Pimping Hezbollah: Media bias done well [View All]

[JohnLocke]

Pimping Hezbollah: Media bias done well
By Bradley Burston -- Haaretz
Monday, July 31, 2006
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Say you knew nothing of this Lebanon war. Say you were looking for an authoritative, judiciously balanced, in-depth account of a blindingly complex conflict. The big picture, from both sides. A natural choice might have been to look first to Time Magazine.
Look again.
Time's July 31 issue opens its cover story on the Israel-Hezbollah war with a remarkable photo gallery entitled "The Damage Done," each two-page spread superbly filled by a single riveting shot.
The first photograph shows in shattering detail a south Beirut apartment block ripped to splinters by Israeli bombs.
The second shows a badly burned Lebanese woman being comforted by her brother, both in anguish after an IAF strike that killed their mother and sister.
Then there are the Israelis. The concluding shot does not show Israelis under rocket fire or wounded by Katyushas. In fact, the most remarkable element of the Time report is that one could read the magazine cover to cover and never know that any Israelis had been killed and injured in their homes, in the street, in a train depot, by Hezbollah missiles.
No, the concluding shot is of a squad of Israeli commandos, armed to the menacing eyes, bracing to invade Lebanon.
Later, for balance, there is a photo shoot entitled Inside Hezbollah, which opens with members of Hezbollah's al-Mahdi scouts youth organization giving a straight-arm salute. Captions describe the group as "somewhat like the Boy Scouts" and "a popular and exclusive training ground for future leaders" pictured pledging "their commitment to martyrdom."
On a camping trip, another caption tells us "Here they were asked to create art projects; the boys made a Star of David out of stones so that anyone entering their tent would have to step on it.
Photographer Alexandra Avakian, who, the spread tells us, "found her subjects to be gracious and accommodating."
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