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In this issue, read Just Journalism’s analysis of how the media reported the deaths of two Palestinian children – one killed by IDF fire and the other killed in a Palestinian bomb attack. Also, see our overview of how various slants were taken by different outlets in the story of Fatah gunmen fleeing to Israel from Gaza.

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See our recent analysis of media coverage which breaches journalistic standards:

Cherie Blair's sister joins battle to break Gaza blockade – LACK OF CONTEXT DUE TO EXCLUSION OF RELEVANT INFORMATION AND FACTS - The Guardian, August 5 2008
Defiant Iran spurns deal over uranium plant – LACK OF CONTEXT DUE TO EXCLUSION OF RELEVANT INFORMATION AND FACTS - The Independent on Sunday, August 3 2008
Arabs under siege as Israel tightens grip on Holy City – LACK OF CONTEXT DUE TO EXCLUSION OF RELEVANT INFORMATION AND FACTS - The Observer, July 27 2008
Poverty pushing people into Hamas militia – LACK OF CONTEXT DUE TO EXCLUSION OF RELEVANT INFORMATION AND FACTS - The Independent, July 26 2008
EHUD OLMERT RESIGNATION

On Wednesday 30 July 2008, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced that he would not stand for re-election in the September Kadima primaries, effectively meaning that he will step down as Israeli premier. There was widespread coverage of this event in the UK newspapers, on BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight, and Today programmes, as well as on the BBC News website. Two items worth specific mention are an item in The Independent, which focused on Shaul Mofaz (Candidate who wants Olmert's job once 'sought deaths of 70 Palestinians a day', August 1 2008) and a leading article in The Guardian (The dangers of drift,1 August 2008).

DOUBLE STANDARDS IN REPORTING THE DEATHS OF PALESTINIAN CHILDREN


Extensive coverage of Palestinian boy killed by IDF in contrast with noticeably less coverage of death of Palestinian girl killed in Palestinian bomb attack.

Last week, on Tuesday 29 July, a 10 year-old Palestinian boy, Ahmed Moussa, was killed by IDF gunfire at a West Bank protest in the village of Nilin. The incident made the headlines in four out of five of the following day’s broadsheets:

Israeli bullets kill Palestinian boy – Front page, The Guardian
Palestinian boy, 10, dies as Israeli troops fire on demonstration – The Guardian
Palestinian boy, 10, killed by Israelis at separation wall – The Independent
Palestinian boy killed in protest – The Times
Israelis kill boy, 10 – The Daily Telegraph

The Guardian coverage was extensive, including an eye-witness account, comment from Ahmed Moussa’s aunt and a response from an Israeli military source. The article was accompanied by a large photograph showing the boy receiving emergency treatment from Palestinian medics.

Four days earlier, on the night of the Friday 25 July 2008, a Gaza bomb attack against Hamas, thought to have been carried out by Fatah supporters, killed four Hamas men and a four year-old Palestinian girl, Serena Sefady. It took place too late on Friday to be covered in the following day’s newspapers. However the girl’s death did not make it into the Sunday newspapers either. On Monday 28 July, following a Hamas crackdown on Fatah activists in response to the bombing, there were three brief and passing mentions of the death of an unnamed girl in the following articles:

Car bombing prompts Hamas crackdown – The Guardian
Hamas hits back after blast kills top officials – The Times
Blast triggers new Palestinian clashes – Financial Times

The mentions were all strictly in the context of the fighting which the bomb attack triggered. In The Independent’s tiny article – Bombs lead to tit-for-tat arrests – Serena Sefady’s death was completely omitted.

The only outlet which focused any attention on what happened to the girl was the BBC News website (Hamas and Fatah battle for power), which named Serena, quoted her bereaved mother and provided information about the circumstances of her death.

(*Headlines which are not hyperlinked do not appear online)

REPORTING OF FATAH REFUGEES WHO FLED TO ISRAEL FROM GAZA

All the daily broadsheet newspapers reported that approximately 180 Fatah men fled to Israel from fighting with rival Hamas in Gaza, although there were varied approaches to the story. For example, an article in The Times featured a picture of an injured Fatah man on a stretcher receiving medical attention in an Israeli hospital (Please note that the picture which appeared in the print edition of the newspaper does not feature in the online version of the article). This piece was accompanied by a leading article which highlighted the difficulty for Israel of making peace with such a divided and unstable partner. It also made clear that it was Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas who directed Israel to send the men back to Gaza, where they would likely “receive harsh treatment” and argued that it would not be fair to condemn Israel for returning more of the men on account of the fact that failing to do so might, “give Hamas a pretext for breaking the ceasefire…”

By contrast, The Guardian chose to carry a giant photograph of Fatah men at the Nahal Oz crossing point, blindfolded, with their hands bound, being marching in a line by an Israeli soldier in its two-page “Eyewitness” feature. The Independent piece - Fatah militants forced back to Gaza to face Hamas after clashes - focused on Israel sending some of the men back to Gaza, and qualified the fact that this had been at the express request of Mahmoud Abbas by prefacing this information with, “a spokesman for the Israel Defence Ministry said…” The article closed with a quote from one fugitive on the Palestinian side of the Erez crossing point, saying, “If we go back into Gaza Hamas will kill us.”

The Daily Telegraph article covering the story focused on the fact that Fatah had ordered its own men back to Gaza to face Hamas and that the Islamist group has been accused of routinely using torture against Fatah rivals. This article was accompanied by a photograph of the men stripped, blindfolded and bound at the border with Israel. There was only a passing mention of the incident in the Financial Times in the context of the broader story of factional fighting in Gaza.

This incident was not covered on the radio and television monitored.


Disclaimer: Just Journalism does not endorse the views and opinions presented in the articles above.