Pimping Hezbollah: Media bias done well

[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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Read the rest here.

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Did you read anything about the Israeli soldiers who are refusing to fight

[JohnLocke]

2. Yes (nt).

[Kagemusha]

3. You do realize the damage the IDF does is much greater, right?

It's a real military. It doesn't just play one on TV. If a photo is being shown about damage, there are no burned out hulks of Israeli apartment buildings shown because THERE AREN'T ANY.

[Taxloss]

4. Here's a photo:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/740309.html

It was the second link from a Google search for "Israel Katyusha damage". I'm sure you'll find moe in the 283,000 other results, but 99% of those are results are probably a waste of time.

[Kagemusha]

7. Juuuuuuuust a minor difference in scale of property damage here.

Real shame about the two people killed by rockets cited in the article. But there's um, no equal comparison between strikes that are of very unequal power and accuracy.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Taxloss]

12. Let me see if I have this right.

1. We flame each other; me first, admittedly;
2. A few days later you stalk me onto another, unrelated, thread and attack me there;
3. I send you a courteous PM asking you why you did this; if I remember correctly the text ran "I don't understand your responses on this thread, if I've done anything to offend you I apologise"
4. You send me a very nasty PM explaining about our previous exchange of flames and saying don't contact me again;
5. I send a one line response saying "That explains it. I advise against glass houses"
6. I ignore you (it's a function where you can blank out contributions from DUers you don't like, try it some time)
7. You decide to stalk me across half a dozen unrelated threads
8. I alert the mods and ignore you again.

Grudges shorten the life. That's why I don't bear them.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. Any explanation for this?

[Lars39]

6. Like there's not people who are encouraged to spread

out over the internet and pimp Israel?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,174-2289232,00.html

<snip>Israel’s Government has thrown its weight behind efforts by supporters to counter what it believes to be negative bias and a tide of pro-Arab propaganda. The Foreign Ministry has ordered trainee diplomats to track websites and chatrooms so that networks of US and European groups with hundreds of thousands of Jewish activists can place supportive messages.

In the past week nearly 5,000 members of the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS) have downloaded special “megaphone” software that alerts them to anti-Israeli chatrooms or internet polls to enable them to post contrary viewpoints. A student team in Jerusalem combs the web in a host of different languages to flag the sites so that those who have signed up can influence an opinion survey or the course of a debate<snip>

[breakaleg]

8. Perhaps the report seems one-sided because the war and damage is also?

Look at the number of Lebanese deaths compared to the Israeli's.
Look at the damage of homes, buildings, roads, infrastructure of Lebanon compared to Israel.

Perhaps it's just a case of accurate reporting. For once..

[niyad]

11. If I am looking for "authoritative, in-depth, balanced reporting" it ISN'T

Time magazine to which I will turn as a "natural choice". what an absurd notion.

[oc2002]

13. no thanks, I have had all the pro-Israeli propabanda from FOX already.

nt.