Analysis: US Media Coverage Of Gaza Invasion Largely Biased Towards Israel

Israel launched its much-anticipated invasion of Gaza on Saturday. For over a week, U.S. media had provided largely one-sided coverage of the conflict, with little editorializing or commentary arguing against broader Israeli actions.

Most notably, after more than eight days of Israeli bombing and Hamas rocket launching in Gaza, The New York Times had produced exactly one editorial, not a single commentary by any of its columnists, and only two op-eds (one already published elsewhere). The editorial, several days ago, did argue against the wisdom of a ground invasion - - but even though that invasion had become ever more likely all week the paper did not return to this subject.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[Ides]

It was interesting to see a report on the Gaza/Israeli conflict with no mention of Gazan casualties on CNN. Kind of made me scratch my head.

Reminds me of the Israeli-Lebanese "war" of 2006.

[JoeDoorman]

There are 3 major newspapers in New York City where I live. The NYTimes-in­tellectual liberal, the Daily News-working man-liberal, and the NYPost-fic­tion/conse­rvative. These papers don’t agree on anything and project openly a dislike for each other. The Times and the Daily News are more aligned, but the NYPost hates them both. The one and only topic they all agree on is Israel. All Arabs are “thugs or terrorist” and Israel is a beacon of hope for all mankind. New Yorkers know more about what’s going on in Tel Aviv then Washington DC.

There are exceptions like when Israeli President Moshe Katsav stepped down because of rape charges…. total silence.

[GrainOSand]

There is a narrative, pro or con that Hamas is wrong in this conflict and those on either side go on and on about why or why not. Israel has a right to exist because it does exist. Let no one spill a drop of blood of an Israeli citizen.

Hamas admittedly fired rockets into Israel with the hope of inflicting damage. They did not do this because they have a death wish is the next consideration or conclusion one comes to -- very quickly. They call them (those labeled as such by those with supposedly terror free, blood free hands) fanatics -- to dehumanize them. Notice, they show the picture of a dead and mangled terrorist but not that of a dead and mangled warrior fighting on the side of all that is good and just in this world? The reason for that (I believe) is the not so subliminal message that the dead mangled mess before you was not human and deserved to look like what you see before your eyes. That dead mangled mess in no way compares to the death of the soldier or citizen on the side of whomever controls the telling of the story. One must ask who is that dead mangled mess. One must ask why is Hamas directing rocket fire into Israel. One must ask when does it become better to be a dead mangled mess than a live human being worthy of dignified death with no pictures.

Pros and cons.

[WorkingClass]

Thank you Huffington Post for this piece. And for keeping this story in the Headlines.

[CLEDUC]

After thousands of rocket have been launched at them by Hamas, my sympathies are with Israel. If someone was shooting at you, would you wait until you get hit before you returned fire? I just can't fault Israel for taking a stand. How many rockets from Canada would the US accept before they shot back?

It takes two to fight so I'm well aware of the history and how one can point the finger at Israel for their share of wrongdoing. But the conflict seems to be endless. Hamas wanted a fight. Now they got one. Unfortunately in war, it often isn't "fair". Sadly people die until one side or the other says enough and peace can be restored.

I think Israel should take the chance that after a clean out of Hamas, they might get some level of peace restored. I'm inclined to be supportive of letting this run it's course if the conflict doesn't escalate to other parties getting involved.

[justice2009]

American taxpayers give Israel $7 million per day, see http://www.ifamericansknew.org/download/GazaDec08.pdf

[Savanna]

This situation in Gaza is the worst. Can't news people report what they see..suffe­ring, death, and
horror. Who is producing the most horror? There are 500 Palestines dead and one Israeli troop as of this night's report. I have to ask all you people what would you do if this was you and your family?
You can say that this will never happen to you and maybe it won't , but to be fair and honest about
the situation, can you imagine what it is like to live in a ghetto (Gaza) and then be invaded because
you live there, and there are a few people living among you who really hate the people that put you there. They are causing all the trouble in Gaza, the ones who fight those who put you there. What do
you think, you who live and work in this world about this situation.

[NickfromCali]

Geez, next thing HuffPo will tell us is that the sun rises in the east.

Or that the Bay Area press kowtows towards Sen. Dianne Feinstein

[emerywood]

But, of-course, this is no news compared to China suppressing Tibetans a while back.
What else is new ? Who says the media has to be neutral ?

[PhilipTaylor]

Not only the media is biased, every Senator on the Sunday talk shows uses the same talking points whether Rep or Dem!

Very SAD!

[realitycheck7]

of course it is, just like US policy is biased towards Israel

Do you honestly think we actually have an independent media?????

take a look at the zombified coverage of the run up to the Iraq war

no questions whatsoever

[xxnounxx]

This is reality,it will take some time to go through it. would american media show 1% of this?
http://www.nogw.com/isrealiatrocities.html

[MideastDove]

No counterpoint to all the praise for Israel on all 4 Sunday morning news shows.

99% of American's think they get all the information they need to make a decision.

Fact is, they don't have to think, because they only get one point of view to consider.

[SnapShots]

Just yesterday, one of the cable news networks was still educating America on Israel/Gaza geography, saying things like, "This is a map and here is Israel and here is the Gaza strip and here is the border and this is Gaza and this is the north part of Gaza and this is the south part of Gaza and here's our Google satellite photo ... see there are lots of buildings in Gaza City and lots of people living in those buildings.­"

Having an uninterrupted sit-down interview with a Palestinian or two is beyond their capacity.

[xxnounxx]

INTELIGENT EDUCATED CIVILISED PEOPLE WOULD NEVER INSULT THEMSELVES BY RELYING ON US MEDIA TO TELL THEM THE TRUTH.
BBC
ALJAZEERA
REUTERS
FRANS PRESS
MBC MIDDLE-EAST
ITALIAN NEWS
SPANISH NEWS
ALL COUNTRIES OUTSIDE OF THE AMERISREAL EMPIRE..WI­LL SHOW THE TRUTH,,START WITH THE LIST ABOVE