”................................................................................... 60! Figure 17. CPJME’s “March of the Dead” flier ........................................................................... 61!
- 62. x Figure 18. HopeUnder Siege flier................................................................................................ 62! Figure 19. Palestinian Woman pleads with Israeli soldier............................................................ 71! Figure 20. Uprooted Apricot Trees............................................................................................... 72! Figure 21. Nonviolent Demonstrators March to Separation Barrier............................................. 73! Figure 22. Palestinian Man Shot in Leg During Nonviolent Demonstration ............................... 73! Figure 23. Israeli Soldier Fires at Nonviolent Demonstration...................................................... 74! Figure 24. Israeli Soldier Chokes Palestinian Nonviolent Demonstrator..................................... 74!
- 63. xi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Dedicated to RachelCorrie (1979-2003). May you, and all those who seek it, find the justice you deserve. First and foremost, I thank Diana Buttu. Had it not been for that fateful day at Carnegie Mellon University, my eyes would have been forever shielded from the truth that is otherwise so hard to recognize. I owe so much to Kate Daher for providing me the resources and the patience necessary to break through the pre-constructed façade. A big thanks to Katie Miranda, who was my rock in a place filled with so much despair and so much beauty—the Middle East would not have been the same without you. To Courtney Day Nassar, for always being there with a fresh spirit and an unfettered determination. To my husband, David Caballero, for holding on tightly and supporting me during these challenging times. To my mother, Muffin Peluso, for having faith in my work and for furnishing me with a quiet place to make this all transpire. To Neta Golan and Lisa Nessan for being a constant flow of admiration and inspiration. To Alison Weir, for helping to make sense of all that is wrong with today’s media. Thank you to my panel, Loubna El Abbadi, Jennifer Saffron, Dr. Hatem Bazian, and Dr. Mohammed Bamyeh: your work continues to inspire me. To all those who are silenced in the struggle: I hope this work serves to amplify your voices.
- 64.
- 65. 1 1.0 INTRODUCTION The existenceof a free press is essential to American democracy. This was recognized in the earliest days of the United States, as it was enshrined within the First Amendment to the Constitution: “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…” To report as accurately as possible the facts on any issue, as many would agree, should be the primary function of the press. After all, what good is a free press if the subject matter being presented is skewed by politically-driven fallacies, setting agendas that seek to misrepresent facts and figures, effectively resulting in a distorted version of the truth? Myths developed by the news media “help inform newsmaking by providing archetypes and frameworks of interpretation” (Ismail 262). Independent media, which may not be connected to large media conglomerates, often seek to safeguard themselves against media bias. Other institutions, however, have merged over time with a number of agencies, making it harder to prevent unfettered media bias and to halt agenda setting. The media can be a crucial element in the success or failure of social movements “through how they frame the movement’s causes, stances, and ultimately their ideologies” (Ismail 253). In 2003, a media watch group based out of Los Angeles began issuing “media report cards” to various media outlets across the country regarding their coverage of the Palestine/Israel conflict. The group, If Americans Knew (IAK), has covered The New York Times, hereon referred to as the Times, The Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and others. By using quantitative data from respected human rights organizations, such as B’Tselem, IAK has conducted statistical analysis “that would be impossible in a
- 66. 2 qualitative study” (Weir5). Specifically, IAK examined the extent to which the media covered Israeli deaths over Palestinian deaths, and compared their findings to the actual data from the B’Tselem. In each study, IAK discovered that every media outlet studied revealed “a pervasive pattern of distortion” with regard to their coverage of the Palestine/Israel conflict (Weir 6). In their books, Israel-Palestine On Record and The Record of the Paper, Richard Falk and Howard Friel reported similar findings. In these books and the studies conducted by IAK, the researchers analyzed the Times’ media coverage from long periods of time [IAK: Sept. 2000 – Sept. 2001 and Jan. 2004 – Dec. 31 2004; Falk/Friel: 2000 – 2006]. Although this is a relatively small segment of time compared to the overall history of the Palestine/Israel conflict, it still provided a long enough period of time to reveal and assess the patterns of bias existing in the outlets (Falk and Friel 1). During these periods, however, there is no study that analyzes the Times’ coverage of deaths and casualties that happen during specific incidents. On one day, for example, forty civilians may be killed in an air strike in the Gaza Strip, while there may be no deaths on the following day in the West Bank. Although the bias that has been found and analyzed in the IAK and Falk/Friel studies proves that distortions of the truth do exist over the specific date ranges, no study of media bias has been made with regard to isolated, catastrophic events. My study focuses on the impact of a catastrophic event upon the Times’ coverage of the event, and the resulting effects on its pro-Israeli media bias. This study highlights a specific case study: Operation Cast Lead, Gaza Strip [12/27/2008 - 1/18/2009]. The investigation was designed to determine whether the Times’ media bias continued, diminished, or increased during this period. By combining qualitative (content analysis) with quantitative (statistical data) approaches, this study examines the Times’ manner of covering the Palestine/Israel conflict,
- 67. 3 characterized in previousresearch as manifesting media bias toward Israel. Content analysis is employed in order to analyze the catastrophic period of Operation Cast Lead. According to the U.S. Department of Defense’s ‘Dictionary of Military Terms,’ a catastrophic event is “any natural or man-made incident, including terrorism, which results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the population, infrastructure, environment, economy, national morale, and/or government functions.” This definition applies to Israel’s three-week attack on the Gaza Strip by the Israeli Defense Forces, which resulted in the death of nearly 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis in 22 days (B’Tselem). Existing theories on media bias focus on media framing and agenda-setting applied to news “that purportedly distorts or falsi!"#$%"&'()*$+,(#)-%)(-.$/($&.,$)-$."3#$)4&)$56&7-%#$-."$ side rather than providing equivalent treatment to both sides in a political conflict (content bias)” (Entman 163). Focusing on “distortion bias” and “content bias” in this study’s approach could yield important benefits. If, for example, certain events lead the Times to alter its media bias, readers can start to look at the news stories and view them through a new media-literate lens. Furthermore, groups like IAK will have additional evidence to present at meetings with the media’s editorial staffs, to encourage them to maintain a more balanced approach in future news coverage. Additionally, similar studies can be applied to other mainstream news organizations like the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times in order to seek a broader evenhandedness on the coverage of the Palestine/Israel conflict with a mission of halting the distortion and content bias particular to the Palestine/Israel conflict. In recognizing the impact of catastrophic events upon news coverage of the Palestine/Israel conflict, readers are left with an understanding that the notion of a free press in the United States does not make it free from agenda setting, no matter how catastrophic the circumstances. This
- 68. 4 makes it evenmore necessary for readers to acquire news from independent media sources and human rights organizations during times of heightened catastrophe in the Palestine/Israel conflict. This paper is not an analysis of Israel’s bombardment campaign of the Gaza Strip, nor is it an analysis of breeches in international law, conducted either by the Israeli military or armed Palestinian factions, such as Hamas. Additionally, this paper is not an analysis of the actions that led to Israel’s military campaign or attacks by armed Palestinian fighters. This paper is an analysis of the Times’ coverage of the catastrophic event in question, Operation Cast Lead. It is analyzed within a context of statistical data and previous analyses of the Times’ media bias with regard to the Palestine/Israel conflict. Part I of this paper contains a personal account of my experiences in Palestine/Israel as a freelance journalist and photographer. It also includes a review of the literature that addresses the elements that make up media bias in general, setting the stage for its application to the Times’ coverage of the Palestine/Israel conflict. Part II examines past research that has confirmed and analyzed the Times’ biased reporting of the Palestine/Israel conflict. The paper then reveals the findings and provides an analysis of the Times’ bias during its coverage of Operation Cast Lead, addressing discrepancies of reporting Israeli deaths and injuries over Palestinian deaths and injuries in the headlines, first paragraphs, and full articles.
- 69. 5 2.0 ISRAEL/PALESTINE: AFIRSTHAND ACCOUNT An in depth study of the Palestine/Israel conflict led me to visit the Holy Land in 2003. During my two month visit, I met with Israeli, Palestinian, and international activists who were working toward a peaceful and just solution to the conflict. It was during this trip that I met with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a joint Palestine/Israel human rights organization that seeks to raise awareness about the conflict. One of the ways the ISM attempts to do this is by sending news reports, photographs, and video footage to international media outlets with the hope that these outside agencies will take the material and print and/or air it. It was interesting to compare the news reported in the region with the news presented back in the U.S. I volunteered with the ISM and worked as a reporter on the frontlines. After witnessing and documenting events, I would return to the ISM media office and write news reports and press releases. These would then be published on the website and faxed to a large number of local and international media outlets. Although the ISM had some successes in the media picking up its stories (“Israelis Seen Abusing Caged Palestinians,” ABC News), more often than not the stories were ignored. Upon my return to the U.S., I was struck by the lack of mainstream coverage detailing the elements of the conflict that I had witnessed. For example, I read or saw almost no reports of the nonviolent demonstrations in the West Bank against Israel’s construction of the “Separation Barrier,” such as the weekly demonstrations that have been held for more than four years in the Palestinian village of Bil’in. I also noticed an Israeli slant in the press through, what I considered
- 70. 6 to be atthe time, an over-reporting on Israeli deaths over Palestinian deaths. This, it turned out, was the same motivation that inspired Alison Weir, founder of If Americans Knew, to involve herself in the battle against media bias in the Palestine/Israel conflict. In 2006, I returned to Israel/Palestine to volunteer with the ISM for three months. The following year, I was hired by the ISM to be its media coordinator, based out of the West Bank city of Ramallah. As media relations coordinator, I served as liaison to Israeli, Palestinian, and international media outlets; I covered breaking news stories, wrote and sent press releases, and interviewed government officials and activists. In addition to fulfilling those duties, I was in charge of the human rights workers who arrived from all over the world, many of whom had never been to the Middle East. I led workshops for these new volunteers and provided them with on-the-ground experience along with crash courses in Hebrew and Arabic. The workshops focused on nonviolence and direct action principles and provided lessons on the Palestine/Israel conflict. Between workshops, I led tours to conflict zones while demonstrating how to operate video cameras and take necessary information from unfolding stories in the field. When trainings finished, I designed teams and sent them to various regions in Palestine/Israel. The following weekend, I would repeat this process upon the arrival of new volunteers. My teams succeeded in having some of our stories appear in various media outlets, including the Arab and Israeli press. Among the international media that I contacted daily was Fox News, Al Jazeera, ABC News, the Associated Press, and others. Working with the media, essentially, became my life. The experience served as the motivation for my return to academia in 2008, when I decided to major in media and professional communications and international and area studies with a focus on the Middle East. My experiences in Palestine/Israel, and my subsequent research for this study, confirmed for me
- 71. 7 that a pro-Israelimedia bias exists in the mainstream media, and that the only way to rectify the problem is to understand the media field, inside and out—to change it from within. For eight years, I studied the Palestine/Israel conflict. I read numerous books on the issue, many with conflicting viewpoints. I attended lectures and conferences in several U.S. cities to broaden my perspective on the assorted aspects of the conflict (history, proposed solutions, debates, etc.). A two-part series of my experience in the Middle East was aired on Arab TV of Silicon Valley (http://aaccsv.org/arab-tv) and I completed a cross-country speaking tour with an Israeli ISM activist at colleges, universities, churches, and community centers. All the while, it appeared that the mainstream media, including the Times, was consistent in silencing the Palestinian narrative and suppressing the facts on the ground, as confirmed by IAK and the findings of Falk and Friel. Note: A synopsis of the Palestine/Israel conflict can be found in APPENDIX A. Note: Photographs taken by me during my time in Palestine/Israel, as a freelance journalist and photographer can be found in APPENDIX B.
- 72. 8 3.0 NOT SOFAIR AND BALANCED Media Bias, Audience, Group Representation, Framing, and Agenda Setting Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. foreign tax aid, about $3 billion per year (“U.S. Military Aid and the Israel/Palestine Conflict”). An estimate of the total cost to Americans is $3 trillion, an amount “four times greater than the cost of the Vietnam War” (Stauffer). Given the history of U.S. involvement in the conflict, both in financial linkage and in occupying a long-time role as mediator [Camp David, Oslo Accords, etc.], continuous study and scrutiny of the role of the media is particularly important (Ismail 254). Furthermore, in acknowledging that the U.S. is “firmly committed to Israel’s security and to her military superiority in the Middle East,” it is pertinent that American newspaper readers receive a clear and unaltered picture of the conflict (Aruri 20). However, post 9/11 discourse in the Western media, especially with regard to the Palestine/Israel conflict, has led to an increased bias (Zuhur 40). When the media construct reality as a “given,” presenting their information simply as “the way things are,” a more critical eye for seeing through this constructed reality is necessary. This is where critical discourse analysis (CDA) enters (Cameron 123). When applying CDA, systems begin to emerge from within the texts which help to propose “an interpretation of the pattern, an account of its meaning and ideological significance” (Cameron 137). If the reader of the Times, however, receives his or her news from that medium only, then there is no alternative frame of reference or “reality” to
- 73. 9 which they cancompare it. When discussing “discourse and the construction of reality,” Cameron refers to a study done by the Glasgow Media Group (GMG) regarding BBC coverage of pay and conditions in the workplace. In its study, GMG points out a bias in word choice that equates workers’ needs with “demands,” giving the impression that the workers are “aggressive and menacing.” The employers, on the other hand, “offer” their employees overtures and proposals, suggesting a more “reasonable, conciliatory stance” (Cameron 124). What ensues, in this case, is the construction of workers as burdensome and employers as generous. The issue that arises is the labeling of the groups under examination (Cameron 127). Facts are often not the most important of concerns when the labeling occurs, rather, the construction of the reality that benefits either the editors or the owners. Danuta Reah’s work focuses on textual analysis of newspapers. “The selection of items to put on the news pages,” Reah contends, “affect the way in which the reader is presented with the world” (4). Editors may exclude certain kinds of information, sometimes with the sole purpose of concealing that information from the readers. This may be guided by editorial agendas, or by those of advertisers and political parties that are affiliated with the paper. Readers are left with “little or no control over what is or is not being presented,” a consequence of having little or no access to alternative information against which they can judge the content of the newspaper in question (Reah 4-5). “Newspapers are not simply vehicles for delivering information,” Reah claims, “they present the reader with aspects of the news, and present it often in a way that intends to guide the ideological stance of the reader” (50). As previously stated, freedom of speech and freedom of the press is a core foundation in the functioning of American democracy. However, an important component of the press that may often be overlooked by its readership is ownership, which “has the power to influence the
- 74. 10 content of thepaper, its political stance and its editorial perspective.” Newspaper conglomerations, and thus, the power of content control into the hands of fewer and fewer people, have “profound impacts on the freedom of the press” (Reah 8). The result is a homogenization of news content, “controlled by a single proprietor” (Ismail 255). The end result is that readers are not necessarily presented with “new information on recent events.” Rather, they are the recipients of “selected information on recent events.” With regard to the Times’ coverage of the Palestine/Israel conflict, the readership is presented with an editorial spin “that makes it very difficult for the reader to make an independent decision in what his/her actual viewpoint on these events actually is” (Reah 9). The problem is not the side that the Times chooses to support, rather that the media bias exists at all (Reah 10). Once readers come to terms with the fact that media bias can and does exist in a free press, the next step for them is to become “critical readers, who are aware of, and can identify, gaps and swings in the information they are given” (Reah 11). A strong understanding of media bias is necessary for that critical awareness. 3.1 MEDIA BIAS Media bias is not random, rather, “it moves in the same overall direction again and again.” Among those favored include: corporations over corporate critics, U.S. dominance of the developing world over revolutionary or populist social change, and national security policy over national security critics. The dominant ideologies that drive the bias rarely engage in actions that may cause discomfort for the favored political agenda or ownership (Parenti 5). “Ideology is the goal of media outlets to sway public opinion, and spin is the attempt to produce a story that the
- 75. 11 public considers memorable”(Hoffman and Wallach, emphasis in original 618). Some forms of bias are indirect, such as choosing what stories to omit or misreport (which is largely the case in this study.) Other forms are more direct, like taking a non-neutral stance on an issue. However, some editorial staffs “may be keenly aware that their political views are guiding their choice of what is newsworthy” (Christopherson et al. 92). For example, a story broke in January of 2010 in which it became known that the son of Ethan Bronner, the Times’ bureau chief for Palestine/Israel, joined the Israeli Defense Forces. The online news website, Electronic Intifada (EI), stated that this was a “serious conflict of interest,” and cited the Times’ own “Company Policy on Ethics in Journalism.” The EI article recommended that readers of the Times turn elsewhere for news until the paper begins to “report on Israel-Palestine fully, accurately, and without Israeli spin” (“Conflict of Interest”). During Israel’s Operation Cast Lead, Bronner was criticized by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, a media watchdog group, for his “pro-Israeli bias reporting.” The Times did “not consider this situation to be a problematic case. It had not even disclosed the situation to its reader” (“Role of the Media”). With instances such as the one above, accusations and support of bias in the media are “a permanent part of political life” (Vatz 60). Despite the fact that this statement was made in regards to the existence of a liberal bias in the news media, it is also applicable to media bias generally. For example, “a large percentage of the public believes that the news media are biased” (Eveland and Shah 101). Applying the techniques of media scrutiny and research on media bias to “the broader context of perceptions of social reality, one could… understand what produces misperceptions such as those concerning news content.” A study conducted among college students revealed that they had very little ability to “recognize and acknowledge bias
- 76. 12 among sources,” suggestinga naivety of the general public with regard to being able to judge media bias (Buddenbaum, Rouner, and Slater 44). Broadening media bias analysis may result in a quelling of pluralistic ignorance—the process in which “public data from which the attitudes of others are inferred ‘may have been skewed in the direction of the perceived norm’” (Eveland and Shah 105). Although allegations of media bias are plentiful, a rather small amount of methodical research has been compiled on the subject (Christopherson, et al. 100). This may be due to the fact that media bias is not relegated to isolated units of news coverage but to the “entirety of news-collection and production processes” (Covert and Wasburn 691-2). My study, however, seeks to identify and analyze an isolated unit of news coverage: the catastrophic event of Operation Cast Lead. 3.2 AUDIENCE In addition to engaging in biased news coverage of certain event, the media have the ability to set specific agendas for the public (Uscinski 796). Some may contend that “the public plays at least some role in shaping the media’s agenda.” However, in the case of the Palestine/Israel conflict, although a heightened audience interest in related news stories may exist, the readers expect to find stories with credible and factual information. Even in the case of a heightened public desire that influences an agenda-setting framework, those stories of public interest should be hyper- scrutinized, since they will even more so “affect the public’s assessment of issue salience.” Editors and corporate owners are driven by competition for readership and increased revenue. The result is a higher reporting of stories that meet the public’s demand. The incentive for
- 77. 13 printing the storiesthe public wants to hear, thus, increases earnings in both profit and readership (Uscinski 798-9). Due to this trend, media firms and editors “often put democratic ideals at odds with other interests” (Uscinski 811). The readers, who subscribe not only to the newspaper but also to differing ideologies, “tend to look for meaning where it may initially appear to be missing” (Reah 41). Newspapers tend to sensationalize their stories and work hard to encapsulate and illustrate episodes of war and violence (Ismail 263). With regard to the Palestine/Israel conflict, a certain phraseology accompanies the groups involved. Terrorism, for example, is usually ascribed to Palestinian factions. State terrorism, on the other hand, rarely, if ever, is attributed to actions and decisions made by the Israeli government. By disregarding the illegal activities of Israel, and vilifying all opposition as terrorists, the media that “embrace Israel’s perspective largely block any expression of Palestinian worldview so that it doesn’t reach the American public” (Wall 29). In fact, the Times generally concurs with the Israeli position that it only uses force as a reaction to terrorism and “prompted by legitimate security concerns” (Falk and Friel 9). Public perception of political violence or terrorism is “founded upon images, definitions, and explanations provided by the media” (Ismail 255). Language, whether it represents the ‘good guys’ or the ‘bad guys,’ always transpires within a specific context. As “social users of language individuals know how to respond to linguistic triggers relating to the context of the language situation, the intended message, the feedback and input from others.” Newspapers, like the Times, function within these contexts and necessarily operate within the language framework. This allows the newspaper to “establish a group identity within the readership” (Reah 42). With written text, opposed to audio/visual media, readers must first indirectly identify the various meanings provided within the wording. This is where sensationalism emerges. Since the text
- 78. 14 may “relate to‘something outside the readers’ immediate experience… then the reader has no choice but to accept the information as translated through the text” (Reah 45). Paraphrasing George Gerbner, founder of cultivation theory, Ismail states, “Most of the information we acquire is through media outlets; they serve as primary means of constructing our everyday reality” (256). If this is true, and if the reader “uncritically accepts the article as an item of news,” then everything that flows from text to audience may be accepted by the reader at face value (Reah 45). This leads to a profound misunderstanding of the Palestine/Israel conflict for the Times’ readership. 3.3 GROUP REPRESENTATION AND LINGUISTIC DETERMINISM Through group representation and linguistic determinism, the media effectively set the agenda and engage in bias. One of the most transparent ways that language is exercised in order to portray fixed judgments about specific groups is through word choice (Reah 55). In a study on the “construction of Palestinian political violence in US news,” Ismail shed light on the responsibility of the media in audience perception with its use of labels. Terrorism, for example, was used exclusively in describing Palestinian violence. The media are prone to label and manage events that are political and violent in nature in a variety of ways, “depending on the parties involved and the ideological stances they take” (Ismail 253). With regard to the Palestine/Israel conflict, the media engage in a “semantic war over labeling acts and actors as part of a larger ideological battle to institute certain value judgments on political violence” (Ismail 256).
