So you don’t believe that the imperialist bourgeois media takes an active interest in framing the information you consume on a daily basis? Think its all about being “fair and balanced?”Most recently, the Western bourgeois media made good use of the Zionist entity’s blatant attack on a civilian aid flotilla delivering humanitarian aid and other needed supplies to the oppressed Palestinian people of the Gaza Strip to further convey the imagery of a “civilized” Jewish state under siege from rampaging “terrorists.” The abysmal media treatment, particularly in the United States, often times went so far as to portray the Zionists’ actions as nothing out of the ordinary and a wholly defensive measure aimed at protecting Israeli sovereignty and interests. But the love-affair between the privately-owned media and the monstrosity that is the Zionist entity is nothing new, and in fact, is often remarkably transparent. This much was evident amidst the media coverage surrounding the December 2008 invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israel, which ultimately resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent Palestinians and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructural damage. Many may remember the typical commentary and headlines from mainstream news media outlets absolving Tel Aviv for its outrageously violent campaign of terror against the Gaza Strip; including several dozen headlines which admonished the Palestinians for provoking Israel to attack and defend itself.

But even beyond times of heightened or aggravated conflict, the bourgeois media has taken up the task of consistently portraying the criminal Zionist regime as a victim, not an aggressor, in the occupied territories. Nowhere has this been more apparent in the mainstream media’s entirely subjective coverage of deaths on either side of the ongoing conflict.

A simple survey of mainstream coverage by the US media demonstrates the overwhelming and pervasive bias in the overall treatment of Israel in all questions pertaining to the conflict in the occupied territories. One area where the bias becomes most painfully clear is the focus on media coverage surrounding reported deaths among Israeli Jews versus Palestinian Arabs as a result of violent conflict.

Among the worst offenders was the Associated Press (AP), the premiere news agency in the United States providing news and information to millions of people across the globe on a daily basis, while also distributing much of the international and national news content for hundreds of local daily news papers throughout the US, in addition to popular search engine news aggregators, such as Google and Yahoo.

According to the 2004 media report sponsored by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), the Associated Press covered the death of Israeli Jews, on average, 7.5 times more often than the deaths of Palestinian Arabs. This number becomes particularly unusual when one looks at the data for all deaths resulting from conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians for that year. According to a separate report from the “Remember These Children” foundation, in 2004, a total of 821 Palestinian Arabs were killed at the hands of the Jewish occupying forces. However, the Associated Press reported only 543 deaths in its headlines and first lead paragraphs, the information most often consumed by readers, for the entire year. Conversely, the AP included 141 separate headlines and first paragraph reports on Israeli deaths, while a mere 108 Israeli Jews were reportedly killed as a result of deadly conflict. In other words, despite the fact that 700 more Palestinian Arabs died as a result of violent conflicts in 2004 (821 to 108), Israeli deaths were reported in the news 131% of the time; while Palestinian deaths were reported a mere 66% of the time.

Similar trends were also seen among the reported deaths of children. In 2004, the AP newswire covered the deaths of Israeli/Jewish children 7.5% more often than their Palestinian counterparts, despite the fact that more Palestinian children died as a result of violent conflicts that year.

Further evidence pointing to the pro-Zionist sentiments and attitudes of the bourgeois media can also be found in the extensive coverage related to the construction of illegal Israeli colonies and settlements in the occupied territories following 1967. Rather than go so far as to re-frame the controversial construction of Israeli settlements at the expense of displaced Palestinians, the Western bourgeois media has instead resorted to a highly selective and ambiguous coverage, often failing to inform readers that Israeli settlements are indeed built on Palestinian lands; that Palestinian families are often forced to evacuate their homes, places of business and property in general, more often than not at gunpoint, in order to clear the way for illegal Israeli settlements. In fact, a 2008 survey of British media coverage regarding questions related to the construction of Israeli colonial-settlements in the occupied territories among Britain’s four most highly-circulated daily newspapers found that:

• 73% of articles failed to mention that settlements were constructed on occupied territory;
• 93% of articles failed to mention that settlements were constructed on Palestinian territory;
• 87% of articles failed to mention that settlement construction was illegal and in violation of existing peace agreements;
• 80% of articles failed to provide any context whatsoever in terms of the broader issues and problems association with the construction of Israeli settlements.
Equally absent from the mainstream bourgeois media reporting is the ongoing campaign by Zionist occupation authorities in Tel Aviv to implement a comprehensive de-population effort aimed at decimating the Palestinian Arab population of occupied Al-Quds (East Jerusalem) in order to firmly establish and consolidate Israeli hegemony in the ancient city. So what conclusions may we draw from this? Firstly, there is in fact an unequivocal and unapologetic pro-Zionist and pro-Israel bias rife within the institution of the bourgeois media. Secondly, a privately-owned media represents only the interests of the ruling elite and cares little to nothing about objectivity, truth or, for that matter, journalism. The bourgeois media, one of the most powerful tools in the arsenal of the ruling class, will undoubtedly continue to serve as the effective mechanism for fomenting support for the Zionist entity no matter what its crimes or how many lives it destroy, just as it has since the very creation of the Zionist abomination.

Sources:

Entman, Robert M. (2007) Framing Bias: Media in the Distribution of Power.

Journal of Communications (57, 1), 163-173.

Remember These Children Foundation (www.rememberthesechildren.org)

Gabriel, Guy. (2008). Monitoring Study: British Media Coverage of Israeli Settlements.

Categories: Colonialism, Imperialism, Imperialist War, International, Israel, Palestine, Racism, Racist Oppression, Zionism