Friday, 5 December 2008

Just Journalism
Just Journalism NewsletterTop
 5 December 2008
 Analysis this week
 
MUMBAI TERROR ATTACKS

        Media approach to Jewish and Israeli victims


IRAN EMBASSY ANGER 

       Letter rejecting Israel's right to exist in The Guardian


BBC WEB ON HEBRON

        Focus on Hebron over Mumbai


ANTI-ISRAEL CAROLS
    The Times on 'festival of anti-Semitism' in London
The week's media in numbers
14 Press photographs of Jewish and Israeli Mumbai victims

8 Press articles focused on Jewish and Israeli Mumbai victims

6 BBC News Middle East web pieces on Hebron settler unrest

2 BBC News Middle East web pieces on Jewish and Israeli Mumbai victims
 Mumbai terror attacksMumbai
Mumbai · Last week's terrorist attacks
in Mumbai generated extensive global media coverage.
The UK broadsheets carried a wide array of comment
pieces on the causes and significance of the events.
Their analysis differed as to whether the attacks were an
outcome of localised tensions, or part of a wider, jihadi-inspired, campaign. This seemed to determine how media outlets dealt with the Jewish/Israeli strand of the attacks.
 
 · The Daily Telegraph said, 'it was no accident that one of the places attacked was a Jewish centre' (Amir Taheri), while Charles Moore 
described the killings as a product of a 'paramilitary, worldwide, politico-religious ideology', before claiming that this fact has been obscured by 'our media obsession with Palestine above all other places involving Islam'.
 
· The Guardian focused on regional issues, exemplified by 'This was not a
global jihad' by Misha Glenny. One editorial briefly mentioned that the terrorists had been 'targeting Americans, Britons and Jews', but gave no further analysis
to the issue, while a second dismissed the suggestion that the attacks were a 'continuation of the story that began on September 11'. 

· The Independent echoed this approach with a leading article on Friday called
'A terrorist atrocity with tangled regional roots,' which concentrated on India's relationship with Pakistan. Another piece by Kanishk Tharoor carried the headline: 'This is an Indian atrocity - not the West's', mentioning Jewish victims purely in the context of 'a terrible toll that spared no segment of [Mumbai]'.
 
· The Times included the most explicit discussion of the specific targeting
of the Chabad-Lubavitch centre, with an opinion piece by David
Aaronovitch, opening with: 'So, why kill the Rabbi?'
  Iran embassy angerIran
 
Iran · Last week, Just Journalism noted that The Guardian
was the only British newspaper to publish the Palestinian Authority's advert publicising the 2002 Arab peace plan, which had appeared in three Israeli newspapers.
 
· On Friday, The Guardian published a letter from the
Iranian Embassy, stating categorically that Iran does not recognise 'the illegitimate and fabricated Israeli regime' and that Iran has
always expressed 'objection to any move taken by some Arab countries to push the recognition of the occupying Zionist regime in any manner...'

· On the inclusion of Iran's flag in the promotion, Gholamhossein Mahmoudi declared: 'We protest in the strongest possible form about this advertisement abusing our national flag'.
 
· Middle East Editor Ian Black discussed a range of regional responses in 'Iran furious at peace plan advert bearing its flag - and Star of David'. However, he linked the refusal of some Arab countries to publish the advert (due to Israel's
flag being featured) to the lack of resolution of the Palestinian issue, rather
than a rejectionist stance towards Israel. He also failed to address the implications for peace of Arab and Muslim countries refusing on principal to
print material containing Israel's national flag.
 BBC web on HebronHebron
· BBC News website covered developments at a disputed building in Hebron closely this week. The Israeli Supreme Court ruled in mid-November that a
house should be emptied of its Israeli inhabitants pending a final decision on
who owns the building.
 
· Since Friday, five articles on the subject have been posted on the Middle East section, as well as a series of photos depicting events.
 
· In the same section, only two articles appeared about Israeli victims of the Mumbai atrocities; the first was posted on Monday, five days after the
attacks began. Neither article addressed the significance of an Islamist attack
on Israelis abroad.
Anti-Israel carolsCarols
 · Last Wednesday, St. James's Church in Piccadilly hosted a Christmas carol service, organised by Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods, with traditional lyrics replaced with anti-Israel lyrics.
 
 · The event received coverage in The Times, with articles by Ruth Gledhill 
on Tuesday, and Michael Gove the previous day, describing the event as a 'festival of anti-Semitism'.
   
 · The Times published a letter on Thursday by Deborah Fink of Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods, arguing that the carols were 'a protest against Israel's inhumane occupation and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians.'
Quote of the week
"Perhaps because of our media obsession with Palestine above all other places

involving Islam, we take little advantage of our historical experience. We do not

understand what is happening [in Mumbai]."
           
        Charles Moore, The Daily Telegraph, Saturday 29 November 2008
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Posted by Britannia Radio at 13:28