- 79. 15 On the subjectof linguistic determinism, Reah references George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. Orwell “postulated a society in which the ruling powers tried to maintain almost total control over the population.” The ruling powers did so with a form of linguistic determinism referred to by Orwell as newspeak, which “contained no way of expressing concepts and ideologies that were opposed to the state.” What Reah is suggesting is that “language can be a powerful tool,” one that is easy to resist if the reader knows it is being implemented, but not so easy if the “viewpoint or ideology is concealed” (Reah 54). Whether one is referencing newspeak or the discourse employed by the Times, language has the ability to not only depict and portray specific groups a certain way, but also to advocate distinct attitudes or to “conform to an existing stereotype.” It is the use of language that aids in maintaining or constructing personification of groups. Newspapers are confined to the “medium of language” through which everything in the newspaper must be conveyed. The message transmission, via the language medium, “almost of necessity encodes values into the message,” gathering “its own emotional and cultural ‘loading.’” The text operates within the cultural value system. What this means is that, in the case of the Times’ media bias toward Israel in covering the Palestine/Israel conflict, people may be inhibited from critically analyzing the information transferred to them through the pages, “a fact much relied on by advertisers, politicians and all those whose function in life is to manipulate social attitudes” (Reah 54-5). To create a structure of denotation for the reader to easily reference, naming is employed within the text. Naming slants the text “in a particular direction in relation to an issue” The result is a “direct effect on the ideological slant of the text” (Reah 60-1). The ideological stance is maintained by the choice of words employed by the writers/editors. Word choice carries the ideological slant through a text, establishing the audience/text relationship and forming the
- 80. 16 constitution of theaudience (Reah 107). The effect is the reinforcement of prejudices and bias through the word choice, which corroborates a specific belief system (Reah 73). Some communication theorists have claimed that news bias is inevitable, caused by “the inherently evaluative character of language” (Covert and Wasburn 691). While I agree that judging language carefully is employed in the writing of some news stories, the frequency of the language employed by the Times in this study, with regard to the Palestine/Israel conflict, indubitably reveals hyper-distortions of the facts. As this study reveals, hyper-distortions are not and should not be inevitable. 3.4 FRAMING/LABELING At times, the media “seek to predetermine our perception of a subject with a positive or negative label” (Parenti 6). The outcome is the creation of a frame of perception for the audience, one that is aligned with a belief system that is held by the media. For the purposes of this study, I look specifically to distortion bias—news that is intentionally distorted or falsified, and content bias—news that favors one side of a conflict over another (Entman 163). Decision-making bias, or bias that is produced by journalists covering an issue, is not addressed in this study, for it is not the actions of the journalists with which this study is concerned. Understanding these forms of bias can “advance understanding of the media’s role in distributing power” and could provide direction for journalists and editors who seek to perform in a manner seen as “fair and balanced” (Entman 164). Entman defines framing as “the process of culling a few elements of perceived reality and assembling a narrative that highlights connections among them to promote a particular
- 81. 17 interpretation.” A studyby Tankard, Hendrickson, Silberman, Bliss, and Ghanem (1991) define media framing as “the central organizing idea for news content that supplies a context and suggests what the issue is through the use of selection, emphasis, exclusion, and elaboration” (Weaver 143, emphasis added). Framing, thus, can shape or modify interpretations of a newspaper’s readership, encouraging them to “think, feel, and decide in a particular way.” Through framing, the media construct their texts so as to influence certain agendas to which their readership can subscribe (Entman 164-5). It is through framing that journalists and editors draw attention to specific elements of the news that they are covering (Weaver 142). Framing seeks to “influence the interpretation of incoming information rather than making certain aspects of the issue more salient.” Unlike agenda setting, framing is not based on cognitive processes, such as moral evaluations and causal reasoning (Weaver 146). 3.5 AGENDA SETTING AND SLANT Embodied within the framing process is what is referred to as slant. According to the Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists, the media should never distort news content (Hoffman and Wallach 619). However, what remains clear is that “the power of a publication consists in its ability to signify issues in particular ways” (Covert and Wasburn 694). This “ability to signify issues” is what media analysts call “agenda setting”—the process by which editors or the ownership define the problems deemed worthy of public attention. Entman disagrees with the commonly quoted phrase in media studies, that: “the media may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about.” It is a reciprocal situation according to Entman for, “if the
- 82. 18 media really arestunningly successful in telling people what to think about, they must also exert significant influence over what to think” (Entman 165, emphasis in original). Agenda setting is a “robust phenomenon,” as many evidence-based studies have shown (Brosius, et al 141). Its purpose is to influence the public’s perception of what is newsworthy (Tai 482). One of the ways to exert this agenda setting influence is through content bias. In order to show patterns of content bias, the patterns of slant that consistently prime their audiences in order to support the favored side must be shown (Entman 166). When news is clearly slanted, the side of the slant that is favored becomes more powerful; those on the losing side of slant become weaker. Studying the effects of framing, agenda setting, and media bias can yield important benefits. For one, empirical evidence that highlights patterns of bias in the media can be collected and analyzed. Secondly, it can help to improve the media’s role in a well-functioning democracy (Entman 170-1). Slant, or reporting bias, is more qualitative than selection bias, or the tendency to select the stories to be presented. The effects can amount to a “direct effect,” in which the media influence their readers’ emotions, or a “conveyor effect,” in which the media is solely the transmitter of an ongoing debate (Costa-Font and Vilelle-Vila 2095). My study shows the former effect, which is shown graphically in the results section. Research on agenda setting’s consequences experienced by the public can be traced back to Watergate. Agenda setting by television stations has been found to affect evaluations by the public on presidential candidates. It relies on “the theory of attitude accessibility by increasing the salience of issues and thus the ease with which they can be retrieved from memory when making political judgments.” Unlike framing, agenda setting is based on cognitive processes (Weaver 145-6). Theoretically, editors and owners of newspapers “should have no impact on
- 83. 19 news coverage dueto the supposed separation between the editorial and news departments.” However, it has been shown in numerous studies that newspapers are often driven by an editorial slant (Druckman and Parkin 1030).
- 84. 20 4.0 HAVE ITOUR WAY Media Bias and the Times, Framing the Intifada, Ethics in Journalism 4.1 MEDIA BIAS AND THE NEW YORK TIMES Newspaper subscriptions have dropped by more than half since the early 1950s, a time in which almost every household had a newspaper subscription. Still, newspaper reporting should have the highest quality, since readers “use the newspaper to obtain a better understanding of the news disseminated by other media outlets.” There is a power that exists within the pages of the newspaper that should not be taken for granted (Hoffman and Wallach 616-7). A 2002 study by the American Society of Newspaper Editors has shown that 69% of newspaper readers believe that newspapers assert a higher standard of research while dispensing better explanations of issues that address many sides of controversies. Accuracy in newspaper reporting, readers contend, is much higher than radio and television. If this is the reality of the situation, then biased reporting and distortion by newspapers may have a strong impact on wrongfully influencing their readers (Hoffman and Wallach 617). Distortion is not only the warping of the content matter at hand, but also lies within the elements that are left unmentioned, or “suppression by omission” (Parenti 5). Suppression by omission plays a large role in this case
- 85. 21 study analysis ofthe Times. As noted by IAK and Parenti, details of a story or even entire stories are often omitted in order to present an alternative, misrepresented version of the truth. Media bias in the Times is not confined to Palestine/Israel, or the 21st Century. In the early 1900s, a Lippman and Merz study showed that the Times’ coverage of the Russian Revolution was a “case of seeing not what was, but what men wished to see” (Hoffman and Wallach 616). Additionally, it took the Times four months to report on the CIA’s overthrow of Indonesia President Achmed Sukarno and the dissolution of the Indonesian Community Party, which resulted in the death of over half a million people (Parenti 5). Regarding its coverage of the war in Iraq, the Times has often admitted wrongdoing regarding its reporting. The Times “found a number of instances of coverage that was not as rigorous as it should have been,” and had subsequently published corrections for misinformation and omissions. Readers, however, must have been up to date with the corrections and errors to grasp the full picture (Hoffman and Wallach 617). 4.2 FRAMING THE INTIFADA In December 1987, the first Palestinian uprising broke out in the Gaza and the West Bank is response to Israel’s military occupation. The uprising was known as the Intifada, (“shaking off” in Arabic), and was, according to author Edward Said, “one of the great anti-colonial insurrections of the modern period” (Gregory 94). The second Intifada erupted in 2000 when prime minister Ariel Sharon and Israeli security forces entered the Temple Mount, a Muslim holy site in Jerusalem (Anderson, et al, 270). Regarding the media’s framing of the Palestine/Israel conflict, whereas some Israeli and Arab media depicted the Intifadas as a
- 86. 22 “coherent phenomenon,” Americanand other international media outlets portrayed them “more as a set of sporadic violent incidents” (Ismail 256). The news media, with the help of Israeli and American officials, have conflated any and all forms of Palestinian violence with “terrorism” (Ismail 262). Characterizing it as such, “constructing the conflict as a violent contest over land, and emphasizing the often sensational nature of the violence,” illustrates the media’s larger practices of misrepresentation (Ismail 263). It is the tendency of the news media to relay Palestinian violence and resistance as “linguistically synonymous,” thus delegitimizing qualified resistance enshrined in international law and conventions (Ismail 264). What results is an effective form of propaganda, “which relies upon framing rather than on falsehood.” This creates a “desired impression” by manipulating the truth without veering too far from “the appearance of objectivity.” As long as the media packages the framing of the issue appropriately, allowing for significant exposure in headlines, first paragraphs, and accompanying photographs, the propaganda will be effective (Parenti 7). Strategic framing focuses on the root of the problem in question and coaxes moral judgments on behalf of the audience while advocating for the favored side or policy (Entman 164). Knowledge of framing and linguistic determination is not enough, however, to assess news media bias suitably. One must possess, according to Eveland and Shaw, an understanding of what an “unbiased” standard should be (106). In the case of the Times’ bias in the presentation of the Palestine/Israel conflict, if no standard of “unbiased” exists for the readership, the readers may have nothing to which they can contrast the Times’ reporting. My study seeks to provide that standard.
- 87. 23 4.3 THE NEWYORK TIMES: ETHICS IN JOURNALISM The Times’ “Ethics in Journalism” policy states that the central objective of the New York Times is to “enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.” The reputation of the Times, the document claims, is based on “content of the highest quality and integrity.” It is the goal of the company “to cover the news impartially and to treat readers… and all parts of our society fairly and openly, and to be seen as doing so.” Furthermore, in “keeping with its solemn responsibilities under the First Amendment,” states the ethics policy, “our company strives to maintain the highest standard of journalistic ethics.” The nature of the Times’ ethics policy is to “protect the impartiality and neutrality of the company’s newsrooms and the integrity of their news reports” (“New York Times Policy on Ethics in Journalism”). Regarding its audience, the Times’ code of journalistic ethics purports that readers and viewers are treated as “fairly and openly as possible.” The Times policy claims to tell its audiences “the complete, unvarnished truth as best we can,” gathering information “for the benefit of our audience.” The goals and values detailed in the New York Times Company’s policy on ethics in journalism seem to cover the morals and principles the readership would expect its newspaper to envelop (“New York Times Policy on Ethics in Journalism”). However, as this study reveals, the Times’ practices in relaying stories on the Palestine/Israel conflict fall outside the parameters of impartiality, neutrality, and integrity.
- 88. 24 5.0 IF AMERICANSKNEW Case Studies Addressing Media Bias and the Times 5.1 IF AMERICANS KNEW: A CATALYST In the fall of 2004, Alison Weir, who later co-founded If Americans Knew, visited the Occupied Palestinian Territories. During her visit, Weir was told about a video that was filmed in Balata Refugee Camp, where a 14-year-old Palestinian boy was shot in his abdomen by Israeli forces. When the video was sent to the Associated Press (AP), it had reportedly been erased. A group of activists were present from the International Solidarity Movement. They had recorded the army vehicles and the names of the AP reporters who filmed the incident. Weir interviewed the reporters and found the hospital where the boy was being treated and confirmed the incident (Weir 3). The incident led Weir and her team to the building in Jerusalem where the AP was stationed, along with other major news bureaus. Weir interviewed Steve Gutkin, then AP bureau chief. Gutkin said that he was not permitted to speak about the Balata incident, that only the AP Corporate Communications office could. Jack Stokes, director of media relations for Corporate Communications, was contacted and asked about the incident. Stokes said that it was an internal matter.
