THIS WEEK: How the newspapers have misrepresented Israel in the story about Lauren Booth being “trapped” in Gaza.
ALSO: Read how the BBC News website has improved its Gaza reporting, and have a look at how the same story about the Sea of Galilee is addressed differently in the Financial Times and The Independent.
PLUS: Read the Daily Mail's Alex Brummer on Just Journalism (again!) in last week's Jewish Chronicle.
ONGOING… Just Journalism is currently looking into claims made in an opinion piece by Robert Fisk, published in The Independent on Saturday 30 August. The article contained a number of serious allegations against Israel.
DISTORTIONS IN LAUREN BOOTH GAZA REPORTING
• The issue of Egypt's role in Gaza being underplayed in the UK media has resurfaced over the last week in two stories.
1. On Wednesday 3 September, it was reported in the Daily Mirror and Daily Mail that Lauren Booth , sister-in-law of Tony Blair, was unable to get back to the UK from Gaza, after participating in the ‘Free Gaza' boat trip. Ms Booth decided not to return to Cyprus by boat with other activists but to remain in Gaza. Now she wishes to return to the UK, but has been refused entry into both Israel and Egypt.
• JJ found that the Daily Mail article, “ Cherie's sister is stranded in Gaza,” breached journalistic standards by misrepresenting the facts. The article failed to mention the fact that Ms Booth had been refused entry into Egypt, and was evasive about the fact that Israel was not preventing her from leaving Gaza per se, but simply not allowing her to enter its sovereign territory.
• The Daily Mirror article also breached journalistic standards by reporting Lauren Booth's accusations against Israel extensively, but failing to include any Israeli response. Furthermore, the article only mentions at the very end that she was “also turned back trying to get out through Egypt”.
• The following day, JJ observed a breach in The Daily Telegraph, which, too, had left Egypt completely out of the equation, by failing to mention that Lauren Booth had also attempted to leave Gaza via Egypt. The piece also implied wrongly that Israel controls all of Gaza's borders.
2. On Saturday 30 August, Egypt opened its border with Gaza for two days, allowing hundreds of Palestinians to cross into Egypt, one of the few times it has done so since the Hamas takeover. However, this event attracted very little media coverage.
• There was near silence in the daily broadsheets, with only the Financial Times dedicating a substantial article, with an accompanying photo, to the event. The story was not covered by The Guardian, whose focus on the Gaza boat story, was featured in last week's JJ Update.
• On the other hand, the BBC News website posted, “ Egypt opens Gaza border crossing,” the following Monday, which highlighted the role of multiple parties in the ongoing situation in Gaza. This more contextual and balanced approach, which made clear at the start that Egypt was a key player, was taken by BBC News website in its article on the Lauren Booth story.
• This approach contrasts starkly with a BBC News website piece by Heather Sharpe, analysed by JJ in August, called, “ Guide: Gaza under blockade,” which purported to be an in-depth look at the blockade of Gaza but failed to mention that Egypt, as well as Israel, has closed its border with the territory since Hamas forcibly took control in June 2007.
THE WATER ISSUE: FINANCIAL TIMES VS. THE INDEPENDENT
• Two broadsheets have recently featured articles about the problem of water depletion from the Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret), a serious issue of environmental concern for Israelis. The Financial Times carried a piece by Tobias Buck on Saturday 23 August and Kim Sengupta of The Independent covered the story on Friday 29 August.
• Tobias Buck of the FT mainly focused on the environmental aspect of the story, detailing the problems that low water levels have caused for fishermen and the potential risks to Israel if the water level continues to fall, including that, “The lake supplies fresh water to the taps of two in five Israelis, but soon the pumps will have to fall silent.” He offers some reasons for the problem, both natural and manmade.
• By contrast, The Independent piece is driven by politics rather than a concern for the environment, or for Israelis, a distinction captured by Kim Sengupta when he writes, “The main factor driving the unending thirst is Israel's projection of itself is a country of pioneering farmers who made the desert bloom while the previous Palestinian owners of the land were prepared to live in a barren environment without seeking progress.”
• This claim seems to delegitimise Israeli development and to link the water issue with an allegation of a superior attitude towards Palestinians. The journalist later claims, “Israel's unwillingness to relinquish those gains [made in the Six Day War] led to Assad refusing to sign a peace accord at the time” , which is a clear oversimplification.
• The Independent goes as far as to end its article with a quote from an Israeli fisherman, claiming that Israel, “...has a responsibility to the rest of mankind to look after these things,” and that, “they are failing to do this here at the Sea of Galilee.” The implication of closing an article with such a quote is that the journalist concurs with the view that by using water from a lake irresponsibly, Israel is letting down the whole of mankind.
• While The Independent did not breach any journalistic standards, its reporting of the story is demonstrative of the way that coverage can be turned by some journalists into making political criticisms of Israel. In contrast, other outlets, (in this case, the FT), cover the same issue without injecting a disapproving subtext.
BREACHES OF JOURNALISTIC PRINCIPLES
• Stuck! Booth's mission hits the skids, The Daily Telegraph, September 4, 2008 DISTORTION OF INFORMATION
• Later this month…, Daily Mirror, By Brian Reade, September 4, 2008- FACTUAL ERROR
• Cherie's sister is stranded in Gaza, The Daily Mail, September 3, 2008-MISREPRESENTATION OF FACTS
• Blair in-law ‘kill threat' by Israelis, Bob Roberts, The Daily Mirror, September 3, 2008- IMBALANCE OF VIEWS
STORIES OF INTEREST
Children of Sderot enjoy respite
On Monday 1 September, the BBC News website ran a lengthy piece on Sderot, highlighting how the Gaza blockade has resulted in a rare tranquillity in the town, virtually unknown to the children who have grown up with the constant threat of qassam rockets.
Judging Bush
With all the media coverage of the American elections, on Monday 1 September, Rupert Cornwall of The Guardian took some time out to have a closer look at the presidency of George W. Bush, and argues that history might be kinder to him than many of his critics assume.
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