Wednesday, October 26, 2005

THE NYT'S SUBTLE BIAS

Keeping a "Tight Lid" on Israel's Side of the Story (TimesWatch)

Greg Myre reports from Jerusalem Tuesday, noting that an "Envoy in Mideast Peace Effort Says Israel Is Keeping Too Tight a Lid on Palestinians in Gaza." He's talking about United Nations special envoy James Wolfensohn, who noted Israel is limiting movement of Palestinians to and from the Gaza Strip.

Myre's story is a catchall summary of recent violence by Palestinians and countermeasures by Israeli troops, but features just one sentence explaining why Israel feels the need to crack down -- including the recent massacre of three young Israelis: "[Foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev] said progress had been delayed by the turmoil on the Gaza-Egypt border and a recent Palestinian shooting attack in the West Bank that killed three young Israelis. 'The Palestinians must also do more to help us, and that means they have to act against their extremists,' Mr. Regev said."

US News & World Reporter editor Mort Zuckerman has a different angle, putting more emphasis on the lives of Israel's citizens rather than focusing single-mindedly on Palestinian economic woes and inconvenience.

He points out: "Israel voluntarily removed roadblocks; so terrorists in a Fatah group, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, put stolen Israeli license plates on a car, sped by a crowd at a hitching post, and opened fire with automatic weapons. Three young Israelis, including a 15-year-old, were killed, and four others were wounded. Now the entire Palestinian population will have to bear the burden of tighter Israeli security. To protect its citizens, Israel has to ban all private Palestinian cars from the main roads, rebuild roadblocks and barriers throughout Judea and Samaria, and end the turnover of West Bank towns (especially Bethlehem) to the Palestinian Authority."

MediaCrity has posted a revealing series of emails back and forth to Times' reporters and editors about the paper's pro-Palestinian Middle East coverage. To no avail, apparently.

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