- 89. 25 “In other words,”Weir said, “AP had video footage of an Israeli soldier specifically and intentionally shooting a young Palestinian boy who was not attacking them, and they erased it” (3). The incident was extremely disturbing to Weir and served as the catalyst into further researching AP’s lack of news coverage. Later, Weir discovered that an AP bureau did, in fact, exist in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The Ramallah bureau declared that anytime a story unfolded in the West Bank, the Ramallah bureau covered it, and that the story and details would be forwarded to the Jerusalem AP bureau. All stories had to be sent, according to the Ramallah team, to Jerusalem. None of its stories could be sent out through the wire themselves. Subsequently, employees in the Jerusalem bureau would write the stories (Weir 4). In response to this protocol, Weir has stated that: We were surprised—and concerned—to learn that the bylines and datelines of the stories were being misrepresented in this way. Given the ethnic nature of the Palestine/Israel conflict, and the fact that ethnicities live and suffer in two different (if neighboring) locations, both the location and ethnicity of journalists writing about the conflict are particularly relevant. While it is certainly appropriate to give full credit to journalists who gather information for a story, we felt that it was highly misleading that stories with a Palestinian byline and West Bank dateline were being written by Israeli and Jewish correspondents living in Israel—that one ethnic group in the conflict actually wrote news stories purported to be by reporters from the other ethnic group in the dispute” (Weir 4). The Jerusalem bureau never published the story of the 12-year-old Palestinian boy that was killed. Weir took notice of the conflict after the beginning of the second Intifada. “News reports,” she said, “seemed to be largely written from an Israeli point of view” and that “Israeli sources were quoted first and far more frequently than Palestinian ones.” Like me, Weir was “drawn by the immense disparity between the information I was reading from the foreign press and international websites, and the narrow sliver I was receiving from American media.” It was
- 90. 26 this observation thatled Weir to found IAK—to “provide this information to the public, as well as to undertake a systematic study of U.S. media coverage of Israel/Palestine” (Weir 5). 5.2 IF AMERICANS KNEW AND THE TIMES The studies by IAK prove the existence of a pro-Israel media bias in the pages of the Times and other media outlets. A “media report card” was issued by IAK regarding the Times’ coverage of the first year [September 2000 through September 2001] of the Palestinian uprising. IAK examined the headlines, first paragraphs, and article entireties, studying the coverage of Palestinian and Israeli deaths during that period of the conflict. IAK found that the Times “significantly distorted” these number of deaths, reporting Israeli deaths “at a rate 2.8 times higher than Palestinian deaths.” In a 2004 follow-up study, IAK sought to investigate whether the Times’ pattern of distortion, discovered in their previous research, “continued, diminished, or increased.” What IAK found was that the rate of distortion increased by 30%. As a subcategory, IAK studied the coverage of children’s death caused by the conflict. According to their findings, the Times’ “coverage of children’s deaths was even more skewed.” Again, the rate of distortion in covering children’s deaths increased from 2000 to 2004, reporting Israeli children’s deaths “6.8 times the rate of Palestinian deaths” in 2000 to “7.3 times greater than the deaths of Palestinian children” in 2004 (“Off the Charts”). In her study, Ismail stated that, although “child victimization in the conflict remained vivid,” the blame for Palestinian children deaths was “inconsistent across the two sides” (Ismail 258). As previously mentioned in the Times’ code of ethics, the newspaper purports to cover a topic responsibly and accurately. To challenge this claim, the “media report cards” of IAK are
- 91. 27 created in orderto help the media outlets achieve their goal of objectivity by identifying and rectifying the problem of bias. Furthermore, IAK makes its report cards available to the public “as a way to help readers evaluate for themselves the reliability of their sources of information.” In order to do this, IAK has established “clear standards for assessing accuracy in reporting,” and has provided “an assessment of the media’s accuracy in reporting on the Israel/Palestine conflict” (“Off the Charts”). Recognizing the controversial nature of the Palestine/Israel conflict, IAK “chose criteria that would be widely acknowledged as significant, conducive to statistical analysis, and immune to subjective interpretation.” B’Tselem, the Israeli human rights organization, provides data on the number of both cumulative deaths and children’s deaths caused by the conflict. Focusing on the coverage of these deaths, according to IAK, “allows for statistical analysis that would be impossible in a qualitative study.” The research design set up by IAK allowed for the discovery of “a significant disparity in the likelihood of a death receiving coverage based on the ethnicity of the person killed.” The outcome of the Times’ misreporting of the Palestine/Israel conflict is the creation of “a fictional situation in which Israeli and Palestinian deaths occur at more or less the same rate, and illustrates the dramatic gap between the reality of Palestinian fatalities and the coverage of them.” What the readers are left with is an incorrect understanding of the conflict (“Off the Charts”). 5.3 IF AMERICANS KNEW 2000 STUDY During the first year of the Palestinian uprising, 165 Israelis were killed and 549 Palestinians were killed, a ratio of 3.3:1 (Palestinian deaths to Israeli deaths, see Figure 1 below).
- 92. 28 Figure 1. Israelisand Palestinians Killed, First Year of Intifada Source: “Off the Chart,” If Americans Knew.
- 93. 29 However, during thistime period, the Times reported Israeli deaths 197 times (119% of actual Israeli deaths in the headlines or first paragraphs and reported Palestinians deaths 233 times (42% of actual Palestinian deaths) in the headlines and first paragraphs, a ratio of 2.8:1 (Israeli deaths reported to Palestinian deaths reported, see Figure 2 below). Figure 2. Percentage of Deaths Reported in Headlines, First Paragraphs Source: “Off the Chart,” If Americans Knew.
- 94. 30 5.3.1 Coverage ofChildren’s Deaths During the same time period in the IAK study, B’Tselem documented the deaths of 28 Israeli children and 131 Palestinian children (4.7 times higher than Israeli children, see Figure 3 below). Figure 3. Israeli and Palestinian Children Killed, First Year of Intifada Source: “Off the Chart,” If Americans Knew.
- 95. 31 However, Israeli childrendeaths were reported 35 times in the headlines and first paragraphs while the deaths of Palestinian children were reported 24 times (See Figure 4 below). Figure 4. Percentage of Children’s Deaths Reported in Headlines, First Paragraphs Source: “Off the Chart,” If Americans Knew. The result of this discrepancy is a reportage of Israeli children’s deaths 125% of the time (due to multiple reporting) and a reportage of Palestinian children deaths 18% of the time, even though the deaths of Palestinian children was 6.8 times higher than Israeli children.
- 96. 32 5.4 IF AMERICANSKNEW 2004 STUDY In its 2004 study, IAK found an increase in the discrepancy. During the 2004 study’s time frame, 107 Israelis were killed and 818 Palestinians were killed, a ratio of 1:7.6 (Israeli deaths to Palestinian deaths, see Figure 5 below). Figure 5. Israelis and Palestinians Killed, 2004 Source: “Off the Chart,” If Americans Knew.
- 97. 33 During this timeperiod, the Times reported Israeli deaths 159 times in the headlines or first paragraphs and reported Palestinians deaths 334 times in the headlines and first paragraphs, a ratio of 3.7:1 (Israeli deaths reported to Palestinian deaths reported, see Figure 6 below). Figure 6. Percentage of Deaths Reported in Headlines, First Paragraphs Source: “Off the Chart,” If Americans Knew. The result of this misreporting of the conflict in the headlines and first paragraphs was a reporting of Israeli deaths 149% of the time (due to multiple references) and a reporting of Palestinian deaths 41% of the time. Israeli deaths were reported 2.8 times more than Palestinian deaths although Palestinians died at a rate 7.6 times higher.
- 98. 34 5.4.1 Coverage ofChildren’s Deaths During the same time period, B’Tselem documented the deaths of 8 Israeli children and 176 Palestinian children (22 times higher than Israeli children, see Figure 7 below). Figure 7. Israeli and Palestinian Children Killed, 2004 Source: “Off the Chart,” If Americans Knew.
- 99. 35 During this periodof examination, the Times reported on Israeli children’s deaths 50% of the time and on Palestinian children’s deaths 7% of the time, or 7.3:1 (See Figure 8 below). The Times had effectively omitted 164 deaths of Palestinian children from the headlines and first paragraphs and omitted the deaths of 4 Israeli children. Figure 8. Percentage of Children’s Deaths Reported, 2004 Source: “Off the Chart,” If Americans Knew. The result of this discrepancy is a reportage of Israeli children’s deaths 125% of the time (due to multiple references) and a reportage of Palestinian children deaths 18% of the time, even though the deaths of Palestinian children was 6.8 times higher than Israeli children.
- 100. 36 5.5 FULL ARTICLES Uponexamination of the articles’ entireties, IAK discovered that the disproportionality of coverage of Israeli deaths over Palestinian persisted. In the 2004 study, the deaths of Israeli children were covered 10.3 times higher than the deaths of Palestinian children. Regarding the total number of deaths, the deaths of Israelis were covered 3.1 times more than the deaths of Palestinians. In other words, the Times continued to emphasize Israeli deaths over Palestinian deaths as the article persisted past the headlines and first paragraphs (“Off the Charts”). Furthermore, as IAK examined the final paragraphs, it discovered that “every death mentioned solely in the last two paragraphs of an article was Palestinian.” IAK attributes this to diminishment of readership as the article persists. No Israeli deaths were mentioned in the last two paragraphs. What IAK concluded was that the Times gave its readership the impression that the “Israeli death rate was greater than it was, and that the Palestinian death rate was considerably smaller than its reality.” The major consequence for readers is a misunderstanding of the Palestine/Israel conflict (“Off the Charts”).
- 101. 37 6.0 FALK/FRIEL STUDIES AddressingMedia Bias in the Context of International Law and Palestinian Perspective In 2007, Professor Richard Falk (University of California, Santa Barbara) and author Howard Friel (Dogs of War: The Wall Street Journal Editorial Page and the Right-Wing Campaign Against International Law), completed a “scathing analysis” of the New York Times’ coverage of the Palestine/Israel conflict. In their 2000 – 2006 analysis of the Times’ news stories and editorials, Falk and Friel uncover patterns of distortion, omissions, and a disregard for the facts, similar to the patterns revealed by IAK. This revelation, according to Falk and Friel: Enables an understanding of the detrimental effects of these (mis)representations on the prospects for peace between these long-suffering peoples, but more broadly it casts a long, dark shadow across the failure of the Times to hold Israel… accountable under international law when it embarks on controversial foreign policy initiatives” (1). Falk and Friel contend that, with regard to the professional standards asserted by the Times, the newspaper’s coverage of the Palestine/Israel conflict lacks credibility. They further argue that the Times’ reputation “exerts an unwarranted influence on public attitudes.” Similar to the IAK studies, Falk and Friel compare the way the Times covers specified incidents in its news and editorial pages to the coverage of the same subject matter by human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and B’Tselem, groups that are “inclined to give Israel the benefit of the doubt” (Falk and Friel 2).
- 102. 38 The Palestine/Israel conflictis the most misreported issue of foreign policy in the United States today (Falk and Friel 4). It is the goal of the Falk/Friel study to “provide as objectively as possible an appropriate understanding of the main issues” in the conflict. The study proves that the Times is not only guilty of irresponsible journalism that seeks to intentionally distort the “factual circumstances of the conflict,” but also of “ignoring international law when it conflicts with US foreign policy” (Falk and Friel 4). Although six years of the Times’ coverage of the Palestine/Israel conflict is the central focus of Falk/Friel study, they also scrutinize other issues. For example, their study identifies key issues in the conflict that the Times seeks to frame in favor of Israel. Territorial disputes, United Nations resolutions, Israeli settlements, Palestinian self-determination, Palestinian refugees, and sovereignty over Jerusalem, key concerns to both Israelis and Palestinians, are generally framed within an Israeli narrative, according to the study. The Times’ refusal to consider international law within its editorial and news pages leads to “seriously bias perceptions of the conflict.” Falk and Friel further assert that, due to the Times’ prestigious reputation in the minds of the public, that a “responsible print media… would at least expose its readers to the relevance of international law in the course of addressing controversies associated with international conflicts and foreign policy” (Falk and Friel 9). Moreover, largely significant facts are ignored or insufficiently covered through a process of selective reporting. The result is an imbalanced understanding of the Palestine/Israel conflict and the rights enshrined under international law (Falk and Friel 11). The Times’ lopsided coverage of the conflict, according to Falk and Friel, screens a principal reality, that: “Israeli violence against Palestinians far exceeds Palestinian violence against Israelis” (24).
- 103. 39 Unlike the IAKstudies, Falk and Friel assessed the qualitative aspects of the Times’ period of coverage from 2000 – 2006. For example, the study found that the Times seldom mentioned international law and conventions with regard to Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, thereby disallowing a framework for its readers to evaluate the situation within those parameters (Falk and Friel 24). International law states that, in light of the Israeli occupation, Palestinians have a right to legitimate armed struggle (Falk and Friel 81). This is rarely, if ever, reported in the pages of the Times. The Times’ disregard for contextualizing international law and conventions shows that the Times “has clearly prejudiced its coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict to the detriment of Palestinian rights and a comprehensive peace” (Falk and Friel 145). Furthermore, regarding the presentation of Palestinian views in their own words, the Times “has expended little effort.” The opinion pages serve as a platform where mostly the views of pro-Israeli columnists can be read. These writers include William Safire; a passionate defender of Israel, David Brooks; a ceaseless defender of the Israeli position, and Thomas Friedman; a moderate who “almost never takes the Palestinians’ side.” In fact, not one columnist in the Times’ cache of regular columnists is “a consistent defender of the Palestinians” (Mearsheimer and Walt 170). Outspoken Palestinian commentators, although “readily available to reporters, editors, and opinion-page writers,” are, for the most part, ignored by the Times (Falk and Friel 87). On rare occasions, however, readers may have the opportunity to hear a Palestinian perspective. Michael Tarazi, for example, a legal advisor for the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), “caused a stir when he published an op-ed” when he warned, “that realities on the ground were forcing Palestinians to consider a one-state solution” (Abunimah 160). Favoring pro-Israeli authors and news sources at the expense of viewpoints addressing
- 104. 40 international law allowsthe Times to maintain its pro-Israeli bias and framing of the conflict (Falk and Friel 146). In addition, the Times shuns international law by omitting opposing voices and reports (Falk and Friel 147) and has, thus, journalistically failed “to respect and to ensure respect” for international law, specifically, the Fourth Geneva Convention (Falk and Friel 150). The Times’ decision to omit the Fourth Geneva Convention within the framework of the Palestine/Israel conflict “is nothing less than a rejection by the Times of the rule of law as it applies to the Israel-Palestine conflict.” Furthermore, this omission “favors Israel’s territorial privileges over Palestinian rights and helps to sway public opinion” (Falk and Friel 157, emphasis added). For example, Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention makes it illegal for the occupying power to engage in collective punishment or “to transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies” (“Fourth Geneva Convention,” see APPENDIX C). The Times regularly omits the convention with regard to Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Palestinian resistance to Israel’s colonization of Palestinian lands. 6.1 A SIX-YEAR MISREPRESENTATION OF DEATHS The Falk/Friel study also found that the Times predominantly emphasized the deaths of Israelis over Palestinians. During their period of study, Falk and Friel found that 4,032 Palestinians were killed and 1,017 Israelis were killed. Of those Palestinians killed, 808 were children. Of those Israelis killed, 119 were Israeli. On many occasions, the Times “only briefly noted or ignored the reports altogether” (Falk and Friel 25-6). The study also cited reports by Amnesty International between 2001 and 2006 that corroborated reports by B’Tselem, which covered the numbers of Israelis and Palestinians killed. The Times refused to cover any of these reports, which
- 105. 41 “documented extensive Israeliviolence against Palestinians.” However, the Times did publish “dozens of news stories on Palestinian suicide bombings” during the same time period (Falk and Friel 38). Falk and Friel find it reasonable that the Times, as the leading newspaper in the world’s most dominant democracy, would cover reports issued by the world’s “most authoritative human rights organizations,” especially reports that charge one of the U.S.’ staunchest allies with war crimes (43). The standard of analysis employed by these human rights organizations proves to be “of little concern at the Times” (Falk and Friel 44). Although a standard based on facts on the ground is available from these groups, the Times opts for the practice of double standards, one that favors Israel and “disproportionately focused on Palestinian violence” (Falk and Friel 135).
- 106.
