Gaza media update for 10 January 2009.

"Most of the world's attention is riveted by the war in Gaza, the raw sights and sounds of which are brought home most vividly by the coverage provided by Al Jazeera's English and Arabic channels. Here in the US however, the Gaza story is seldom the lead on the major evening news programmes. The mainstream media is too squeamish to show the reality of war - the blood, the pain, the screaming children. And US cable networks and satellite systems seem afraid to allow Al Jazeera English into their lineup of channels, quailing at the prospect of a political backlash from far right-wing, self-appointed media 'watchdogs' who caricature Al Jazeera as 'terror TV'." Rob Reynolds, Aljazeera.net, 10 January 2009.
     "Compare Al-Jazeera English and Al-Jazeera in Arabic; you'll see a vast difference in the slant on reporting of the Israeli incursions in Gaza." Johan Jaafaar, New Straits Times, 10 January 2009.
     "The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Israeli military's bombing today of a Gaza City building that houses the offices of a number of international news organizations." CPJ, 9 January 2009.
     "The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called on the world of journalism to raise its voice in protest over Israeli government pressure on media trying to cover the Gaza conflict. ... According to media reports, journalists for most television networks are broadcasting from a hill outside Sderot, and relying on Gazan journalists to serve as their eyes and ears. Meanwhile, Israel's sophisticated communications operation provides beleagured media staff with contacts, fact books full of charts and statistics, tours of the south of Israel and interviews with the Israeli victims of rocket attacks from Gaza." IFJ, 9 January 2009. "The Al-Johara Tower, an eight-storey building in Al-Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City, was hit twice by Israeli aircraft, even though the building was clearly marked as housing media staff." IFJ, 10 January 2009.
     "The Press TV Gaza bureau has been destroyed by IDF troops... No fatalities have been recorded, also attacked is the Arab station Al-Arrabya all located on the western strip of Gaza. There are more Press TV journalists in Gaza covering the events than any other international media station. Press TV has been one of the few international news networks able to broadcast live feeds of the Israeli attacks in Gaza." London Daily News, 9 January 2009.
     "Arab countries are broadcasting graphic images of the violence in Gaza on their state-sponsored television stations in order to mask their own failure to do anything tangible to stop the Israeli military operation. The end result, however, is the demonizing of an already hated enemy without advancing solutions." Jalal Ghazi, New American Media, 9 January 2009.
     "The Lebanese broadcast media are unapologetic for their flagrant political factionalism. ... These differences have now been brushed over with new strokes of solidarity prompted by the ongoing coverage of Israel's war on Gaza." Daily Star (Beirut), 10 January 2009.
     "Since the beginning of Operation Cast Lead on December 27, Palestinians have been receiving phone calls from the Israeli army almost daily, warning them against dealing with Hamas, and asking them to provide information about people involved in the movement. Gazans are also saying that many of the phone calls are an attempt to make them believe that the Israeli army would completely destroy Hamas in their assault on Gaza" Menassat, 8 January 2009. Another Gaza resident received "a phone call from an Israeli official who warned her in Arabic: 'You will see more. This is not enough. This is because of Hamas.'" The Province, 9 January 2009.
     Video clip "shows Hamas urging its citizens, including children, to go to a house to act as 'human shields,' after Israeli security forces, in an effort to limit civilian casualties, called the owner to inform him that the house was to be bombed." Mitchell Bard, Huffington Post, 9 January 2009.
     "Israel begins each war with a host of English-speaking spokespersons (many born in the West) available at any time for every media outlet (it's no accident, for example, that Israel has an 'Arab' Consul General in Atlanta - that's where CNN is). The work of their propaganda operation, which spreads multiple spokespersons in venues across the United States with consistent talking points, guarantees success." James Zogby, Huffington Post, 9 January 2009.
     "Throughout the two-week bombardment of the Gaza Strip most journalists have been kept out by the Israeli government on the pretext of security. ... That meant, at least in the early days of the bombardment, that reporters who would have been in Gaza were instead reporting from Israeli towns and cities under fire from Hamas, and Israeli officials found it easier to get themselves in front of a television camera. An Israeli official told me they were delighted at a BBC TV correspondent broadcasting from Ashkelon in a flak jacket, reinforcing the impression that the Israeli city is a war zone when there is more chance of being hit by a car than a rocket. ... Palestinian TV producer Rushdi Abu Alouf has become the unlikely star of the BBC's Gaza coverage after Israel banned foreign correspondents entering the territory, preventing Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen from taking the helm. Although unknown to most British viewers, Abu Alouf has worked for the BBC for more than five years and is a familiar voice on the BBC Arabic service." Chris McGreal, The Guardian, 10 January 2009.
     "Quantitatively, Israel is at an information-dissemination disadvantage by virtue of its small size and that of the sum of its supporters worldwide. This is not new, nor is it the main problem. Public diplomacy on the part of people unwilling to lie in order to convey a message simply has to be heavier on the brains than on the brawn. It's a challenge, to be sure, but one that is as accepted as it is assumed." Ruthie Blum Leibowitz, Jerusalem Post, 8 January 2009.
     "Israel understands how western media works, how best to utilise its blind spots and prejudices. Israel clearly has the vision, the networking capacity and the resources to use world media to full effect. If I were the marketing manager of an ailing global product, I'd be taking notes. And we can only wonder what such talents could achieve if only the end goal were really peace, not war." Rachel Shabi, The Guardian Comment is Free, 10 January 2009.
     More Gaza-related items can be found at John Brown's Public Diplomacy Press and Blog Review. See previous post about same subject. Posted: 11 Jan 2009 Permalink Print