Jan
01
2013

Hating the Oppressed in Gaza

Victims become villains in U.S. coverage

BBC journalist Jihad Masharawi's 11-month-old son Omar died after shrapnel hit the family home in Gaza; the BBC did not devote a story to Masharawi's loss until 10 days later (Photo source: AP)

Malcolm X once said, “If you aren’t careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.” Nowhere is this warning more relevant than in the corporate media’s one-sided coverage of Israel’s latest assault on Gaza, which left 160 Palestinians dead, including 105 civilians and 34 children (Palestine Centre for Human Rights). In stark contrast, rockets fired into Israel claimed the lives of four Israeli civilians and two soldiers. One civilian death is one too many, no matter which side suffers, but a kill rate of nearly 27 Palestinians [...]

Nov
23
2012

Yousef Munayyer on Gaza, Amy Goodman on 'The Silenced Majority'

counterspin-nov23

CounterSpin talks to Yousef Munayyer, the director of Washington, D.C.'s Jerusalem Fund, about what happens when the smoke clears in Gaza. And we'll talk to Amy Goodman about her new book, The Silenced Majority, and what she thinks media needs to do to serve the public.

Oct
26
2012

Stephen Zunes on foreign policy debate; Yifat Susskind on Iraq War’s toxic legacy

The final presidential debate, addressing international issues, managed to promote several falsehood about U.S. foreign policy. And: The toxic legacy of the Iraq War. New research, largely unreported in U.S. media, shows alarming levels of toxic lead, heavy metals and a massive increase in birth defects in the city of Fallujah, the site of two major offensives by the U.S. military.

May
16
2012

NYT's Jerusalem Bureau Has New Conflict of Interest

Reporter's husband's job is to influence her coverage

The New York Times' Jerusalem bureau was embroiled in controversy two years ago when news broke that bureau chief Ethan Bronner had a son who enlisted in the Israeli army (Extra!, 4/10). As Bronner wraps up his tenure, a new conflict of interest has arisen: Bureau reporter Isabel Kershner's spouse works to promote favorable coverage of Israel at an Israeli government-linked think tank that Kershner frequently quotes. As an article by Alex Kane in the May 2012 issue of Extra! reports, Kershner's husband, Hirsh Goodman, is a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), an institution [...]

May
01
2012

New Conflict of Interest at NYT Jerusalem Bureau

Isabel Kershner’s family tie to pro-government think tank

Photo Credit: New York Times

After the news broke that New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief Ethan Bronner had a son who enlisted in the Israeli army (Extra!, 4/10), Times public editor Clark Hoyt noted (2/6/10) that it was problematic for Bronner to continue reporting on “one of the world’s most intense” conflicts while his son took up arms for one side. Hoyt spoke to a former Times Jerusalem bureau chief, David Shipler, who stressed the importance of disclosing this relationship to readers. Bronner is now close to the end of his tenure in Jerusalem. But two years after that controversy, the New York Times [...]

Jun
01
2011

The Goldstone Report's Non-Retraction Retraction

Should a newspaper op-ed cancel a UN investigation of Gaza crimes?

Richard Goldstone--Photo Credit: Fordham University

When it was released in September 2009, the United Nations Human Rights Council investigative document known as the Goldstone Report offered a detailed, shocking accounting of Israel’s 2008-09 invasion of the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of civilians were killed, scores of buildings were leveled, and water and sanitation infrastructure was attacked. The meticulous cataloguing received modest coverage in the corporate media. Then on April 3, 2011, the report’s namesake—retired South African judge Richard Goldstone, who headed a four-person investigative commission—took to the pages of the Washington Post op-ed section to announce he’d had a change of heart. (The Post, perhaps sensing [...]

May
20
2011

Ali Abunimah on Palestinian protests, Glenn Greenwald from FAIR's 25th Anniversary

By

Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: The Israeli defense minister says that major protests like those on Israel's borders May 15th require new responses; but what if anything is new about US journalists' approach to Palestinian protests and rights? Journalist Ali Abunimah of Electronic Intifada will join us to talk about that. Also on the show: We'll play part of Glenn Greenwald's address at FAIR's recent 25th Anniversary celebration at Symphony Space in New York City. The Salon writer shared his thoughts on the media with a standing room only crowd; he shared the stage with Amy Goodman, Noam Chomsky [...]

Apr
08
2011

Harold Meyerson on Paul Ryan, Lizzy Ratner on Goldstone Report

By

Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin:. Republican Budget Committee chair Paul Ryan unveiled his party's budget plan this week. Media consumers learned that Ryan is gutsy, that he's serious as a heart attack, that the plan is bold and sweeping... but what would it mean for peoples' lives? And what would reporting look like if it stayed focused on that. We'll talk to Harold Meyerson of the Washington Post and the American Prospect about the 'vision' in the Ryan budget, which Meyerson says isn't really about the deficit at all. Also on CounterSpin today, seemingly out of nowhere media were [...]

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