- 107. 43 7.0 A CATASTROPHICDISTORTION Research Design and Procedure Over 400 empirical investigations have been published worldwide that seek to explain agenda setting and their effects (Tai 482). The empirical feature that I address initially is the frequency in the Times’ coverage and the framing found in the print media from the catastrophic time period under scrutiny (Operation Cast Lead). Although there are many print media that I could have addressed in this study, similar to those analyzed by If Americans Knew, such as The San Francisco Chronicle or The Los Angeles Times, I chose to focus specifically on New York Times because it serves as the largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States. The Times boasts a daily circulation of 1.1 million, and 1.7 million Sunday editions. The Times’ website, NYTimes.com, “ranks among the 10 most popular Internet news sites” in the US (Bianco, Gard, and Rossant). Although narrowing this study’s focus solely to the Times may be seen as a methodological limitation, the Times is one of the leading newspapers in the U.S. that exerts an influence on a large segment of the population. This fact alone calls for heightened scrutiny of its content. Due to the disadvantages in using computer-based systems, such as their lack of qualitative abilities, the classical method of content analysis employed in this study was rigorous and time-consuming. It entailed reading all news stories and editorials of the time period in question. Similar to Ismail’s “In the Shadow of A Leader,” my study utilizes a textual examination of purposefully selected news stories and editorial texts from the Times available through the ProQuest database. ‘Full text’ searches were conducted on the ProQuest database for
- 108. 44 ‘Israel,’ ‘Palestine,’ ‘Israeli,’‘Palestinian,’ ‘Gaza,’ ‘Gaza Strip,’ and ‘Operation Cast Lead’ for the period of the invasion [12/27/2008 – 1/18/2009]. I also analyzed an additional week after the end of the operation as it allowed for the incorporation of the immediate aftermath of the operation and updated numbers of casualties. Each article was read before including it in the sample sets to ensure that it dealt with the catastrophic event itself, rather than with an extraneous issue related to the conflict, such as the visit of an American diplomat to the region. In the end, ninety-one articles were selected from the Times’ news and editorial pages. The coding was straightforward: a tally was made for each time an article mentioned an Israeli death or Palestinian death in the headlines, first paragraphs, and in the article as a whole. Tallies were also made for each time the article referenced an Israeli or Palestinian child’s death in the headline or first paragraph, and the article’s entirety. The same procedure was done regarding references to Palestinian and Israeli injuries in the headline, first paragraphs, and entirety. Similar to the methodology used by IAK, this study applies the statistical data compiled by B’Tselem of the deaths and injuries of Palestinians and Israelis during Operation Cast Lead. Although content analysis can be a subjective experience, focusing on B’Tselem’s data helps to minimize the subjectivity in this study. Additionally, tallies were made for each time the article mentioned weapons being fired from Palestinians into Israel. Key words such as ‘rockets,’ ‘Qassam,’ ‘mortar shells,’ and ‘missiles’ were included in these tallies. This aspect of the study connotes a more qualitative approach for it compares these numbers with statistical data regarding the number of deaths and injuries of Israelis and Palestinians. Comparing the number of references to rockets helps to
- 109. 45 explain the Times’role in justifying the Israeli attacks, and thus, the heightened number of Palestinian deaths, as it adds a new element to the Times’ well established bias toward Israel. This study relies on purposive sampling because a specific period for examination was chosen in order to obtain as much pertinent date possible for the purpose of determining patterns of media bias through coverage of Operation Cast Lead. The categorization techniques in this study are similar to those employed by IAK (i.e. number of times Israeli and Palestinian deaths reported in headlines and first paragraphs). An historical data set was created that contained news stories about the Palestine/Israel conflict in the pages of the Times during the specific timeframes. The created data sets provided the foundation needed to analyze the headlines, first paragraphs, and full articles during the timeframe. 7.1 HEADLINES, FIRST PARAGRAPHS, AND FULL ARTICLES This study analyzes information included in the Times’ headlines and first paragraphs both in news stories and editorials. Although IAK does not include editorials in its studies, my study does. It is in the editorial that a writer addresses the audience directly, often times with overt commentary (Reah 46). A headline serves as a doorway way into the article, shaping the content and structure of what is to come. That which the writer is trying to convey is condensed into a minimum of words that seek to pull in the reader. Headlines may also be used to influence the opinion of the reader. Although most readers skip some sections of the article, the headline is one site that usually will not go unnoticed. Thus, the message of the headline (headline content) gives the overall picture of the story and relays its relative significance. “In theory, then, readers can
- 110. 46 skim the headlinesand have an outline of the news of the day, and some idea of its relative impact and importance” (Reah 13-4). Writers employ a variety of techniques to “make their headlines memorable and striking,” using words that may be emotionally loaded or that carry strong overtones (Reah 17-8) Due to their positioning on the page and their increased font, headlines have a stronger impact on the reader than, say, the last paragraph (Reah 23). According to Hoffman and Wallach, “The importance of an event can change dramatically simply by what section the story is in; where in that section; and if on the front page, how large it is and where it is placed” (619). It is also important to look at the first paragraphs of each article with regard to media bias. The inverted pyramid style of writing in journalism calls for the most important information to be included at the beginning of the article (or the base of the inverted pyramid) while the information of lesser importance comes further down (toward the tip of the inverted pyramid) (Blake). This is due to relatively short attention spans of many of the readers. Framing an issue for the benefit of one side (Israel) requires that the information that supports that side come at the beginning, while information of importance to the other side (Palestine) comes later. This becomes clear upon viewing of this study’s charts. It is also important to address the articles’ entireties since much of the information of Palestinian importance is included much later in the article, in comparison to the information of Israeli importance that is found much earlier.
- 111. 47 8.0 OPERATION CASTLEAD A Gaza Strip Case Study On December 27, 2008, the Israeli government ordered the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to “embark on Operation Cast Lead as part of its duty to protect its citizens following eight years of rocket fire on Israeli communities in southern Israel” (Israel Defense Forces). Nearly 1,400 Palestinians were killed and more than 5,320 were wounded, 350 of them critically. Tens of thousands of Palestinians were made homeless while at least 1,200 houses were destroyed. Rockets and mortar shells fired by Palestinians killed three Israeli civilians and one solider, while nine Israeli soldiers were killed during combat, four of which by “friendly fire.” In all, 113 Israelis were wounded during this time (B’Tselem 3-4). Of those Palestinians killed: 315 were minors under age 18, 235 whom were under age 16; 115 were women; and at least 83 were men over the age of 50. 8.1 OPERATION CAST LEAD AS A CATASTROPHE Although B’Tselem’s Guidelines for Israel’s Investigation into Operation Cast Lead charged both the IDF and Hamas with committing human rights violations, the question of proportionality remained a central focus of the report. According to B’Tselem, an “examination of the Israeli military’s conduct during the operation raises concerns as to the extent to which
- 112. 48 Israel complied withits obligations under international humanitarian law regarding distinction, proportionality, and direct fire at civilians” (5). Furthermore, due to the fact that the Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated regions on the planet, the risk of harming civilians with artillery fire and mortar shells was particularly high (B’Tselem 7). Further necessitating the inquiry was the fact there was a “high number of people killed and injured during the operation, and particularly given that there were cases in which many civilians were killed in a single attack” (B’Tselem 9, emphasis added). Operation Cast Lead serves as an important case study because, according to B’Tselem, “the extent of the harm to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip during Operation Cast Lead is unprecedented” (20). For example, 21 people, including 12 children under age 10, were killed in a single attack when the Israeli military bombed the four-story home of the Daiyah family (B’Tselem 9). Israeli military officers, according to the report, committed grave breaches in international law during the operation. “The Israeli public,” B’Tselem claimed, “has a right to know what was done in its name in the Gaza Strip” (B’Tselem 23). I would argue, too, that Americans have an equal right to know, considering that billions of U.S. tax dollars are sent to Israel annually. However, the Times’ misreporting of the conflict denies its readership fair and balanced access to the facts. Upon visiting the Gaza Strip after the assault, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, head of the Palestinian Medical Relief Committee, questioned Israel’s reasoning for initiating Operation Cast Lead. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Barghouti drew attention to the “big gap between what’s happening in Palestine and Americans’ knowledge of it” (Adas 48).
- 113. 49 8.2 FINDINGS: COVERAGEOF TOTAL DEATHS Figure 9 below shows the number of Israeli and Palestinian deaths during Operation Cast Lead. Palestinians died at a rate more than 106 times higher than Israelis. 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 Total Deaths During Operation Cast Lead Total Deaths 13 1385 Figure 9. Total Deaths During Operation Cast Lead Note: Number of Palestinian deaths includes civilians and combatants; and the number of Israeli deaths includes civilians and soldiers.
- 114. 50 Figure 10 belowcompares the actual number of Israeli and Palestinian deaths and the actual number of Israeli children and Palestinian children deaths with the number of times Israeli and Palestinian deaths and the number of times Israeli children and Palestinian children deaths are reported in the headlines and first paragraphs. 38% of Israeli deaths are mentioned in the headlines and first paragraphs while only 3% of Palestinian deaths are mentioned in the headlines and first paragraphs. Israeli deaths were mentioned at a ratio of 12.7:1. Only 2% of Palestinian children deaths were mentioned in headlines and first paragraphs. 13 1385 0 318 5 43 0 7 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 IsraeliPalestinian IsraeliChildren Palestinian Children Actual Deaths Deaths Reported in Headline or First Paragraph Figure 10. Actual Deaths vs. Deaths Reported in Headlines, First Paragraphs
- 115. 51 Figure 11 belowcompares the actual number of Israeli and Palestinian deaths and the actual number of Israeli children and Palestinian children deaths with the number of times Israeli and Palestinian deaths and the number of times Israeli children and Palestinian children deaths are mentioned in the full articles. When taken as a whole, the articles covered 431% of Israeli deaths (due to repeated references), while only 17% of Palestinian deaths were covered, a ratio of 25.3:1. Only 17% of Palestinian children deaths were covered in the full articles. Actual Deaths Full Article 13 1385 0 318 56 240 0 53 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 IsraeliPalestinian IsraeliChildren Palestinian Children Actual Deaths Deaths Reported in Full Article Figure 11. Actual Deaths vs. Actual Deaths Reported in Full Articles
- 116. 52 Figure 12 isa three dimensional representation of the actual number of Israeli and Palestinian deaths compared with the number of times the Times mentioned Israeli and Palestinian deaths in the full articles. Israeli Palestinian Total Deaths Reported Total Deaths 13 1385 56 240 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 Total Deaths vs. Total Deaths Reported Total Deaths Reported Total Deaths Figure 12. Total Deaths vs. Total Deaths Reported (3-D) 8.3 FINDINGS: COVERAGE OF INJURIES Figure 13 below compares the actual number of Israeli and Palestinian injuries with the number of times Israeli and Palestinian deaths are mentioned in the headlines and first paragraphs. Palestinians were injured at a rate almost 27 times higher than Israelis. 0.5% of Israeli injuries are mentioned in the headlines and first paragraphs while 0.057% of Palestinian injuries are
- 117. 53 mentioned in theheadlines and first paragraphs. In other words, for every 1 Palestinian injury, nearly 9 Israeli injuries were reported, a ratio of 8.8:1. Israeli Palestinian Injuries Reported in Headlines and First Paragraphs 197 5,300 1 30 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 Actual Injuries vs. Injuries Reported in Headlines and First Paragraphs Injuries Reported in Headlines and First Paragraphs Actual Injuries Figure 13. Actual Injuries vs. Injuries Reported in Headlines, First Paragraphs Note: Number of Palestinian injuries includes civilians and combatants; and the number of Israeli injuries includes civilians and soldiers.
- 118. 54 Figure 14 belowcompares the actual number of Israeli and Palestinian injuries with the number of times Israeli and Palestinian injuries are mentioned in the full articles. When taken as a whole, the articles covered 12.7% of Israeli deaths, while only 1.1% of Palestinian deaths were covered, a ratio of 11.6:1. Israeli Palestinian Injuries Reported in Full Articles 197 5,300 25 580 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 Actual Injuries vs. Injuries Reported in Full Articles Injuries Reported in Full Articles Actual Injuries Figure 14. Actual Injuries vs. Injuries Reported in Full Articles
- 119. 55 8.4 FINDINGS: COVERAGEOF ROCKETS FIRED In the headlines and first paragraphs, the Times reported Palestinian deaths 43 times. The Times also mentioned Hamas or other Palestinian factions having fired rockets or other weaponry into Israel 45 times in the headlines and first paragraphs. Thus, the rockets fired from Gaza received almost an equal amount of coverage. In the entire 91 articles surveyed during the timeframe, Palestinian deaths were mentioned 240 times while Hamas firing rockets and other weaponry was mentioned 329 times, or 37% more often than references to Palestinian deaths. In this manner, the Times allotted more “airtime” for the rockets over the number of deaths endured by the Palestinians. Chart O below shows these results. Palestinian Deaths Mentioned vs. Firing of Rockets Mentioned 43 45 240 329 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 Palestinian Deaths Rockets Headlines and First Paragraphs Full Articles Figure 15. Coverage of Palestinians Deaths vs. Coverage of Rockets Fired
- 120. 56 A Times articleanalyzed during the time period addressed this very issue. The article, headlined, Standing Between Enemies, quoted Stephen Weil, a Washington resident, who said that: Israel’s bombings had killed hundreds more Palestinians than the number of Israelis killed by Hamas rockets. Yet photos on the newspaper’s Web site “tell a different story: for every Palestinian victim, an Israeli one is shown.” He urged me to do a photo count, and said that if The Times was trying to suggest that suffering on each side was roughly equal, “it is a lie” (Hoyt).
- 121. 57 9.0 ANALAYSIS The Impactof Catastrophic Distortion The procedures enacted in my study ensured a design that was as objective as possible, similar to the studies done by If Americans Knew. IAK’s yearlong analysis of the Times’ coverage of the Palestine/Israel conflict [Sept. 2000 – Sept. 2001] revealed that the newspaper covered 119% of Israeli deaths and 42% of the deaths of Palestinians in the headlines and first paragraphs. Israeli deaths were covered almost 3 times more than the deaths of Palestinians. In IAK’s 2004 study, the Times’ distortion increased, covering 149% of Israeli deaths and 41% of Palestinian deaths in the headlines and first paragraphs. The Israeli deaths were covered 3.6 times more than the deaths of Palestinians. My study of the Times’ coverage of Operation Cast Lead, however, reveals that the Times covered Israeli deaths 12 times more than the deaths of Palestinians in the headlines and first paragraphs (38% of Israeli deaths were covered and only 3% of Palestinian deaths were covered). In reality, 13 Israelis were killed and over 1,385 Palestinians were killed. Furthermore, analysis of the full articles during Operation Cast Lead revealed that the Times reported 431% of Israeli deaths and only 17% of Palestinian deaths, a ratio of 25 to 1. In IAK’s 2000-2001 analysis of the Times, the group found that 125% of Israeli children’s deaths were reported in the headlines and first paragraphs, while only 18% of Palestinian children’s deaths were reported. In the 2004 analysis, IAK found that 50% of Israeli children’s deaths were reported in the headlines and first paragraphs and 7% of Palestinian
- 122. 58 children’s deaths werereported. Since no Israeli children were killed during Operation Cast Lead, my analysis only looks to the rate of reporting (or omission) of Palestinian children’s deaths during the period of catastrophe. In the headlines and first paragraphs, 2% of Palestinian children’s deaths were reported and 17% of Palestinian children’s deaths were reported in the full articles. Although IAK did not include injuries inflicted during its analyses of the Times, my study does. Analyzing the Times’ coverage of these injuries in the headlines and first paragraphs revealed that the newspaper reported 0.5% of Israeli injuries and 0.057% of Palestinian injuries, a ratio of 8.1 to 1. In reality, 26 times more Palestinians were injured than Israelis (5,300 and 197, respectively). With regard to the coverage of injuries in full articles, the Times reported 12.7% of Israeli injuries and 1.1% of Palestinian injuries, a ratio of 11.6 to 1.
- 123. 59 10.0 MOBILIZATION INPITTSBURGH Rising Up Against Distortion Despite the fact that the Times’ distortion grew immensely during the catastrophic event of Operation Cast Lead, otherwise disconnected community groups in Pittsburgh found themselves mobilized against the ongoing catastrophe in the Gaza Strip. The implications of this fact can lead to further examination of what were the external factors that led these groups and individuals to mobilize on the coldest days of the year? Was it the independent media that stimulated them into demonstrating? Was the increased distortion by the times (431% of Israeli deaths covered vs. 17% of Palestinian deaths covered) so blatantly obvious that these groups took it upon themselves to raise awareness about the ensuing catastrophe in the Gaza Strip? Although not the central focus of this study, this question could provide further insight into alternatives to the mainstream media and what effect they may have on the galvanization of political resistance. In response to Operation Cast Lead, the local Pittsburgh groups, concerned about the loss of civilian life, formed the Coalition for Peace and Justice in the Middle East (CPJME). In my previous eight years both residing in Pittsburgh and studying the conflict, I had never seen so many groups and individuals, connected only by their attachment to social, environmental, or political causes, come together to demand an end to a military assault in the Palestinian territories.
- 124. 60 Figure 16. CPJME’s“March of the Dead” Photo from World Socialist Website, “US: Pittsburgh protest against atrocities in Gaza.” On Saturday, January 17, 2009, CPJME held a “March of the Dead.” A flier for the march read, “In the past two weeks at least 888 Palestinians have been killed and 3,700 injured. March with us to END THE WAR ON GAZA and to commemorate the innocent lives taken.” The action was endorsed by the following organizations: American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Black Voices for Peace, CAIR PA, Pgh, CMU Muslim Student Association, Human Rights Coalition-Fed Up!, International Solidarity Movement, Islamic Center of Pittsburgh, Middle East Peace Forum, Muslim Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, OPTICS (Organizing Pittsburgh to Increase Community Solidarity), Pittsburgh Friends of Immigrants, Pittsburgh Palestine Solidarity Committee, Students for Justice in Palestine, Tel Rumeida Circus for Detained Palestinians, Thomas Merton Center Anti-War Committee, Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East, University of Pittsburgh Muslim Student Association and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
- 125. 61 Figure 17. CPJME’s“March of the Dead” flier Photo from: Jonas in Palestine Blog The ad hoc coalition also organized buses in cooperation with other local groups to Washington, D.C., to join a national march that was organized in part by the A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) Coalition. In addition to the protests in and around Pittsburgh, I had coincidentally scheduled my photo exhibit, “Hope Under Siege: A Palestine Photo Exhibit,” to be held at the University of Pittsburgh. The exhibit was to run from January 9-19, 2009, at the height of Operation Cast Lead. On the first floor of the University of Pittsburgh’s student union, about 60 of my collected photos from my three trips to Israel/Palestine hung in the Kimbo Art Gallery. The opening reception included poetry, music, and speakers. Initially, I expected 25 people to attend the reception since it was a cold Friday night in January. In fact, I only requested 25 chairs. However, as the event started, I realized the large reception room was quickly filling up with more than 150 people.
