Britannia Radio

January 4, 2011

The Wire

Israel fifth most reported country in Guardian after UK Tue. 4 Jan. 2011 @ 12.04 - Official breakdown by The Guardian shows that content items on Israel rank fifth highest in World News section. On Wednesday 29 December, The Guardian's 'Inside Guardian.co.uk' blog posted an analysis of how much coverage each country had received on the online version of the newspaper in 2010. Explaining that news and comment was divided into 'UK' and 'World News' tags, and that the World News tag was then sub-divided by individual country, the resulting tally has Israel so high that the blog itself raised the question as to whether The Guardian's focus on the state was disproportionate. The five most reported countries in the World News category were: United States (6246 items) Afghanistan (1765) Iraq (1248) China (1243) Israel (1008) Noting Israel's high position, The Guardian commented: 'So we're obsessed with our home country, captivated by the US and disproportionately preoccupied with Israel? Maybe.' Read more >>

Op-eds and Features

Festive smear Just Journalism Content Manager Carmel Gould writes in Standpoint on the festive coverage of Bethlehem in the British press. It was a bumper year for tourism in Bethlehem in 2010. According to Palestinian figures, 1.4 million people visited the West Bank town and traditional birthplace of Jesus, up sixty percent on last year. As in 2009, all hotels were fully booked over Christmas, when 90,000 people descended on Manger Square and its environs. But somehow, these staggering figures did not stem the flow of "yes, but" stories making their way into the British press over the Christmas period. Such stories dutifully presented the good news about Bethlehem's "unprecedented tourist boom" at the outset before devoting the remainder to imbuing readers with the sense that all is actually not so well and that Israel is to blame. This phenomenon is not new. Year on year, Middle East correspondents file the same stories, with some reporters so bored of being called upon to do so that they created a Facebook group called, "Reporters against whiny Christmas stories in Bethlehem". Nonetheless, most re-delivered the goods this December. One of the most oft-repeated falsehoods in Christmas Middle East media coverage is that Israel somehow "steals" tourism revenues from Bethlehem. This stems from the fact that most of the 1.4 million Christians who visited the town this year will have been participants in pre-packaged tours of Christian sites across Israel, visiting dozens of places over the course of about a week. As such they do not stay in Bethlehem for more than a few hours, before returning to Israel for the next tourist stop. Read more>>

The Wire

New Statesman contributing editor acknowledges 'different standard' for Israel Tue. 4 Jan. 2011 @ 15.23 - Sholto Byrnes argues that we should admit we hold Israel to a higher standard, and praise the country when it exceeds our expectations. Writing for the New Statesman's blog, the contributing editor of the left-of-centre magazine, Sholto Byrnes, discusses Israel's recent conviction of former President, Moshe Katsav, of rape. Byrnes opens by stating: 'It is often said, when Israel is criticised, that it is judged by a different standard than its neighbours... Israel's every move is scrutinised, its motives doubted, and every firing of a shot by one of its armed forces deemed an aggressive act.' Describing Israel as a 'democracy in a sea of dictatorships and absolute monarchies', Byrnes states that, 'excesses of "others" we judge differently, often more leniently', while those of a 'friend and relative we view harshly indeed', before concluding his blog piece by arguing that: 'We do hold Israel to a different standard, and we ought to admit it. So when Israel meets and exceeds that standards [sic], we owe our applause. However dreadful the circumstances of this case, it is an example to the world when a country can state so clearly that no one, not even the highest, is protected from being brought low by justice.' Read more>>

Media Analysis

Just Journalism review of the year 2010 has been an eventful year in the Middle East. Below is a selection of some of the most high profile stories reported in the UK media and Just Journalism's analysis. Dubai Assassination Following the assassination of senior Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai on 19 January, the Israeli national security agency, Mossad, was widely held to have been responsible. The story was fuelled in particular by the release of CCTV footage attesting to the use of disguises by those involved as well as revelations that European passports were also used, some belonging to innocent dual Israeli citizens. Later in the year, Just Journalism compared how the media responded to similar allegations of passport abuse by Russia in 'Inconsistent media attitudes to misuse of UK passports abroad'. The analysis was discussed by the American writer Noah Pollak on the Commentary website in 'Passport Fraud and Double Standards'. Just Journalism's executive director, Michael Weiss, then wrote about the issue of media double standards in 'Spies, Passports and The Guardian', for The Weekly Standard. The editor of The New Republic, Marty Peretz, highlighted the op-ed on The New Republic's blog. Gaza Flotilla Raid On 31 May, the Israel Defence Forces intercepted the Free Gaza flotilla, which intended to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza. While Israeli soldiers were able to take control of the majority of ships without incident, serious clashes on the Mavi Marmara left nine Turkish citizens dead and several commandos wounded. The deaths led to global protests and dominated the news cycle for over a week. Just Journalism led the way in analysing how the media covered the story, with a particular focus on how much attention was paid to evidence that supported Israel's claims that its soldiers had only fired their weapons in self defence. Key issues included the downplaying of initial evidence that some of the protesters were violent agitators, and the belated discussion of the controversial profile of the IHH, the Turkish charity backing the Mavi Marmara. Read more>>

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