Daily Alert Archives

Hamas Cheerleaders: Professional Failures of the Western Media in Gaza

(Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies-Bar-Ilan University) Eytan Gilboa - The continuous dissemination of inaccurate data on civilian casualties by the Western media represents a major professional failure. Interestingly, Chinese and Indian networks exposed the relevant context so missing from the Western media coverage - the unprecedented Israeli efforts to minimize civilian casualties and the systematic use of civilians as human shields by Hamas. Who would believe that CCTV, the communist-run Chinese television network, would cover Gaza in a more balanced way than the British BBC? This suggests that the Western media is biased against Israel. The distorted and misleading coverage of the Gaza conflict contributed to the hasty calls made by political leaders, UN officials and NGOs to prosecute Israel for war crimes. It also contributed to the mass hate demonstrations in Europe and to the sharp rise in anti-Semitic incidents. Given the systematic, biased and inaccurate coverage of Gaza in the Guardian and the Independent, it is not surprising that Britain has become the world center for hatred and anti-Israel demonstrations and boycotts. The Western media betrayed their audiences who deserve to receive accurate information on Gaza. They should be held accountable for their skewed coverage. Prof. Eytan Gilboa is Director of the School of Communication and Director of the Center for International Communication at Bar-Ilan University.
2014-08-15 00:00:00
Full Article