- 126. 62 An employee atthe gallery later told me that she stopped tallying the number of guests, a standard protocol at the gallery. “There were just too many people,” she said. Operation Cast Lead was only two weeks into its progression, and I believe this had something to do with the large turnout. The gallery management asked if I would like to keep the exhibit up for two more weeks due to the high demand. Figure 18. Hope Under Siege flier Flyer from “Hope Under Siege.” More of my photos from the exhibit can be found in APPENDIX B
- 127. 63 11.0 CONCLUSION Freedom ofthe press is essential to a functioning democracy. In fact, “a mature, healthy democracy needs a system that will allow members of that democracy to decide freely and in an informed manner” (Reah 10). If the free press is not free from bias, agenda setting, manipulation, and distortion, then the notion of “deciding freely and in an informed manner” is meaningless. This research, limited chiefly by its narrow focus on the catastrophic event of Operation Cast Lead, combines content analysis with already established quantitative research of The New York Times’ bias with regard to the Palestine/Israel conflict. This study makes a methodological contribution to the rigorous analyses enacted by If Americans Knew, Falk and Friel, and others. Similar studies can benefit from this study’s approach in evaluating patterns of pro-Israeli media bias during periods of catastrophe. This study shows that, during periods of heightened catastrophe, the Times increases its distortion in coverage. This study remains open to further modification since this study has only focused on the period of media coverage during Operation Cast Lead. Despite its limitations, this study is not without its strengths. The data collected through content analysis was compared with the quantitative data collected B’Tselem to show an immense disparity in reporting of Israeli and Palestinian deaths and injuries during the catastrophic event of Operation Cast Lead. This study sheds light on the disparity in coverage of deaths and injuries reported in headlines, first paragraphs, and full articles. Furthermore, this
- 128. 64 study showed thatthe Times’ reporting on rockets, missiles, and mortar shells fired into Israel from within the Gaza Strip was comparable to the number of times it mentioned Palestinian deaths. In fact, the Times reported rocket firing 137% more in full articles than the reports of Palestinian deaths. The New York Times, a newspaper with one of the highest circulations in the country and one that prides itself on its ethical standards, should be the last to find itself in this deplorable position. The Times’ practice of distorting its coverage to present Israel in a favorable light represents an abuse of freedom of the press in the United States. According to Parenti, “the news media regularly fail to provide a range of information and commentary that might help citizens in a democracy develop their own critical perceptions” (8). This statement holds true especially with regard to the Times’ coverage of the Palestine/Israel conflict, corroborated by this and past studies. The media should “try better to educate the public about multiple sides of issues presented in news stories” (Buddenbaum, et al, 48), rather than the side whose policies tend to mirror those of the editors or owners. The Times’ history of media bias, agenda setting, and group (mis)representation seeks to support the Israeli narrative by omitting facts on the ground while demonizing the Palestinians. The marker of terrorism, which is habitually attached to Palestinians in news coverage, to the “exclusion of its Israeli counterpart,” shows how “normal/deviant dichotomies are constructed by and subsequently embedded within the news.” This is particularly true with regard to the Times’ coverage of the conflict. “Terrorism,” coupled by the Times’ heightened coverage of rockets/missiles fired into Israel, works well “to undermine their (Palestinian) image and consequently their cause” (Ismail 264).
- 129. 65 As a democracy,it is impossible to advance as a people “unless we alert ourselves to the methods of media manipulation that are ingrained in the daily production of news and commentary” (Parenti 6). If we do not sharpen our media skills, then we may find ourselves accepting the news stories at face value, forcing us to accept “the news that others want (us) to read versus the news as it truly occurs” (Hoffman and Wallach 623). Then again, as it was pointed out with the formation of the ad hoc coalition, CPJME, it is possible that what has been revealed is that, along with heightened distortion comes an increased adaptation to “read between the lines.” .
- 130. 66 APPENDIX A A.1 SYNOPSISOF THE CURRENT SITUATION IN ISRAEL/PALESTINE From If Americans Knew Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip live in an odd and oppressive limbo. They have no nation, no citizenship, and no ultimate power over their own lives. Since 1967, when Israel conquered these areas (the final 22 percent of mandatory Palestine), Palestinians have been living under Israeli military occupation. While in some parts Israel has allowed a Palestinian “autonomous” entity to take on such municipal functions as education, health care, infrastructure and policing, Israel retains overall power. According to international law, an occupying force is responsible for the protection of the civilian population living under its control. Israel, however, ignores this requirement, routinely committing violations of the Geneva Conventions, a set of principles instituted after World War II to ensure that civilians would “never again” suffer as they had under Nazi occupation. Israel is one of the leading violators of these conventions today. Israeli forces regularly confiscate private land; imprison individuals without process – including children – and physically abuse them under incarceration; demolish family homes; bulldoze
- 131. 67 orchards and crops;place entire towns under curfew; destroy shops and businesses; shoot, maim, and kill civilians – and Palestinians are without power to stop any of it. When a child is arrested, for example – often by a group of armed soldiers in the middle of the night – parents can do nothing. Knowing that their son is most likely being beaten by soldiers on the way to the station, stripped and humiliated in prison, quite likely physically abused in multiple additional ways, and destined to be held – perhaps in isolation – for days, week, or months (all before a trial has even taken place), parents are without the ability to protect their child. Quite often, in fact, they cannot even visit him. Finally, when the military trial under which their son is to be sentenced – often to years (sometimes decades) in prison – all they can do is hire a lawyer whose efforts, at best, will reduce the ultimate sentence by a few months. Rarely, if ever, can even the most skilled lawyer do more than afford the child a friendly face in court and be an outside witness to the injustice of the proceedings. Meanwhile, the presence of such a lawyer provides Israel cover for its “judicial system.” Perhaps most significant – and rarely understood by people in the outside world – is the fact that Palestinians live, basically, in a prison in which Israel holds the keys. They cannot leave Gaza or the West Bank unless Israeli guards allow them to. If they have been allowed out, they cannot return to their homes and families unless Israeli guards permit it. Frequently, in both cases, Israel refuses such permission.
- 132. 68 Academics invited toattend conferences abroad, high school students given US State Department scholarships to study in the United States, mothers wishing to visit daughters abroad, American citizens returning to their families, humanitarians bringing wheelchairs – the list goes on almost without limit – have all been denied permission by Israel to leave or enter their own land. The “Intifada” Living under such hardship and humiliation, in the year 2000 the Palestinian population began an uprising against Israeli rule called the “Intifada.” This term – rarely translated in the American media – is simply the Arabic word for uprising or rebellion – literally, it means “shaking off.” The American Revolutionary War, for example, would be called the American intifada against Britain. This is the second such uprising. The first began in 1986 and ended in 1993 when the peace negotiations offered hopes of justice. (Sadly, in the following years these hopes were crushed after Israel, rather than withdrawing from the West Bank and Gaza, as promised, actually doubled its expansion in these areas.) During this first uprising, which consisted largely of Palestinians throwing stones at Israeli troops (very few Palestinians had weapons), Palestinians were killed at a rate approximately 7-10 times that of Israelis. One of the ways Israeli forces attempted to put down this rebellion was through the “break the bones” policy, implemented by Yitzhak Rabin, in which people who had been throwing stones –
- 133. 69 often youths –were held down and their arms broken. On the first day of this policy alone, one hospital in Gaza treated 200 People for fractures. Today’s uprising – termed the “Second Intifada” – was sparked when an Israeli general, Ariel Sharon, known for his slaughter of Palestinian civilians throughout his career, visited a Jerusalem holy site, accompanied by over a thousand armed Israeli soldiers. When some Palestinian youths threw stones, Israeli soldiers responded with live gunfire, killing 5 the first day, and 10 the second. This uprising has now continued for over five years, as Israel periodically mounts massive invasions into Palestinian communities, using tanks, helicopter gunships, and F-16 fighter jets. Palestinian fighters resisting these forces possess rifles and homemade mortars and rockets. A minute fraction strap explosives onto their own bodies and attempt to deliver their bombs in person; often they kill only themselves. While the large majority of Palestinians oppose suicide bombings, many feel that armed resistance has become necessary – much as Americans supported war after the attack at Pearl Harbor. Nevertheless, only a small portion take an active part in the resistance, despite the fact that virtually all support its aim: to create a nation free from foreign oppression. Most Palestinians attempt – with greater or lesser success – to go on with their lives, raise their children, attend school, go to work, celebrate festivals, organize weddings, raise their crops, provide for their families – all the things that preoccupy people around the world. As Israel constructs a wall around them, however, prevents them at checkpoints from traveling from town to town, destroys their crops, prevents children from traveling to schools and the sick
- 134. 70 and injured fromgetting to the hospitals, it is becoming increasingly difficult to live even an approximation of a normal life. Most Palestinians feel that the Israeli government’s intention is to drive them off the land, and there is a great deal of evidence that this is the goal of many Israeli leaders. At the same time, however, there is a small but determined minority of Israelis, joined by citizens from throughout the world, who are coming to the Palestinian Territories to oppose Israeli occupation. These “internationals,” as they are often called, take part in peaceful marches, attempt to help Palestinian farmers harvest their crops despite Israeli military closures, live in refugee camps in the hope that their presence will prevent Israeli invasions and shelling, and walk children to school. They are sometimes beaten, shot, and killed. Some Israeli soldiers are refusing to serve in the West Bank or Gaza, stating: “We shall not continue to fight beyond the 1967 borders in order to dominate, expel, starve and humiliate an entire people.” Meanwhile, the semblance of Palestinian autonomy continues. Elections held in January, 2005, resulted in new Palestinian leadership that will govern under occupation and will attempt to negotiate eventual Palestinian liberation. Yet even this election demonstrated Israel’s power, as various Palestinian candidates were arrested, detained, and sometimes beaten by Israeli forces. This aspect, however, like so much else, was rarely reported by the American media.
- 135. 71 APPENDIX B PHOTOS FROMMY TIME IN ISRAEL/PALESTINE The following photos are a few of the many I took during my three visits to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. More of my photos can be found HERE. Figure 19. Palestinian Woman pleads with Israeli soldier In Figure 19, a Palestinian woman pleads with an Israeli soldier. The Israeli army came to uproot her apricot trees in order to build a sewer system for the Israeli settlement on the nearby hilltop. See full story HERE.
- 136. 72 Figure 20. UprootedApricot Trees Figure 20 shows the field after the Israeli army bulldozers uprooted the apricot trees. Figures 21-23 were taken in the West Bank village of Bil’in, a farming village that has lost 60% of its land to Israel’s Separation Barrier. Israeli, Palestinian, and international nonviolent activists march to the barrier every Friday. The barrier is known to the Israelis as the “Security Fence” and to Palestinians as the “Apartheid Wall.” The Israeli army routinely fires tear gas, sound grenades, and, occasionally, live bullets at these weekly nonviolent demonstrations. An article I wrote on this specific demonstration can be found HERE.
- 137. 73 Figure 21. NonviolentDemonstrators March to Separation Barrier Figure 22. Palestinian Man Shot in Leg During Nonviolent Demonstration
- 138. 74 Figure 23. IsraeliSoldier Fires at Nonviolent Demonstration Figure 24. Israeli Soldier Chokes Palestinian Nonviolent Demonstrator
- 139. 75 APPENDIX C FOURTH GENEVACONVENTION Taken from the International Committee of the Red Cross, “International Humanitarian Law - Treaties & Documents.” Article 49: Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive. Nevertheless, the Occupying Power may undertake total or partial evacuation of a given area if the security of the population or imperative military reasons so demand. Such evacuations may not involve the displacement of protected persons outside the bounds of the occupied territory except when for material reasons it is impossible to avoid such displacement. Persons thus evacuated shall be transferred back to their homes as soon as hostilities in the area in question have ceased. The Occupying Power undertaking such transfers or evacuations shall ensure, to the greatest
- 140. 76 practicable extent, thatproper accommodation is provided to receive the protected persons, that the removals are effected in satisfactory conditions of hygiene, health, safety and nutrition, and that members of the same family are not separated. The Protecting Power shall be informed of any transfers and evacuations as soon as they they have taken place. The Occupying Power shall not detain protected persons in an area particularly exposed to the dangers of war unless the security of the population or imperative military reasons so demand. The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.
- 141. 77 APPENDIX D SUMMARY OFDATA Table 1. Summary of Data (Deaths) Operation Cast Lead: Dec. 27, 2008 – Jan. 18, 2009 Israeli Palestinian Israeli Children Palestinian Children Actual Deaths 13 1,385 0 318 Deaths Reported in Headline or First Paragraphs 5 43 0 7 Percentage Reported 38% 3% n/a 2% Ratio: Israeli: Palestinian Deaths Reported 12.7:1 Deaths Reported in Full Articles 56 240 0 53 Percentage Reported 431% 17% n/a 17% Ratio:Israeli: Palestinian Deaths Reported 25.3:1
- 142. 78 Table 2. Summaryof Data (Injuries) Operation Cast Lead: Dec. 27, 2008 – Jan. 18, 2009 Israeli Palestinian Actual Injuries 197 5,300 Injuries Reported in Headline or First Paragraphs 1 3 Percentage Reported 0.5% 0.057% Ratio: Israeli:Palestinian Deaths Reported 8.8:1 Injuries Reported in Full Articles 25 58 Percentage Reported 12.7% 1.1% Ratio: Israeli Injuries: Palestinian Injuries Reported 11. 6:1
- 143. 79 BIBLIOGRAPHY Abunimah, Ali. OneCountry: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2006. Print. Adas, Jane. “Dr. Mustafa Barghouti Narrows ‘Big Gap’ Between Gaza Reality, Americans’ Knowledge.” Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. 28.4 (2009): 48-9. Print. Anderson, Sheldon, Jeanne A. K. Hey, Mark Allen Peterson, Charles Stevens, and Stanley W. Toops. International Studies: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Global Issues. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2008. Print. Aruri, Naseer H. Dishonest Broker: The U.S. Role in Israel and Palestine. Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2003. Print. Bianco, Anthony, Lauren Gard, and John Rossant. “The Future of the New York Times.” Business Week. 17 Jan. 2005. Web. 6 Feb. 2010. <http://www.businessweek.com/ magazine/content/05_03/b3916001_mz001.htm.> Blake, Ken. “Inverted Pyramid Story Format.” Middle Tennessee State University. Web. 22 Nov. 2009. <http://mtsu32.mtsu.edu:11178/171/pyramid.htm>. Brosius, Hans-Bernd, Inga Huck, and Oliver Quiring. “Perceptual Phenomena in the Agenda Setting Process.” International Journal of Public Opinion Research 21.1 (2008): 139-64. Print. B’Tselem. “Guidelines for Israel’s Investigation into Operation Cast Lead.” B’Tselem. Feb. 2009. Web. 10 April 2009. < http://www.btselem.org/english/Gaza_Strip/Castlead_ Operation.asp>. Buddenbaum, Judith M., Donna Rouner, and Michael D. Slater. “How Perceptions of News Bias in News Sources Relate to Beliefs About Media Bias.” Newspaper Research Journal 20.2 (1999): 42-51. Print. Cameron, Deborah. Working with Spoken Discourse. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2001. Christopherson, Kimberly M., Erin N. Haugen, Thomas V. Petros, and Jeffrey N. Weatherly. “Perceptions of Political Bias in the Headlines of Two Major News Organizations.” The
- 144. 80 Harvard International Journalof Press/Politics 12.2 (2007): 91-104. Print. Costa-Font, John, and Marta Vilella-Vila. “Press Media Reporting Effects on Risk Perceptions and Attitudes Towards Genetically Modified (GM) Foods.” The Journal of Socio- Economics 37.5 (2008): 2095-2106. Print. Covert, Tawnya J. Adkins, and Philo C. Wasburn. “Measuring Media Bias: A Content Analysis of Time and Newsweek Coverage of Domestic Social Issues, 1975-2000.” Social Science Quarterly 88.3 (2007): 690-706. Print. Druckman, James N., and Michael Parkin. “The Impact of Media Bias: How Editorial Slant Affects Voters.” The Journal of Politics 67.4 (2005): 1030-1049. Print. Electronic Intifada. “New York Times’ Ethan Bronner’s Conflict of Interest: Conversation with Bronner and Alternative News Sources.” Alisonweir.org. 26 Jan. 2010. Web. 10 Feb. 2010. <http://alisonweir.org/journal/2010/1/26/new-york-times-ethan-bronners-conflict- of-interest-conversat.html>. Electronic Intifada. “New York Times Fails to Disclose Jerusalem Bureau Chief’s Conflict of Interest.” ElectornicIntifada.net. 25 Jan. 2010. Web. 10 Feb. 2010. < http:// electronicintifada.net/v2/article11031.shtml>. Entman, Robert M. Framing Bias: Media in the Distribution of Power. Journal of Communication 57.1 (2007): 163-73. Print. Eveland Jr., William P., and Dhavan V. Shah. “The Impact of Individual and Interpersonal Factors on Perceived News Bias.” Political Psychology 24.1 (2003): 101-117. Print. Falk, Richard and Howard Friel. Israel-Palestine on Record: How the New York Times Misreports Conflict in the Middle East. New York: Verso, 2007 “Fourth Geneva Convention, The.” International Committee of the Red Cross. Web. 5 Jan. 2010. <http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/7c4d08d9b287a42141256739003e636b/6756482d86146898 c125641e004aa3c5>. Gregory, Derek. The Colonial Present. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2004. Print. Hoffman, August J., and Julie Wallach. “The Effects of Media Bias.” Journal of Applied Social Psychology 37.3 (2007): 616-630. Print. Hoyt, Clark. “Standing Between Enemies.” The New York Times. 10 Jan. 2009. Web. 22 Jan. 2009. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/opinion/11pubed.html?_r=1>. Israeli Defense Forces. “Conclusion of Investigations into Central Claims and Issues in Operation Cast Lead.” Dover.idf.il. April 22, 2009. Web. 9 Feb. 2010. <http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/opcast/postop/press/2201.htm>.
