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| Title: | BAGELS and other things of Jewish interest |
| Notice: | 1.0 policy, 280.0 directory, 32.0 registration |
| Moderator: | SMURF::FENSTER |
|
| Created: | Mon Feb 03 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Thu Jun 05 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 1524 |
| Total number of notes: | 18709 |
644.0. "Changing The Wording / "Selling Newspapers"" by CURIE::FEINBERG (Don Feinberg) Wed Feb 15 1989 11:55
Over the last couple of years, I've had a real problem with distortion
of the news from Israel in the Boston Globe. Here is an analysis of a
real "classic", which was discovered by CAMERA (The Committee for
Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America).
First, you must understand where this story came from.
Globe editors cite as evidence of their objective Mid-east coverage
the use of many news sources -- including the Washington Post/L. A.
Times wire service.
This is a story which the Globe got from the "Post/Times" service. In
fact, they ran it with the L. A. Times' author's by-line as if it
were a direct copy.
This note is a way of showing what they really did with it.
I've entered below both articles in their entirety. The LA Times
article is first, followed by the Globe version. You will probably
want to print this out, as it is kind of long for reading on the
screen.
If you have a little patience, what you will see is what did the Globe
really did:
o The Globe deleted key passages, and modified the text, changing
the meaning of the story
The deleted passages tell the reader that:
. The army had carefully avoided the confrontation that week
. Palestinian leaders were alarmed at the decreasing violence
. Rioters were incited in the mosques to attack Israelis
. The re-igniting of violence was deliberate and organized
o Paragraphs are re-arranged to shift the emphasis away from a story
of extreme provocation to the Israelis:
. Names and hometowns of Palestinian casualties were moved from
the very end of the account in the original to near the
begining of the Globe version.
. The diluted references to provocation were moved to the end of
the story.
o Both stories were run with big pictures. The picture with the LA
Times article was of "West Bank Youths hurling stones from behind
a damaged car". The picture run in the Globe was "A Palestinian
Woman screams as the body of a 14-year old boy is carried down a
street in the West Bank Town of Nablus. The boy had been shot
Page 2
dead yesterday by Israeli soldiers."
The Boston Globe's photo ignores the danger to the Israelis, and
focusses on one image of the confrontation's aftermath in a way
consistent with the deletions and rearrangements of the text.
I've used a couple of conventions:
- I've used "change bars" (|'s) to show sections of the LA Times
story that were simply thrown out by the Globe and not used at
all.
- I've indicated in the text of the LA Times story places where the
Globe reprioritized, that is, moved things from the top to the
bottom and vice-versa.
Anyway, here are the stories:
Page 3
(from the L. A. Times, 13 February, 1988)
Israeli Soldiers Kill 2 Palestinians
| Patrol is Attacked After Muslim Service; Death Toll Reaches 54
By Kenneth Freed, Times Staff Writer
Nablus, Israeli-Occupied West Bank - Israeli soldiers shot and killed
two Palestinians and wounded several others here Friday in some of the
worst
| street fighting of the anti-occupation uprising, now in its third month.
The two deaths, confirmed by hospital personnel and an army
spokeswoman, raised the toll of fatalities to at least 54 since the
uprising began Dec. 9.
The fighting, which began after Friday afternoon prayers here in the
largest city in the West Bank, broke 2-1/2 days of relative quiet
after the ending of a 10-day curfew.
[Wording of this paragraph was changed, changing meaning]
When Prayers ended at the blue-domed Nablus Grand Mosque on the edge
of the casbah, sever hundred protestors, mostly youths wearing
red-checked keffiyahs over their faces, ran through the narrow,
winding streets and alleyways of the city's old market area shouting
Palestinian nationalist slogans, and waving the banned Palestine
Liberation Organization flag.
[This paragraph was moved to the end in the Globe version]
At first, nearby soldiers did nothing, but a patrol of about 20
soldiers at the edge of the casbah was suddenly attacked with flaming
gasoline-filled bottles, large rocks, flower pots and steel ball
bearings and glass marbles hurled from slingshots. The missles came
from every direction and sent the soldiers running for cover in
doorways and behind vehicles.
[This paragraph deleted in the Globe version]
| Most of the attackers were hidden on the roofs of the grey, run down,
| two story buildings which make up the casbah.
Journalists saw the troops fire tear gas canisters and rubber bullets
into the streets and at the roofs where hundreds of women were
cheering the protesters on.
When the hail of objects increased, several shots were fired in the
air. By this time, more troops had gathered but were outnumbered by
what appeared to be at least 150 protesters, most of them hurling
rocks and bottles.
