Media

Media Distortions and the UN Report on Jenin

The UN report provides no new information to those who are seriously interested in the truth of what happened in Jenin last April. To the Israelis it provides another propaganda coup and plenty of misleading headlines clearing it of any fault, to Kofi Annan and the UN it provides a welcome end to an embarrassing and politically awkward chapter, and to Palestinians it proves yet again that for Israel impunity, not law, is the rule. 

Radio Sawa: All dressed up with nowhere to go

The Electronic Intifada’s Ali Abunimah is currently in Amman, Jordan and tuning into the latest US government propaganda effort, Radio Sawa. One would have hoped that one of the seeds of hope planted in the rubble of the World Trade Center would have been a reevaluation of America’s activities in the Middle East. Apparently, Britney Spears and censored news were a better idea. Oh dear. Turn up that taxi radio, ya habibi. 

Half-truths and double-talk

The IDF spokesman’s credibility hit an all-time low after the house demolitions in Rafah. This time, the incredulity extended well beyond the usual circle of skeptics comprised of Palestinians, foreign journalists, human rights organizations and inveterate leftists. 

What the US papers say

The US papers continue to cover the crisis in the Middle East in great detail, with most featuring the latest developments on their front page. However, the overall tone appears to be fairly balanced with most papers going out of their way to give a detached view. 

Craven images: Israel obsessed with its PR image – not with morality

Television functions as a continuation of the fight by other means - the organizers of the Palestinian uprising are directors of genius and manipulators of public opinion; the army chief of staff gives out video cameras to soldiers, Israel perceives itself as the victim of a media ambush. The question that keeps coming back to “our” television stations who have been drafted “for our side” is how is it that only “we” see the outrageous gap between the way things appear to be and the way they are, between semblance and essence. 

"The world is against us"

THE MOST popular Israeli pop song in the 1970s was The World Is Against Us. It was hardly a masterpiece: the rather simplistic message was accompanied by an equally banal tune. These were the halcyon days of the PLO in the international arena and the 1975 General Assembly resolution which defined Zionism as a form of racism. 

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