- 145. 81 “Israelis Seen AbusingCaged Palestinians.” ABC News. 12 Jan. 2007. Web. 20 Mar. 2009. <http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2791022>. Ismail, Amani. “In the Shadow of a Leader: News of Violence, Power, and Politics Post-Arafat.” Journalism Studies 10.2 (2009): 253-267. Print. Mearsheimer, John J. and Stephen M. Walt. The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2007. Print. “New York Times Policy on Ethics in Journalism.” New York Times Company. Web. 11 Feb. 2010. <http://www.nytco.com/press/ethics.html>. “Off the Charts: Accuracy in Reporting of Israel/Palestine (The New York Times)” If Americans Knew. 26 April 2006. Accessed 21 April 2009. <http://www.ifamericansknew.org/ media/nyt-report.html>. Parenti, Michael. “Methods of Media Manipulation.” The Humanist 57.4 (1997): 5-7. Print. Reah, Danuta. The Language of Newspapers. London: Routledge, 1998. Stauffer, Thomas R. “The Costs to American Taxpayers of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: $3 Trillion.” Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. June 2003. Web. 5 April 2009. <http://www.wrmea.com/archives/june2003/0306020.html>. Tai, Zixue. “The Structure of Knowledge and Dynamics of Scholarly Communication in Agenda Setting Research, 1996-2005.” Journal of Communication 59.3 (2009): 481-513. Print. “U.S. Military Aid and the Israel/Palestine Conflict.” If Americans Knew. Web. 10 Jan. 2009. <http://www.ifamericansknew.org/stats/usaid.html>. Uscinski, Joseph E. “When Does the Public’s Issue Agenda Affect the Media’s Issue Agenda (and Vice-Versa)?” Social Science Quarterly 90.4 (2009): 796-815. Print. Vatz, Richard E. “The Latest on Media Bias.” Qualitative Research Reports in Communication 4 (2003): 60-65. Print. Wall, James M. “Media Bias.” Christian Century 118.12 (2001): 1. Print. Weaver, David H. “Thoughts on Agenda Setting, Framing, and Priming.” Journal of Communication 57.1 (2007): 142-147. Print. Weir, Alison. “Americans for Middle East Understanding, Inc.” Americans for Middle East Understanding. July 2005. Web. 22 Dec. 2009. <http://www.ameu.org/page. asp?iid=262&aid=530&pg=1>.
- 146. 82 Zuhur, Sherifa. “Gaza,Israel, Hamas and the Lost Calm of Operation Cast Lead.” Middle East Policy 16.1 (2009): 40-52. Print.
- 147. 4/21/2016 Why Charlie Hebdo Gets More Attention Than Boko Haram | TIME http://time.com/3666619/whycharliehebdogetsmoreattentionthanbokoharam/ 1/3 IDEASNIGERIA Why Charlie Hebdo Gets More Attention Than Boko Haram Charlotte Alter @charlottealter Jan. 15, 2015 RECOMMENDED FOR YOU Charlotte Alter covers women, culture, politics and breaking news for TIME in New York City. Americans care a lot about attacks that seem like they could happen to them A series of attacks, both in the name of Islamist extremism, occur in the same week. Three linked attacks kill 17 in Paris, another kills at least 150 in Nigeria (but perhaps up to 2,000). Guess which one gets most of our attention? Many are calling the Jan. 7 attack on the office of Charlie Hebdo an attack on freedom of speech, or even an assault on Western values as a whole. Yet elsewhere in the world, those same values are being threatened by other extremists who want to spread fundamentalism. I’m talking, of course, about Boko Haram, the Islamist terrorist group in Nigeria that kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from their dorm last spring, murdered up to 2,000 civilians in Baga last week (although the bodies have not yet been officially counted), and over the weekend used a 10year old girl as a suicide bomber to kill at least 16 people at a market (two other young girls wearing suicide vests killed three people in a separate attack.) These attacks aren’t just brutal, they’re also part of a larger assault on freedom of religion and democracy, since the group targets Christians, nonMuslims, and anybody suspected of opposing their efforts to establish an African caliphate. Baga was reportedly perceived to have loyalties to the Nigerian government instead of Boko Haram, and the attack comes Aminu Abubakar—AFP/Getty Images A man injured in a suicide blast is transported to the General Hospital in the northeast town of Potiskum, Nigeria on Jan, 12, 2015. Watch Justin Trudeau Explain Quantum Computing to a Sarcastic… The 15 Best Historically Black Colleges and Universities Watch Queen Elizabeth's Most Iconic Moments
- 148.
- 149. 4/21/2016 Why Charlie Hebdo Gets More Attention Than Boko Haram | TIME http://time.com/3666619/whycharliehebdogetsmoreattentionthanbokoharam/ 3/3 ©2016 Time Inc. All rights reserved. Powered by WordPress.com VIP ©2015 Time Inc. All rights reserved. TIME Ideas hosts the world's leading voices, providing commentary on events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of TIME editors. “We tend to empathize more with people that we feel are more ‘like us,'” says Marco Iacoboni, a psychiatry professor at UCLA. “I think in this case, cultural, anthropological differences can play a big role in how much we empathize with others. I jokingly call this the ‘dark side’ of empathy.” Whether or not it’s morally right, that cognitive disconnect is exactly what the terrorists are betting on. When terrorists kill villagers in nonWestern countries, it feels like one of many bad things that happen to poor people in faraway places. When terrorists attack Western cities Americans might live in, hotels Americans might stay in, or nightclubs Americans might dance in, it feels like a bad thing that could happen to you. That’s a scary thought, which is exactly why the terrorists are doing it. But maybe we should be just as concerned about terrorists in Africa as we are of terrorists in the West. Not just because the lives of those killed in Nigeria were just as valuable as the lives of those killed in France, but because as long as people are killing in the name of Islamist extremism, or any extremism, all of us are at risk. On Wednesday, video surfaced of Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau praising the attacks in Paris, saying, “We have felt joy for what befell the people of France in terms of torment, as their blood was spilled inside their country.” It’s a chilling tribute that reminds us that when terrorism flourishes anywhere, it strengthens terrorists everywhere. MORE Bunnies, stinkbugs, and maggots: the science of empathy Read next: Satellite Images Show Nigerian Town ‘Almost Wiped Off the Map’ After Boko Haram Attack
- 150.
- 151.
- 152.
- 153. 4/16/2016 Paris attacks: How the world is showing solidarity with France Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11995266/Parisshootinghoweventsunfoldedonsocialmedia.html 4/22 #PorteOuverte is one of the most beautiful things I've seen 3:01 PM 14 Nov 2015 124 202 Ruben Stirlingite @Linds_Cereal13 Follow #PorteOuverte shows the resiliency and grace of Parisians at this time of abominable tragedy. 12:57 PM 14 Nov 2015 34 54 Wallace D. Loh @presidentloh Follow If anybody trying to get to France is stuck in Prestwick, you are welcome at my home. #PorteOuverte 9:56 AM 14 Nov 2015 61 146 Marsi SNP1&2&In @DMHull Follow
- 154. 4/16/2016 Paris attacks: How the world is showing solidarity with France Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11995266/Parisshootinghoweventsunfoldedonsocialmedia.html 5/22 If any Parisians are stuck in the Netherlands, I offer shelter. #PorteOuverte 5:25 AM 14 Nov 2015 50 83 vi @spacebeams Follow Any Parisians stuck in the UK, we have room at our home not too far from Heathrow airport #PorteOuverte 3:07 AM 14 Nov 2015 100 236 Judi McIndoe @jpm1108 Follow Facebook has set up a webpage for those looking to track friends and loved ones in Paris People can check in safe and see if people they know are OK here. Photo: Facebook Public figures respond to the tragedy The Prime Minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras, has said: "Last night’s bloody terrorist attack in Paris was a blind but targeted strike. It was a blow against Europe, home of Democracy and freedom, a blow against multiculturalism. At this hour we all stand together, we strengthen our solidarity towards the French people and support their government. We fight against the plans of terrorism and barbarism. The terrorists will prevail only if they achieve to terrorise us; only if they force us to abandon our principles; if they lead us to a fortressEurope,
- 155. 4/16/2016 Paris attacks: How the world is showing solidarity with France Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11995266/Parisshootinghoweventsunfoldedonsocialmedia.html 6/22 where scared people live." Don't allow this horrific act allow you to be drawn into the loss of your humanity or tolerance. That is the intended outcome. #ParisAttacks 7:46 PM 13 Nov 2015 45,988 48,398 Mark Ruffalo @MarkRuffalo Follow Elton John has taken to his Instagram page to show his support with this quote from Martin Luther King Jr: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” François Hollande has said: "Facing terror, there is a nation that knows how to defend, able to mobilize its forces and, once again, will defeat the terrorists." Face à l'effroi, il y a une Nation qui sait se défendre, sait mobiliser ses forces et, une fois encore, saura vaincre les terroristes. 6:22 PM 13 Nov 2015 57,510 33,243 François Hollande @fhollande Follow Vive la France pic.twitter.com/r45riuiGU5 — Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) November 14, 2015
- 156. 4/16/2016 Paris attacks: How the world is showing solidarity with France Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11995266/Parisshootinghoweventsunfoldedonsocialmedia.html 7/22 Face aux attaques terroristes d’une gravité exceptionnelle, mes premières pensées vont aux victimes de ces actes de barbarie (1/2) NS 7:28 PM 13 Nov 2015 1,359 997 Nicolas Sarkozy @NicolasSarkozy Follow à leurs familles, à leurs proches et aux forces de sécurité qui font preuve d’un courage exemplaire. (2/2) NS 7:28 PM 13 Nov 2015 1,199 887 13 NovNicolas Sarkozy @NicolasSarkozy Face aux attaques terroristes d’une gravité exceptionnelle, mes premières pensées vont aux victimes de ces actes de barbarie (1/2) NS Nicolas Sarkozy @NicolasSarkozy Follow My prayers are with the victims and hostages in the horrible Paris attacks. May God be with you all. 6:52 PM 13 Nov 2015 13,876 30,179 Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump Follow As I get ready for my game I can't help but to think of the tragedy in Paris! My God what's up with people. Prayers sent to all the familes! 6:10 PM 13 Nov 2015 17,079 27,432 LeBron James @KingJames Follow
- 157. 4/16/2016 Paris attacks: How the world is showing solidarity with France Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11995266/Parisshootinghoweventsunfoldedonsocialmedia.html 8/22 My thoughts are with the people of Paris tonight. We stand in solidarity with the French. Such acts are heinous and immoral. 5:16 PM 13 Nov 2015 9,523 9,828 Jeremy Corbyn MP @jeremycorbyn Follow Absolutely terrible news coming out of France this evening. Thinking off all those affected in Paris 5:08 PM 13 Nov 2015 508 837 Lance Armstrong @lancearmstrong Follow I am shocked by events in Paris tonight. Our thoughts and prayers are with the French people. We will do whatever we can to help. 4:57 PM 13 Nov 2015 17,870 14,233 David Cameron @David_Cameron Follow People in Paris have been paying tribute to the victims A pianist set up his piano to play John Lennon's 'Imagine' in front of the Bataclan.
- 158. 4/16/2016 Paris attacks: How the world is showing solidarity with France Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11995266/Parisshootinghoweventsunfoldedonsocialmedia.html 9/22 Goose bumps. Pianist plays John Lennon's Imagine in front of the #Bataclan. #ParisAttacks 8:19 AM 14 Nov 2015 304 224 Simon Häring @_shaering Follow Watch: Fans sing ‘La Marseillaise’ as they are evacuated from Stade de France after multiple shootings in Pari... bit.ly/1HPdB0V 3:19 AM 14 Nov 2015 39 42 Ragini Panwar @raginipun Follow Paris taxi drivers have turned off meters and are giving people rides home for free tonight reports @FRANCE24 . #ParisAttacks 6:30 PM 13 Nov 2015 779 638 Jessica Guynn @jguynn Follow
- 159. 4/16/2016 Paris attacks: How the world is showing solidarity with France Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11995266/Parisshootinghoweventsunfoldedonsocialmedia.html 10/22 Despair across the generations #parisattacks 2:37 AM 15 Nov 2015 56 83 Kay Burley @KayBurley Follow
- 160. 4/16/2016 Paris attacks: How the world is showing solidarity with France Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11995266/Parisshootinghoweventsunfoldedonsocialmedia.html 11/22 Un moment de silence à la lumière des téléphones portables sur Trafalgar Square. #parisattacks 4:01 PM 14 Nov 2015 95 63 Vincent Collen @VincentCollen Follow Vigil at Rue de la Fontaine Au Roi, sign says: "Never forget" 8:14 PM 14 Nov 2015 54 131 Ryan Broderick @broderick Follow
- 161. 4/16/2016 Paris attacks: How the world is showing solidarity with France Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11995266/Parisshootinghoweventsunfoldedonsocialmedia.html 12/22 Flowers have been placed in the bullet holes. #Paris 5:35 PM 14 Nov 2015 67 83 Cynthia Mulligan @CityCynthia Follow
- 162. 4/16/2016 Paris attacks: How the world is showing solidarity with France Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11995266/Parisshootinghoweventsunfoldedonsocialmedia.html 13/22 Candles and flowers continue to grow outside a Paris restaurant where diners were massacred 1:04 PM 14 Nov 2015 72 94 Kay Burley @KayBurley Follow Key monuments have been lit up with the colours of the French flag in solidarity.
- 163.
- 164.
- 165.
- 166. 4/16/2016 Paris attacks: How the world is showing solidarity with France Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11995266/Parisshootinghoweventsunfoldedonsocialmedia.html 17/22 the @TowerBridge @cityoflondon tonight #Tricolour #London 12:02 PM 14 Nov 2015 41 44 JimBwick @JimBwick Follow In solidarity #ParisAttacks @southbankcentre @southbanklondon 1:08 PM 14 Nov 2015 4 4 Bashir Bedri @bashir_bedri Follow Charlie Hebdo artist, Joann Sfar, has weighed in on the disaster.
- 167.
- 168. 4/16/2016 Paris attacks: How the world is showing solidarity with France Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11995266/Parisshootinghoweventsunfoldedonsocialmedia.html 19/22 #PorteOuverte turn OFF location settings before using this and DM for locations. This is so important. 6:52 PM 13 Nov 2015 9 3 Josh. @SerioJoshy Follow For British/Irish loved ones in #Paris, call UK Foreign office hotline (0044207 008 1500) or Dublin Foreign Affairs (003531 408 2000). 6:52 PM 13 Nov 2015 10 5 Nick Stylianou @nmsonline Follow #porteouverte Taxi journeys = free tonight #PorteOuverte 6:38 PM 13 Nov 2015 16 8 ash ღ @dagisash Follow According to Le Monde, 5 metro lines are closed. People are encouraged to use #porteouverte if they are seeking or offering refuge 6:26 PM 13 Nov 2015 6 5 Elizabeth Booth @RussianGymnast Follow
- 169. 4/16/2016 Paris attacks: How the world is showing solidarity with France Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11995266/Parisshootinghoweventsunfoldedonsocialmedia.html 20/22 #Paris embassy numbers: Australia: +33140593300 British: +33144513100 US: +33143122222 Canada: +33144432900 Irish: +33144176700 6:19 PM 13 Nov 2015 686 189 Gus Bruno @gusbru07 Follow La guerre est parmi nous. Nous résisterons, nous nous battrons ensemble. 5:27 PM 13 Nov 2015 846 470 François Fillon @FrancoisFillon Follow New York's Metropolitan Opera Chorus added its voice to the pledges of solidarity
- 170. 4/16/2016 Paris attacks: How the world is showing solidarity with France Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11995266/Parisshootinghoweventsunfoldedonsocialmedia.html 21/22 .@MetOpera performed the French National Anthem before today's matinee performance of #Tosca. #Bravo. #Paris 1:42 PM 14 Nov 2015 3,353 2,966 Erik E. Larson @unamplified Follow
- 171.
- 172.
- 173.
- 174.
- 175.
- 176.
- 177.
- 178.
- 179.
- 180. 4/14/2016 'Pray for Brussels': What people were saying online after attacks BBC News http://www.bbc.com/news/blogstrending35872170 9/16 Inside Belgium, a cluster of hashtags offering help including "Brussels lift", "open house", "ik wil helpen" ("I want to help") and "porte ouverte" ("open door") started trending as people offered assistance to those left stranded by the closing of the airport and the city's transport network. For further updates on the attacks, head to the BBC's live coverage page. Blog by Mike Wendling Next story: The Indian actress who hit back after being Photoshopped into porn Twitter
- 181.
- 182.
- 183.
- 184.
- 185.
