CALL FOR ISRAEL ELECTIONS GAINS WIDE COVERAGE
THIS WEEK: Read JJ’s assessment of how the UK media covered Tzipi Livni’s decision to take Israel to elections.
ALSO: Find out how the media reacted to the ‘Free Gaza’ group’s second Gaza voyage.
UK MEDIA FOCUSES ON ISRAEL ELECTION STORY
| • On Sunday, Kadima party leader Tzipi Livni announced that she would take Israel to early elections, a move which follows failed attempts to put together a ruling coalition government. • Crucially, five leading editorials in each of the daily broadsheets focused on the story and attempted to address the broader implications of early elections in Israel. These leading articles presented very different perspectives on the events: The Times ‘Livni’s Gamble’ heaped praise on the Kadima leader’s ‘risky, courageous and right’ decision to call elections rather than enter a coalition on the Shas party’s terms. It highlighted her track record as a negotiator with the Palestinians, viewing her call for elections as a sign of personal strength rather than weakness. The Daily Telegraph The Independent |
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And on TV… Sunday’s ITV News report concentrated primarily on the implications of elections on the Palestinians. Correspondent Julian Manyon spoke to David Kimche, an advisor to Tzipi Livni, and Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi, both of whom were pessimistic about progress with peace.
• However, Ashrawi was given almost twice as much time to air her views, claiming that time was running out for a two-state solution, 'which means that we will be condemned to living under occupation for a very long time for Israel to confiscate more land, build more settlements, continue the systematic dismantlement of Palestinian...being.'
• The journalist closed his report by stating that the ‘biggest casualty of these events is likely to be the peace process,’ and that while Palestinians maintain ‘their predicament needs urgent attention’, the upcoming election means ‘few Israelis will be listening.’
SECOND GAZA BOAT PROTEST FAILS TO ATTRACT MEDIA
• So far there has been no print or broadcast coverage in the UK media of the arrival in Gaza of the second ‘Free Gaza’ boat mission. The only outlet to cover the event was the BBC News website, which hosted one article.
• Back in August, JJ the reported a moderate media response to the first ‘Free Gaza’ boat mission to Gaza. The story was covered in depth in The Guardian, with additional coverage in The Observer, The Independent on Sunday, The Daily Telegraph, Daily Express and the BBC News website.
STORIES OF INTEREST
Palestine United?
This week saw broad coverage of the first football match played by the Palestinian football team in their home stadium - with some concentrating on the difficulties posed by the Israeli checkpoints and the Gaza blockade, while others emphasised the impact of the Hamas-Fatah divide. Reports appeared in The Times, The Guardian, The Independant and The Daily Telegraph, amongst others.
Continued coverage of Gaza tunnels
Two weeks ago, JJ observed a journalistic breach in a BBC News website article which suggested that weapons smuggling in Gaza was an Israeli claim, rather than a reality. This week, two more articles appeared on the subject, which indicated a continuing tendency to down-play or even ignore the smuggling of weapons.
The Guardian’s ‘Hamas exploits boom in Gaza smuggling tunnels’ by Toni O’Loughlin didn’t mention weapons smuggling at all, while a much longer article in The Independent only mentioned the issue of weapons smuggling briefly at the end.
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