Two Soldiers Wounded
|According to an army spokeswoman, commanders in Nablus estimated that
|several hundred people attacked the troops. Two soldiers were reported to
Page 4
|have been injured by stones.
|
| "They were very well organized," she said, "and whatever was said to
| them in the mosque obviously had them so excited that no tear gas or
| rubber bullets was going to stop them."
She said that "when it became clear that the lives of the soldiers
were endangered they had to fire (live ammunition) at the legs of the
demonstrators."
Doctors at Nablus' Al-Ittihad hospital said that one of the
fatailities, Basil Taysir Al-Jatan, 14, was shot in the head, and the
other, 17-year-old Bashar Al-Masri, in the chest.
The army said that five other demonstrators were wounded by gunfire,
but doctors at Al-Ittihad and the Rafidiyah Hospital said that they
had treated at least twice that number and expected more casualties as
wounded people who had fled from the army were brought in for
treatment.
Some journalists who went to Al-Ittihad reported that the army had
closed off the street leading to the hospital and refused to let them
inside.
Army officials said they were investigating assertions that soldiers
had fired shots inside the hospital and arrested several slightly
wounded patients for taking part in the demonstrations.
| Army officials said that they had tried to avoid confronting the Nablus
| demonstrators, and had not challenged them when they emerged from the
| mosque.
|
| "It wasn't until they started bombing us from the roofs and from every
| direction that we had to fight back," said a captain who may not be
| identified under Israeli government rules.
|
| In recent days, the army has tried to reduce the street battles by
| ignoring relatively minor incidents and provocations, such as tire-
| burnings, and blocking of side streets. But it appeared that the
| Nablus demonstrators were intent on starting a fight.
|
| Some observers believe that recent relative quiet in such large cities
| as Nablus and in some of the bigger refugee camps - a situation
| that resulted from the army's relatively placid approach - had begun
| to slow the momentum of the uprising.
|
| The uprising's leaders, believed to represent the PLO, the Popular
| Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Communist groups, and radical
| Muslim religious organizations, are thought to have pushed for a
| serious confrontation to reawaken the protest
5 Cities Under Curfew
[This paragraph was moved to the beginning]
Page 5
There were reports of scattered but less serious demonstrations Friday
elsewhere on the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip. An army spokeswom
said that the tear gas was used to break up protests at Gaza City,
Beit Hanum, Beit Lahia, and refugee camps at Jabaliya, Bureit, and
Shati.
[This paragraph was moved to the beginning]
At least five cities, including Hebron, south of Jerusalem, were put
under total curfew.
| In Jerusalem, about 5,000 worshippers attended afternoon prayers at the
| Al-Aqsa mosque in the walled Old City, but the police did not try to
| stop a march by 150 or 200 Palestinian youths who marched out of the
| Muslim holy place waving flags.
[This paragraph was moved to the beginning]
There were more reports of army night raids on rural villages and
refugee camps, including the beach camp in Gaza City and the village
of Dura. The raiders search for suspected organizers of
demonstrations.
[This paragraph was moved to the beginning]
[Wording was also significantly changed, coloring content]
Meanwhile, the army identified Ahmad Abdallah Najeeb as the
Palestinian protedter who was fatally wounded Thursday at the West
Bank refugee camp of Tulkarm. Najeeb, 36, was killed when he was shot
in the stomach, doctors said. Army officials said that he was killed
when a soldier slipped and fell, accidentally firing his rifle. They
said that the soldier's conduct is under investigation.
Page 6
(from the Boston Globe, 13 February, 1988)
Israeli Soldiers Kill 2 Palestinians
Gunfire, fights in West Bank town shatter 2 days of calm
By Kenneth Freed
Los Angeles Times
Nablus, Israeli-Occupied West Bank - Israeli soldiers shot and killed
two Palestinians and wounded several others here Friday in some of the
worst street fighting of the uprising against the occupation.
The two deaths, confirmed by hospital personnel and an army
spokeswoman, raised the toll of fatalities to at least 54 since the
uprising began Dec. 9.
The fighting, which began after Friday afternoon prayers here in the
largest city in the West Bank, broke 2-1/2 days of relative quiet
after the ending of a 10-day curfew.
There were reports of scattered but less serious demonstrations Friday
elsewhere on the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip. An army spokeswom
said that the tear gas was used to break up protests at Gaza City,
Beit Hanum, Beit Lahia, and refugee camps at Jabaliya, Bureit, and
Shati.
Also yesterday, the army identified Abdallah Najeeb a Palestinian
protester who was fatally wounded Thursday at the West Bank refugee
camp of Tulkarm. Najeeb, 36, was killed when he was shot in the
stomach, doctors said. Army officials said that he was killed when a
soldier slipped and fell, accidentally firing his rifle. They said
that an investigation has begun.