- 186. 4/14/2016 'Pray for Brussels': What people were saying online after attacks BBC News http://www.bbc.com/news/blogstrending35872170 15/16 BBC News Services Explore the BBC On your mobileOn your connected tv Get news alerts Contact BBC News News Sport Weather Shop Earth Travel Ads by Google I Hate Social Security Born before 1969? You can get an extra $4,098 monthly with this palmbeachgroup.com Man Cheats Credit Score 1 simple trick & my credit score jumped 217 pts. Banks hate this! www.thecreditsolutionprogram.com Golden Corral Coupons Free Coupons for Golden Corral. Latest Coupons Print, Eat & Save! www.befrugal.com/GoldenCorral Don't Get Stuck With a Lemon: 15 Cars Not to Buy Forbes Crowdfunding is Changing Real Estate Investing TechCrunch
- 187. 4/14/2016 'Pray for Brussels': What people were saying online after attacks BBC News http://www.bbc.com/news/blogstrending35872170 16/16 Copyright © 2016 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. CapitalCulture Autos Future TV Radio CBBC CBeebies Food iWonder Bitesize Music Arts Make It Digital Taster Nature Local Terms of Use About the BBC Privacy Policy Cookies Accessibility Help Parental Guidance Contact the BBC Advertise with us Ad choices
- 188. 4/20/2016 Why did the world ignore Boko Haram's Baga attacks? | World news | The Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/12/spbokoharamattacksnigeriabagaignoredmedia 1/3 Whydid the world ignore Boko Haram's Baga attacks? As media coverage focused on the Paris terror attacks last week, more than 2000 Nigerians were reported to have been killed by Islamist militants. What makes one massacre more newsworthy than another? Maeve Shearlaw Monday 12 January 2015 08.44 EST France spent the weekend coming to terms with last week4s terror attacks in Paris that left dead. The country mourned, and global leaders joined an estimated . million people on its streets to march in a show of unity. In Nigeria, another crisis was unfolding, as reports came through of an estimated , casualties after an attack by Boko Haram militants on the town of Baga in the north-eastern state of Borno. Amnesty International described as the terror group4s 1deadliest massacre2 to date, and local defence groups said they had given up counting the bodies left lying on the streets. Reporting in northern Nigeria is notoriously difficult; journalists have been targeted by Boko Haram, and, unlike in Paris, people on the ground are isolated and struggle with access to the internet and other communications. Attacks by Boko Haram have disrupted connections further, meaning that there is an absence of an online community able to share news, photos and video reports of news as it unfolds. But reports of the massacre were coming through and as the world4s media focused its attention on Paris, some questioned why events in Nigeria were almost ignored. On Twitter, Max Abrahms, a terrorism analyst, tweeted: 1It4s shameful how the K people killed in Boko Haram4s biggest massacre gets almost no media coverage.2 Musician Nitin Sawhney said: 1Very moving watching events in Paris – wish the world media felt equally outraged by this recent news too.2 1Mom Blogger2 @Mom asked: 1How is this not the lead story on every single news network, every Twitter newsfeed right now?2 That sentiment was echoed by a number of Guardian readers over the weekend. So why did the Paris attacks receive more coverage than the Boko Haram killings?
- 189. 4/20/2016 Why did the world ignore Boko Haram's Baga attacks? | World news | The Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/12/spbokoharamattacksnigeriabagaignoredmedia 2/3 “Iam Charlie, but I am Baga too” 1I am Charlie, but I am Baga too,2 wrote Simon Allison for the Daily Maverick, a partner on the Guardian Africa network. 1There are massacres and there are massacres2 he said, arguing that 1it may be the st century, but African lives are still deemed less newsworthy – and, by implication, less valuable – than western lives2. Allison recognises the challenges in reporting – 1the nearest journalists are hundreds of kilometres away2 – but also points to the significance of the attack: taking control of Baga, 1Boko Haram effectively controls Borno state in its entirety. These aren4t just terrorists: they are becoming a de facto state.2 Even more reason for the world to take notice. But the blame does not just lie with western media; there was little African coverage either, said Allison. No leaders were condemning the attacks, nor did any talk of a solidarity movement, he said, adding that 1our outrage and solidarity over the Paris massacre is also a symbol of how we as Africans neglect Africa4s own tragedies, and prioritise western lives over our own.2 Silence from Nigeria’s politicians Many pointed to the palpable silence of many of Nigeria4s politicians. Last week, Nigeria4s president, Goodluck Jonathan, expressed his condolences for the victims of France but stayed silent on the Boko Haram attacks on Baga. Media analyst Ethan Zuckerman said that the president is 1understandably wary of discussing Boko Haram, as it reminds voters that the conflict has erupted under his management and that his government has been unable to subdue the terror group2. Nigeria4s elections are set to take place on February. The president was also criticised for celebrating his niece Ine4s wedding over weekend, in the aftermath of the killings. Elnathan John, a Nigerian writer and lawyer who has changed his Twitter identity to 1I am Baga2 in solidarity, shared a tweet from Nigeria4s finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who also expressed condolences over the Paris attacks but made no mention of the events in Baga. He also pointed to comments on the official Twitter account of Ahmadu Adamu Muazu, from the ruling People4s Democratic party, who looked to downplay the death toll: 1We know it4s a political period so some of this [sic] things are expected2. Muazu has since taken to the account again to say he has been working with the security services to ensure that 1peace will soon be restored2 to the people in Baga and other regions in the north-east of the country. ‘The west is ignoring Boko Haram’ Ignatius Kaigama, the Catholic archbishop of Jos in central Nigeria – an area which has also suffered terror attacks – added his voice to criticism of the west. Speaking to the BBC, he argued that Nigeria could not confront the threat from Boko Haram alone. 1It is a monumental tragedy. It has saddened all of Nigeria. But... we seem to be
- 190. 4/20/2016 Why did the world ignore Boko Haram's Baga attacks? | World news | The Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/12/spbokoharamattacksnigeriabagaignoredmedia 3/3 Moreblogposts Topics Nigeria Africa Boko Haram Charlie Hebdo attack Save for later Article saved Reuse this content helpless,2 he said. 1Because if we could stop Boko Haram, we would have done it right away. But they continue to attack, and kill and capture territories... with such impunity.2 Over the weekend Boko Haram was also blamed for a suicide attack in a market in Borno state that left dead in Yobe state. Kaigama called the for international community to show the same spirit and resolve against Boko Haram as it had done after the attacks in France. #BagaTogether Echoing the #bringbackourgirls hashtag, which was set up to call for the release of the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in April, some have taken to social media to show their support for the people in Baga. Using a number of hashtags including #BagaTogether, #weareallbaga and #pray baga, Nigerians and others have posted their support for the affected area. Some objected to disputes over the total death toll, yet to be confirmed, getting in the way of the real issues, some objected to the scant media coverage, others simply called for solidarity. Why did the media ignore Baga? If you live in Nigeria, or are interested in this topic, we4d like to hear from you. What makes one massacre more newsworthy than another? Should media outlets have done more? And how can social media solidarity help? Add your thoughts in the comments below or on Twitter @GuardianAfrica. • This article was amended on January to include the full name and profession of Elnathan John. This article was further amended on January because an earlier version said Goodluck Jonathan celebrated his daughter4s wedding over the weekend. This has been corrected to say he attended his niece Ine4s wedding.
- 191. 4/22/2016 Paris Attack Measured With Kenyan Garissa Attack http://buzzkenya.com/coverageofthekenyangarissaattackmeasuredwiththeparisattack/ 1/14 Search.. FollowUs SOCIAL SHARING CORD Statement On How It Will Punish Eurobond Misappropriation Ex- Slave And Ex- Master Oddly Turn Couple On $20 Bill LATEST NEWS Robert Mugabe: Bodyguards Avoid Another Trouble At All Cost READ MORE ‘Doom’ Looms For Kenya Despite ICC Terminating Cases Against Kenyan Leaders READ MORE Ugandan Academic Stella Nyanzi Goes Nude In Protest TOP NEWS ENTERTAINMENT POLITICS LIFE & STYLE +MORE +ABOUT Advertisement BREAKING NEWS CORD Statement On How It Will Punish Eurobond Misappropriation Everything Else Coverage Of The Kenyan Garissa Attack Measured With The Paris Attack Post by Christabell James on 18 Nov 2015 On April 2nd 2015, Al-Qaeda a甇liate known as Al- Shabaab stormed Garissa University College in Garissa, Kenya, killing 147 people, and leaving more than 79 people injured. The militant group shot randomly killing innocent students and civilians and it was clearly the biggest carnage the
- 192. 4/22/2016 Paris Attack Measured With Kenyan Garissa Attack http://buzzkenya.com/coverageofthekenyangarissaattackmeasuredwiththeparisattack/ 2/14 Uhuru Honours Barman Njoro With Prestigious National Award. Guess Why Policeman Kills Robber Along Uhuru Highway Nairobi For Shocking Reason READ MORE FirstLady Brought To Tears After Seeing The Unimaginable In Hospital READ MORE Mutua’s Reasons For Prohibiting TV Advertisements With Sexual Undertones READ MORE MORE Is Isaac Rutto Now Friend, Foe Or Frenemy Of Jubilee Leaders? READ MORE See What President Uhuru Says He Will Do If He Loses In 2017 Poll READ MORE POLITICS civilians and it was clearly the biggest carnage the country has seen since the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, which claimed over 200 lives. Kenyan University Attack: Victims Shot Face Down And Execution Style Recently, ISIS carried out a gruesome attack in Paris which drew more attention as always to the use of extreme brutality by terrorists and extremist groups. The attack carried out by ISIS suicide bombers based on CNN reports claimed the life of 129 people leaving 352 wounded with 99 in critical Conditions. The horri밄c attack serves as a wake up call for societies to consider changing their old strategies that appear ine洅ective given that the terrorists are spreading their tentacles of terror to more places than before. But the physical redeeming hope lies in the words of the world leaders who are con밄dent that with their combined e洅ort and intelligence, they will someday conquer ISIS and other terror groups. As world’s leaders all around the globe declare war on terrorism in general especially on the seemingly leading group ISIS, and as they think out possible response to stop such attacks, we need to be reminded of the favoritism countries that are not among the Third World countries are shown when they are harmed or terrorized. Don’t Miss This: Names And Pictures Of Some Of The Students Who Died At Garissa University To be honest, the disproportionate amount of media attention or news coverage such countries
- 193. 4/22/2016 Paris Attack Measured With Kenyan Garissa Attack http://buzzkenya.com/coverageofthekenyangarissaattackmeasuredwiththeparisattack/ 3/14 READMORE CORD’s Co- Principals Ditch Raila’s Kibera Rally For An Unbelievable Reason READ MORE 5,000 Police OᎴcers Gather Around Jubilee’s Nakuru Rally After A Tip-OᎴ READ MORE President Uhuru Throws A Jab At Opposition Leader Raila Odinga READ MORE Subscribe To Get The Latest News delivered To You daily Enter Your Email Address Send Me News POLLS How Is My Site? Good Excellent Bad media attention or news coverage such countries get when they are attacked by terrorists says it all. Let’s cite the news coverage of the terror attack seen on April 2nd 2015 that killed innocent civilians and students in Garissa. The attack on its own broke our hearts greatly, but what’s more heartbreaking is the manner in which the news ended just a few hours later. The coverage which is obviously unjust ended only a day later. Of course, the attack took more lives than that of Paris but saw what can be described as hypocritical, unfair and double standards media response. At some point during the time Obama was about visiting Kenya, Western media bbci
- 194. 4/22/2016 Paris Attack Measured With Kenyan Garissa Attack http://buzzkenya.com/coverageofthekenyangarissaattackmeasuredwiththeparisattack/ 4/14 Bad CanBe Improved No Comments Vote View Results was about visiting Kenya, Western media organisations rather blew the security situation in Kenya out of proportion. They capitalized on the cons of the attack like terror attacks were exclusive to Kenya. And even as of yet, though the attack was carried out in three di洅erent places in Paris at almost the same time, nobody has called the beautiful city a life-threatening place for other world leaders to explore. That aside, after the attack in Kenya, not many of the world leaders had time to suggest or support Kenya in cutting down terrorism in the country. The president of Kenya and his advisers were all looked upon to deal with the insecurity on their own. Perhaps it wasn’t much of a global issue. However, the recent attack in Paris which is called the worst violence in France since World War II drew the attention of almost all the world leaders. Many leaders gave their words concerning the Paris attack so much so that most of us are biased and are doubting that the world today and its inhabitants are really against racism. Here are some of what they had to say; President Obama, of United States described it as ‘ …outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians’ and he assured the world that he will do all there is to do to help bring the perpetrators to justice. He went on to say it’s ‘an attack not just on Paris, it’s an attack not just on the people of France, but this is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share’ Men Dont Need Viagra If You Do This Once Daily 'Kills' ED 2 Veggies That ''Destroy'' Belly Fat What's Your Shoe Personality? The Root of All Stomach Problems?
- 195. 4/22/2016 Paris Attack Measured With Kenyan Garissa Attack http://buzzkenya.com/coverageofthekenyangarissaattackmeasuredwiththeparisattack/ 5/14 PresidentFrancois Hollande described it as ‘an act of war,’ adding on Saturday, ‘We will lead the 밄ght, and we will be ruthless’. France has began bombing ISIS targets in Syria in response. In all these maltreatment and discrimination, some folks aren’t blind. Kenya is trending on Twitter and Facebook currently for the comments coming from people who have a lot to say about the unfair and little media coverage the Kenya attack got quite opposite of the news coverage that the Paris attacks have received. Particularly, for the fact that Facebook now allows people to change their pro밄le pictures to French 밄ags with the current Facebook 밄lters which was not provided for Kenya during the massacre that saw more deaths than Paris is another proof. It’s really not just about allowing people to apply the colors of France’s national 밄ag to their pro밄le pictures, but considering that there are numerous other attacks happening several other places which are not being covered at all presently since Doctor “Don’t Do Botox, Remove Your Eye Bags in 2 Minutes” 3 Foods Surgeons Are Now Calling "Death Foods"
- 196. 4/22/2016 Paris Attack Measured With Kenyan Garissa Attack http://buzzkenya.com/coverageofthekenyangarissaattackmeasuredwiththeparisattack/ 6/14 whichare not being covered at all presently since the wake of the tragic Paris attacks is still dominating the media and all those other places are appear not worth discussing wrecks my nerves. And I have seen that criticizing Western media organisations all we want for failing to cover prominently the massacre in Kenya, Nigeria – where little girls become suicide bombers and other apparently inferior countries where untold horrors are happening will not solve half of the problem. The truth remains the so-called Third world countries factor is just what’s limiting us and all we need do is to work hard enough to advance in order to earn respects and honor that is due. Surely, the unequal coverage when so-called Third World people face terrorist carnage, suggests a lot. More obviously that some lives, including Black lives, are not worth as much as white, so we need not to relent in building and developing ourselves and nations to be fully recognized someday. Until then, here are some of the tweets concerning the media coverage that caught our interest 14 NovBen Norton @BenjaminNorton
- 197. 4/22/2016 Paris Attack Measured With Kenyan Garissa Attack http://buzzkenya.com/coverageofthekenyangarissaattackmeasuredwiththeparisattack/ 7/14 Facebook wants users to use French flag avatars. Where are the Lebanese, Yemeni, Nigerian etc flags after massacres? pic.twitter.com/Dxq6hGrw6q 3:34 PM 14 Nov 2015 490 434 Our terrorism double standard: After Paris, let’s stop blaming Muslims & take a hard look at ourselves salon.com/2015/11/14/our… latest @Salon Ben Norton @BenjaminNorton Follow When 147 Kenyans were murdered I didnt see anybody changing their profile pic with African flags. But as soon as... fb.me/7BHrfWvmc 6:02 PM 14 Nov 2015 88 46 DA CAVE RADIO @dacaveradio Video: Students Describe Attack... Students who escaped an attack by gunmen on a Kenyan university described the scene on Thursday. nytimes.com Follow 14 NovBen Norton @BenjaminNorton Our terrorism double standard: After Paris, let’s stop
- 198. 4/22/2016 Paris Attack Measured With Kenyan Garissa Attack http://buzzkenya.com/coverageofthekenyangarissaattackmeasuredwiththeparisattack/ 8/14 Mere days before the January Paris attacks, 2,000 Nigerians were slaughtered by Boko Haram. They didn't get a march. pic.twitter.com/tPhOJD5BsB 3:36 PM 14 Nov 2015 133 70 Our terrorism double standard: After Paris, let’s stop blaming Muslims & take a hard look at ourselves salon.com/2015/11/14/our… latest @Salon Ben Norton @BenjaminNorton Follow http://twitter.com/theinquisitr/status/665650491293106176/photo/1 http://twitter.com/theinquisitr/status/665670664439902208/photo/1 http://twitter.com/theinquisitr/status/665606111471489024/photo/1 Read Also: Hostages Taken And Also Dozens Injured As Gunmen Attack Kenya’s Garissa University College
- 199. 4/20/2016 Many Ask, Why Not Call Church Shooting Terrorism? The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/19/us/charlestonshootingterrorismorhatecrime.html?_r=0 1/3 http://nyti.ms/1dNeAWt U.S. Many Ask, Why Not Call Church Shooting Terrorism? By RICK GLADSTONEJUNE 18, 2015 The massacre of nine AfricanAmericans in Charleston has been classified as a possible hate crime, apparently carried out by a 21yearold white man who once wore an apartheid badge and other symbols of white supremacy. But many civil rights advocates are asking why the attack has not officially been called terrorism. Against the backdrop of rising worries about violent Muslim extremism in the United States, advocates see hypocrisy in the way the attack and the man under arrest in the shooting have been described by law enforcement officials and the news media. Assaults like the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 and the attack on an antiIslamic gathering in Garland, Tex., last month have been widely portrayed as acts of terrorism carried out by Islamic extremists. Critics say, however, that assaults against AfricanAmericans and Muslim Americans are rarely if ever called terrorism. Moreover, they argue, assailants who are white are far less likely to be described by the authorities as terrorists. “We have been conditioned to accept that if the violence is committed by a
- 200.
