The media is fanning the flames of an unprecedented surge in Jew hatred.
Honest Reporting — a 501(c)3 that combats “ideological prejudice in journalism and the media, as it impacts Israel” — has extensively covered inaccuracies and bias in the media’s coverage of Israel and concluded that it has played a key role in this meteoric rise in Jew hatred: “throughout the (Israel-Hamas) war, both mainstream media organizations and alternative news sources on social media have parroted Hamas propaganda, spread unsubstantiated claims about Israel’s conduct, and concocted narratives that besmirch Israel’s reputation in the international arena.” They cite coverage from many mainstream news organizations.
Examples of this bias and inaccuracies run deep and there are too many to recount here, but the point was made by Josh Levs, who wrote a column for Newsweek describing the ways that many news organizations, including NPR and CNN, who he worked for, have framed their coverage of the Middle East with an anti-Israel bias for decades. Lev points out that “many (news organizations) even have rules to enforce this bias”, some of which are actually written rules. For example, news organizations still describe Gaza and the West Bank as “occupied territories” despite the fact that Israel left Gaza in 2005 and the West Bank in 1994. Many news organizations have also refused to call Palestinian terrorists what they are — terrorists.
Levs also cites how news organizations continuously parrot Hamas talking points by providing alleged “death tolls” from Gaza without informing their audiences that the source of this data is the from the Hamas-run Health Ministry, which is part of the murderous terrorist organization known for spreading lies. The numbers are widely believed to be unreliable.
Well-respected author Douglas Murray accused the BBC of pushing out an anti-Israel bias where Israel is always in the wrong. Last month, the Asserson Report produced a report that provided demonstrable evidence revealing BBC’s “deeply worrying pattern of bias” against Israel. The Report found that BBC breached its own editorial guidelines 1,533 times on impartiality, inaccuracy, editorial values and public interest during the Israel-Hamas war.
Allegations of anti-Israel bias blew up at CBS recently when a top CBS News executive admonished its CBS Mornings co-host Tony Dokoupil for violating the network’s editorial standards because he asked tough questions to author Ta-Nehisi Coates about his book “The Message”, which presented extremist writings about Israel. Previously, another CBS News senior director of standards and practices sent an email to CBS employees to not refer to Jerusalem as being in Israel.
Meanwhile, The New York Times asserts that “there are clearly systemic problems in the newsroom when it comes to reporting on Israel.” The New York Times and others blamed Israel within 5 minutes of a strike that killed hundreds of people at the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza, which was shortly thereafter proven to be an Islamic Jihad rocket that caused the damage.
After Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, the New York Times published an article, without a byline, that essentially eulogized him in its story, “Protesters Mourn Nasrallah’s Around the World.” The Times called Nasrallah a “powerful orator”, “beloved among many Shi’ite Muslims” who “provided social services for Lebanon” and wanted “one Palestine with equality for Muslims, Jews, and Christians.”
In what alternative universe was Nasrallah a globally beloved reconciler or humanitarian?
Nasrallah was a monster and mass murderer. He led Hezbollah, a brutal Iran-backed terrorist organization that engineered countless terror attacks targeting the United States and Israel, for decades. Nasrallah killed thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians. He denied the Holocaust and repeatedly vowed to destroy Israel. He referred to the Jewish people as descendants of “apes and pigs.” His death was celebrated not only in the United States and Israel but throughout the Middle East where videos even showed celebrations in Iran, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon.
Imagine the public outcry if The New York Times wrote a similar piece eulogizing Osama Bin Laden in these terms.
Matti Friedman, who has written about his personal experiences of observing bias against Israel at the Associated Press aptly noted, “These media stories take root in an affiliated world of progressive NGO’s and academics referred to as experts, creating a thought loop nearly impervious to external information and facts.” Simply put, they further ignite misinformation and disinformation.
This is precisely the ecosystem where Israel’s adversaries cultivate anti-Zionist and antisemitic messaging which is then spread as fact on toxic-engineered social media engines like TikTok, leading to dangerous real-world consequences including violent radicalization and hate speech.
We must demand that the media uphold the highest standards of accuracy and integrity because words have consequences. Conscious or unconscious media bias in the coverage of Israel shapes false public perception, fuels antisemitism, and makes the world less safe for Jews.
Doug Friednash grew up in Denver and is a partner with the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. He is the former chief of staff for Gov. John Hickenlooper.
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