The day's chief disturbance occurred when Friday prayers ended at the
blue-domed Nablus Grand Mosque. Sever hundred protestors, mostly
youths wearing red-checked keffiyahs over their faces, ran through the
narrow, winding streets and alleyways of the city's old market area
shouting and waving the banned Palestine Liberation Organization flag.
At first, nearby soldiers did nothing, but a patrol of about 20
soldiers at the edge of the casbah was suddenly attacked with flaming
gasoline-filled bottles, large rocks, flower pots and steel ball
bearings and glass marbles hurled from slingshots. The missles came
from every direction and sent the soldiers running for cover.
When the hail of objects increased, several shots were fired in the
air. By this time, more troops had gathered but were outnumbered by
what appeared to be at least 150 protesters, most of them hurling
rocks and bottles.
According to an army spokeswoman, commanders in Nablus estimated that
several hundred people attacked. Two soldiers were reported to have
been injured by stones.
Page 7
She said that "when it became clear that the lives of the soldiers
were endangered they had to fire (live ammunition) at the legs of the
demonstrators."
Doctors at Nablus' Al-Ittihad hospital said that one of the
fatailities, Basil Taysir Al-Jatan, 14, was shot in the head, and the
other, 17-year-old Bashar Al-Masri, in the chest.
| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 644.1 | Bias, Bias Everywhere | LDP::GOLD | Jack E. Gold, MRO4 | Fri Feb 17 1989 13:30 | 15 |
| I ,too, have noticed a very distinct anti-Israel slant to the Globe
reporting. It even appears in unrelated articles, such as when they
talk about international affairs (UN, etc.). It has gotten to the point
where I distrust the Globe not only on Israeli related stories. If they
are so biased on this case, what other stories have they conveniently
changed. If you want to buy a paper that seems to be 95% editorial
comment, then buy the Boston Globe. They are even starting to make the
Herald look good!
Does anyone else notice this distortion (I only get the Globe on
Sun., so the rest of the week goes unnoticed)?
P.S.
ABC News, with Peter Jennings, is nearly as bad as the Globe. He
never fails to get in a dig when he can.
|
| 644.2 | I noticed too | HAMAN::GROSS | Wanted: inane comment to fill this slot | Fri Feb 17 1989 14:31 | 10 |
| I cancelled my subscription to the Globe years ago when I noticed that, in
the headlines at least, the pronouncements of the Democratic party were
reported as fact whereas the pronouncements of the Republican party were
carefully attributed and qualified. To make up a slightly fictional example:
if Ted Kennedy were to state "new taxes are inevitable" I would expect a
banner headline to state: NEW TAXES ARE INEVITABLE. If Bush were to state:
"read my lips; no new taxes" I would expect a banner headline to state:
ACCORDING TO BUSH, NO NEW TAXES. Who needs this kind of obvious bias?
Dave
|
| 644.3 | A tilted Globe | DELNI::GOLDBERG | | Fri Feb 17 1989 15:27 | 14 |
| One of the policies observed at the copydesk of the Globe is quite
transparent. It is simply this: actions taken by the Israelis
are to be depicted in active mode; actions taken against the
Israelis are depicted in passive mode. Thus..
"Israelis (kill) (wound) (shoot) (beat).."
"(Stones) (firebombs) were thrown at IDF troops occupying the
West Bank...."
It is also true, as noted previously, that the Globe goes out of
its way to gloat over any news of problems (religious, social,
economic) that Israel might be experiencing. Curtis Wilkie is one
of the nastier reporters. Mary Wilkes is close behind.
|
| 644.4 | What now? | LDP::GOLD | Jack E. Gold, MRO4 | Fri Feb 17 1989 17:06 | 7 |
| So...
What's being done about it? How many people have canceled
subscriptions? How many Jewish owned businesses have canceled ads
because of this bias? Seems to me it won't change until they feel
some pressure ($).
Jack
|
| 644.5 | An Example | CARTUN::FRYDMAN | wherever you go...you're there | Mon Feb 20 1989 10:04 | 4 |
| Did anyone else notice that the report of the murder of a yeshiva
student in the Old City was carried on page 30 of the Sunday Globe?!!!
|
| 644.6 | We're not "in" | SETH::CHERSON | create facts in the field | Mon Feb 20 1989 13:01 | 13 |
| re: .5
Well hey, that's only one Jew, and Jews aren't "in" this year.
re: .0
Although I agree with the general tone, I have to say that it doesn't
bother me as much as it does others. I guess that I've just resigned
myself to assuming the worst from the mainline press, and anyways
facts take up too much space and force people to read and use their
minds.
David
|