- 201.
- 202.
- 203.
- 204.
- 205.
- 206.
- 207. 4/21/2016 Ethiopia attack: 200 people dead, 100 children missing AJE News http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/04/ethiopiaattack200peopledead100childrenmissing160418045025770.html 1/23 Engagement: 55238 WAR & CONFLICT Ethiopia attack: 200 people dead, 100 children missing Death toll rises from cross-border cattle raid as government says more than 100 children were taken by attackers. 18 Apr 2016 15:04 GMT | War & Conflict, Africa, Ethiopia Topics: Syria's Civil War US Election 2016 Middle East Ecuador Afghanistan Al-Aqsa 360: Inside Jerusalem Take a tour of Islam's third holiest site WATCH NOW News TV SCHEDULE People & Power [IN 19 MIN.] Nepal: After the Earthquake How are people faring a year after the disaster? NEWS PROGRAMMES OPINION INVESTIGATIONS ABOUT Watch Live
- 208. 4/21/2016 Ethiopia attack: 200 people dead, 100 children missing AJE News http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/04/ethiopiaattack200peopledead100childrenmissing160418045025770.html 2/23 Getachew earlier told Al Jazeera that his country's forces had killed 60 of the assailants [File Photo: Tiksa Negeri/Reuters] The death toll from a raid carried out by attackers from South Sudan in western Ethiopia has risen to 208 people, an Ethiopian official said, adding that 108 children were kidnapped. By Sunday afternoon, the number had risen to "208 dead and 75 people wounded" from a figure of 140 a day earlier, government spokesman Getachew Reda told the Reuters news agency. Women and children were among the dead, he said, adding that the assailants had also taken 2,000 head of livestock. "Ethiopian Defence Forces are taking measures. They are closing in on the attackers," Getachew said. The attack happened on Friday in the Horn of Africa nation's Gambela region which, alongside a neighbouring province, hosts more than 284,000 South Sudanese refugees who have fled a conflict in that country. Getachew earlier told Al Jazeera that Ethiopian forces had killed 60 of the attackers and would cross the border into South Sudan to pursue the assailants if necessary. No government link Crossborder cattle raids have happened in the same area in the past, often involving
- 209. 4/21/2016 Ethiopia attack: 200 people dead, 100 children missing AJE News http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/04/ethiopiaattack200peopledead100childrenmissing160418045025770.html 3/23 Sign up for weekly stories behind the headlines Subscribe Email Address * RELATED Murle tribesmen from South Sudan's Jonglei and Upper Nile regions areas awash with weapons that share borders with Ethiopia. Previous attacks, however, were smaller in scale. The attackers are not believed to have links with South Sudanese government troops or rebel forces who fought the government in Juba in a civil war that ended with a peace deal signed last year. South Sudanese officials were not immediately available for comment. Under pressure from neighbouring states, the United States, the United Nations and other powers, South Sudan's feuding sides signed an initial peace deal in August and agreed to share out ministerial positions in January. Source: Reuters
- 210. 4/21/2016 Ethiopia attack: 200 people dead, 100 children missing AJE News http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/04/ethiopiaattack200peopledead100childrenmissing160418045025770.html 4/23 Ethiopiasays South Sudanese gunmen kill 140 civilians Minister says troops may cross border to pursue assailants after deadly raid in Ethiopia's Gambela region. Ethiopia, South Sudan, Africa, War & Conflict South Sudan is becoming a failed state Four years after independence, the future of the newest African nation is bleaker than ever. War & Conflict, Humanitarian crises, Africa
- 211. 4/23/2016 Beirut Wonders if Some Terror Attacks Mean More Than Others | TIME http://time.com/4113615/parisbeirutterrorattacks/ 1/3 IDEASPARIS ATTACKS Beirut Wonders if Some Terror Attacks Mean More Than Others Aryn Baker @arynebaker Nov. 15, 2015 RECOMMENDED FOR YOU Aryn Baker is TIME’s Africa correspondent. She lives in Cape Town, and was previously based for TIME in Beirut, Lebanon as Middle East Bureau Chief, and in Kabul and Islamabad as the Pakistan/Afghanistan correspondent. She started with TIME in Hong Kong in 2001. Over 40 died in Beirut in an ISIS terror attack a day before the Paris strikes, but Lebanese victims haven't gotten the same attention I’m not much of a mathematician, but back when I was a correspondent in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the middle 2000s, I tried to make sense of the barrage of terror attacks by developing my own little algorithm. I called it Taliban math. The first suicide bombing—in a market, in a capital city, in a school—was international news. In order for the next bombing to make a story, the number of dead had to be exponentially higher. I tried to pin down a ratio: how many Pakistani or Afghan dead would it take to generate the same newsworthiness as the death of an American? At what point during the arc of covering a war waged by terror attacks do we stop giving the names and details that make the dead one of “us,” and start assigning simple death counts that makes the dead one of “them?” I thought about that this week as terror attacks unfurled in both Beirut, where I was based from 2010 to 2014, and Paris, where I lived in the late 1990s. The Beirut bombings, on Nov. 12, killed 43. A pair of motorcyclemounted suicide bombers left a further 200 injured. Bilal Hussein—AP Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of Thursday's twin suicide bombings in Burj al-Barajneh, southern Beirut, Lebanon on Nov. 13, 2015. How Lin Manuel Miranda Survived His 20s Why Is Passover Food So Expensive? Watch Amy Schumer and Jimmy Fallon Play 'Explain This Photo'
- 212.
- 213. 4/23/2016 Beirut Wonders if Some Terror Attacks Mean More Than Others | TIME http://time.com/4113615/parisbeirutterrorattacks/ 3/3 ©2016 Time Inc. All rights reserved. Powered by WordPress.com VIP ©2015 Time Inc. All rights reserved. TIME Ideas hosts the world's leading voices, providing commentary on events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of TIME editors. Marc Piasecki—Getty Images 1 of 10 The Eiffel Tower turns off its lights in memory of the more than 120 victims the day after the terrorist attack on Nov. 14, 2015 in Paris.
- 214. 4/25/2016 Iraq: Suicide Bomb and Road Blast Kill 26 in Baghdad The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/14/world/middleeast/iraqsuicidebombandroadblastkill26inbaghdad.html?_r=0 1/1 http://nyti.ms/1kvjfjY MIDDLE EAST | WORLD BRIEFING Iraq: Suicide Bomb and Road Blast Kill 26 in Baghdad By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NOV. 13, 2015 The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for a suicide blast and a roadside bombing that targeted Shiites in Baghdad on Friday, killing 26 people and wounding dozens. The suicide bomber struck a memorial service held for a Shiite militia fighter killed in battle against the Islamic State in the Baghdad suburb of Hay alAmal, a police official said. That explosion killed 21 people and wounded at least 46, he said. Also on Friday in Baghdad, a roadside bomb detonated at a Shiite shrine in Sadr City, killing at least five people and wounding 15, police officials said. Since the emergence of Islamic State extremists, attacks in Baghdad have taken place almost daily, with roadside bombs, suicide blasts and assassinations targeting Iraqi forces and government officials, causing significant civilian casualties. A version of this brief appears in print on November 14, 2015, on page A6 of the New York edition with the headline: Middle East; Iraq: Explosions Kill 26 in Baghdad. © 2016 The New York Times Company
- 215. 4/25/2016 Triple terror: Up to 60 killed, 80 wounded, 3 car bombs explode in Syrian Christian town — RT News https://www.rt.com/news/325568terrorattacktelltamersyria/ 1/5 ApplicationsﺍﻟﻌﺮﺑﻴﺔESP DE FR И В RTД RUPTLY RSSR QUESTION MORE LIVE 19:14 GMT, Apr 25, 2016 AT LEAST 3 DEAD, 7 INJURED AS BLAST HITS PASSENGER BUS IN ARMENIAN CAPITAL Triple terror: Up to 60 killed, 80 wounded, 3 car bombs explode in Syrian Christian town Published time: 11 Dec, 2015 07:05 Edited time: 11 Dec, 2015 16:19 FILE PHOTO. © SANA / Reuters Three truck bombs killed up to 60 people and injured more than 80 in the town of Tell Tamer in Syria's northeastern Al Hasakah province on Thursday, a spokesman for the Syrian Kurdish YPG has told Reuters. The blasts struck near a Kurdish militia forces field hospital and in the crowded Souk Al Jumla market square, where the majority of the fatalities occurred. Most of the affected people were civilians, but there were some Kurdish and Assyrian self‐defense fighters among them. The vehicles were allegedly packed with large amounts of explosives, which also caused significant damage to nearby buildings and infrastructure. Home / News / Trends Syria unrest ss
- 216. 4/25/2016 Triple terror: Up to 60 killed, 80 wounded, 3 car bombs explode in Syrian Christian town — RT News https://www.rt.com/news/325568terrorattacktelltamersyria/ 2/5 Aftermath of the explosions in the village of Tal Tamer in #Hasakah which took the lives of 30 people & wounded 100+ 4:12 PM 10 Dec 2015 22 4 IraqiSuryani @IraqiSuryani1 Follow “We could understand if they [the terrorists] were fighting with YPG, but they are devastating our city, killing small children, destroying houses… What right do they have [to do it]? They have no right to deprive us of our homes, to bereave children of their fathers,” a woman said in a video filmed soon after the terrorist attacks and published on YouTube by the Ajansa Hawar ANHA news agency. “[Islamic State militants] are killing innocent people… This is not Islam, this is irreligion… They have no compassion, no humanism and no feelings. They are barbarians and no single religion would accept them,” an elderly man said in the same video. ﺗﻣﺭ ﺗﻝ ﻓ ﺫ ﻹﻧﻘ ﺕ ﻋﻣﻠ ﺭ ﺳﺗﻣﺭ Li Til Temir xebatên rizgarkirinê didomin The Kurdish security force, blamed the attack on Islamic State ﴾IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL﴿ in a statement, Reuters reports. The town of Tell Tamer is mainly controlled by Kurdish YPG fighters battling IS in this part of Syria. Later on Friday, IS claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted online, saying three of its fighters driving separate vehicles blew themselves up while targeting "bases" of Kurdish fighters in the town, according to Reuters. The town, also home to an Assyrian Christian community, has become a target of numerous terror attacks and incursions by Islamic State ﴾IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL﴿ militants over the last months. 2Three suicide car bombs exploded in KurdishAssyrian town of curdistani @curdistani Follow
- 217. 4/25/2016 Triple terror: Up to 60 killed, 80 wounded, 3 car bombs explode in Syrian Christian town — RT News https://www.rt.com/news/325568terrorattacktelltamersyria/ 3/5 2Three suicide car bombs exploded in KurdishAssyrian town of Tall Tamir.Civilian deaths are being reported #Syria 2:45 PM 10 Dec 2015 27 5 In September, IS militants organized a series of deadly terror attacks in the town of Hasakah, which killed 39 and injured more than 100. Terrorists targeted the headquarters of the Kurdish militia and pro‐government forces, but most of the victims were civilians, according to TASS. In February, IS terrorists took 200 local Christians hostage and also destroyed five local churches. This caused most of the residents to flee to nearby Hasakah, the governorate’s capital city 600km from Damascus. Kurdish forces and local fighters have temporarily joined forces with the Syrian Army and cleared the region of IS jihadists. The Syrian conflict has taken the lives of more than 250,000 people, according to UN estimates. The humanitarian crisis has internally displaced more than 6.5 million Syrians and forced 4.3 million to flee the country. They have sought refuge in neighboring countries and Europe. READ MORE: Middle East attacks on Christians cause for concern ‐ Russian ombudsman From The Web by Taboola Sponsored Links Salesforce Money.com Morning Finance | LendingTree Quotes Yahoo HelloFresh Wired for Master & Dynamic How Lead Nurturing Works. Get the Complete Guide Grab This Social Security Benefit Now Before It Disappears You're In For A Big Surprise in 2016 If You Own A Home in Michigan All You Need to Know About Reverse Mortgages on Yahoo Search This Service in East Lansing is Changing the Way People Cook at Home Best Wireless Headphones Ever See Also by Taboola Promoted Links Salesforce The ROI of Marketing Automation [EBook] Posting rules FAQ
- 218. 4/24/2016 Turkey car bomb explosion kills at least 34 CNN.com http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/13/world/ankaraparkblast/ 1/3 Ankaracar bomb explosion kills 34; Turkey condemns 'terror attack' Updated 11:22 PM ET, Mon March 14, 2016 By Azadeh Ansari and Gul Tuysuz, CNN Story highlights Turkey's health minister says the blast killed 34 people and wounded at least 125 others "We condemn this terror attack," Turkey's interior minister says The explosion apparently targeted a transit hub, state media says (CNN) — A car bomb explosion ripped through a busy square in the Turkish capital Sunday evening, killing at least 34 people and wounding 125 others, o洃cials said. The death toll could include one or two attackers, Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu said. Scores of police cars, firefighters and medical personnel rushed to the scene. Security forces evacuated the area, the o洃cial Turkish news agency Anadolu reported. "We condemn this terror attack. ... People who carried out this attack will never succeed," Interior Minister Efkan Ala said. "Turkey will overcome. Our determination to fight against terror will never be deterred by attacks like this." President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed regional Explosion rocks Turkish capital 03:35 World + Live TV
- 219. 4/24/2016 Turkey car bomb explosion kills at least 34 CNN.com http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/13/world/ankaraparkblast/ 2/3 PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdogan blamed regional instability for the violence. "When terror organizations and the ones who use them as a tool start losing their fight against the security forces," he said, "they apply the most cruel methods and target our innocent people." Authorities haven't released details about who they believe was behind the blast. February: Kurdish militants claim deadly Ankara blast "It's too early to talk about who carried out this attack. The investigation is ongoing," a senior Turkish o洃cial said. "Our priority right now is the wounded." The explosion apparently targeted a transportation hub where bus stops and a metro station are located in the Kizilay neighborhood, Anadolu said. A bombing that targeted military vehicles in the capital in February killed at least 28 people. Last week, the U.S. Embassy in Ankara warned of a possible terrorist plot to strike government buildings in the capital's Bahcelievler neighborhood, which is just a few minute's drive from the square where Sunday's explosion occurred. CNN's Gul Tuysuz reported from Istanbul and Azadeh Ansari wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Catherine E. Shoichet and journalist Isil Sariyuce contributed to this report. 9 photos: Blast in Turkish capital of Ankara Prince: A musical family tree I'm on the U.S. "Kill List," Pakistani elder claims A quiz! A quiz! My kingdom for a Shakespeare quiz
- 220. Taliban assault kills 28, wounds 300 in Kabul Jane OnyangaOmara and John Bacon, USA TODAY 4:18 p.m. EDT April 19, 2016 Explosions and gunfire ripped through the Afghan capital of Kabul on Tuesday as the Taliban spring offensive's most brutal assault yet left dozens dead and wounded hundreds more. The United Nations special representative for Afghanistan said the attack "may amount to war crimes." The streets were bustling during morning rush when a suicide bomber detonated a vehicle laden with explosives near the compound of a government secret service unit whose role is to protect VIPs, Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said. Militants then rushed into the building, sparking a gunfight with security forces that lasted more than two hours, local broadcaster TOLOnews reported. At least 28 people were killed and more than 300 wounded, Rahimi said. He added that most of the victims were civilians, including women and children, and that many of the wounded were in critical condition. Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said at least one of the attackers was killed in a gun battle, the Associated Press reported. President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack, which started about 9 a.m. local time. Atta Mohammad Noor, the acting governor of northern Balkh province, encouraged residents to launch a massive public uprising against the Taliban, Pajhwok news service reported. USA TODAY Taliban warnof attacks in new fighting season (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/04/12/talibanwarnattacksnew fightingseason/82929080/) Kabul Police and other security forces are in Pule Mahmoud Khan after the suicide bomb, MOI will release more updates 1:26 AM 19 Apr 2016 10 35 Sediq Sediqqi @moispokesman Follow Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the assault. The Taliban has stepped up attacks since announcing the start of its spring offensive dubbed "Operation Omari" a week ago. Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar is believed to have died of illness in 2013. The terror group didn't acknowledge his death until last year. Tadamichi Yamamoto, the secretarygeneral’s deputy special representative for Afghanistan, said the attack demonstrated the Taliban's "complete disregard for the lives of Afghan civilians." He also said the attack, “ in circumstances almost certain to cause immense suffering to civilians," might be considered a war crime. Police commander Obaidullah Tarakhail told AP he couldn't hear or see for 20 minutes after the initial blast. “This was one of the most powerful explosions I have ever heard,” he said. "All around was dark and covered with thick smoke and dust." The U.S. Embassy in Kabul condemned the "senseless act of violence" that it said underscores the brutality of the Taliban. attack hits Kabul Security Agency hundreds (Photo: Rahmat Gul, AP)
- 221.
- 222. Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1U4arzI Afghanistan Overview Sources: World Bank: World Development Indicators | CIA World Fact Book. World Map Capital City Kabul Type of Government Islamic Republic Primary Languages Afghan Persian or Dari Pashto Currency Afghani PopulationGDP per Capita Land Area square kilometers 31.6 MILLION $633.60 652,860 Key Facts See more details ›