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Is Combating Media Bias Possible?

(JNS) Jonathan S. Tobin - One week after the New York Times put a horrifying yet completely misleading picture of a Palestinian Arab child on its front page to illustrate a story that lent weight to the false claim that Israel was deliberately starving people in Gaza, it had an opportunity to put an equally awful photo in the same spot. Hamas released videos depicting two of the remaining Israeli hostages who look as if they are actually starving. But the Times chose not to highlight this atrocity on their front page, though it was front-page news in Israel. The story was not considered significant enough to warrant inclusion in the print edition of the paper. The online version failed to mention that the video showed one of the Israelis being forced to dig what was said to be his own grave. The treatment of these two images not only demonstrates the editorial judgement that the Times employs when covering the conflict, but it is typical of most legacy print, broadcast and cable outlets in the U.S. and throughout the West. Such bias shows their determination to mimic Hamas talking points and to trash Israel and its government, even when the story's main focus is the atrocious behavior of the Palestinians. Those engaged in the daily struggle in the information war should not be laboring under the delusion that clever media strategies are the answer. An international press that is heavily influenced by the bizarre red-green alliance of European Marxists and Islamist immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa isn't interested in honest journalism about Israel. That's just as true of American outlets like the Times and other legacy media. The reason why they are so quick to buy Hamas's lies is that they have already largely abandoned journalism for activism. No amount of devoted media monitoring is going to convince them to correct their mistakes or to acknowledge their bias and change their ways. Hamas terrorists are holding on because they believe that Western public opinion will save them. The only way to thwart that strategy is to eliminate Hamas in Gaza, even as much of the world tells Jerusalem it can't be done. Accomplishing that is the only way to prevent future massacres and keep Israel secure.
2025-08-07 00:00:00
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