Thurs. 10 Mar. 2011 @ 10.55 - Assistant editor Michael White admits that Guardian journalists actively avoid reporting some subjects, such as immigration, in favour of easier 'targets' like Israel. In an incredibly candid blog entry on media self-censorship by veteran Guardian journalist and staunch Israel critic Michael White, he confesses to: 'middle class ill-ease in going after stories about immigration, legal or otherwise, about welfare fraud or the less attractive tribal habits of the working class, which is more easily ignored altogether.' By contrast, in, 'Media self-censorship: not just a problem for Turkey,' Israel is put forward as one of the archetypal 'targets' of The Guardian: 'Toffs, including royal ones, Christians, especially popes, governments of Israel, and US Republicans are more straightforward targets.' Thurs. 10 Mar. 2011 @ 13.51 - Telegraph journalist describes the BBC and other media outlets as 'woefully inadequate in explaining the historical causes' of foreign conflicts, noting the near-total absence of references to Jewish refugees from Arab countries when reporting Israel-Palestine. Writing for The Daily Telegraph's news blog, Ed West's 'Why does media coverage of conflicts such as Ivory Coast ignore history, religion and demographics?' is highly critical of contemporary media coverage of foreign conflicts such as the recent outbreak of violence in the Ivory Coast: 'Radio 4 had a gripping account of the troubled West African country this morning, in which their reporter almost ended up being burned alive by a mob. Yet, as with almost all radio and television coverage of overseas conflict, we were left with absolutely no understanding of why Ivorians are fighting each other.' Thurs. 10 Mar. 2011 @ 13.18 - Media reports three BBC journalists detained and tortured in Libya, with a reporter of Palestinian descent singled out for particular mistreatment due to alleged lack of Hamas support for Gaddafi regime. Today the media widely reports on the detention and torture of three BBC journalists reporting from south of Zawiya in Libya. The three men have now been released, and have given an extensive account of their ordeal to the BBC, in which they describe savage beatings and mock executions that included the use of live fire. The story was reported in The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, The Times and the Financial Times, with The Guardian quoting Feras Killani, the Palestinian journalist: 'The captain asked the other guards to come and started to hit and kick me. They hit me with a stick, they used their army boots on me, and their knees. It made it worse that I was a Palestinian - and they said we were all spies. Sometimes they said I was a journalist who was covering stories in a bad way.' The BBC News website and The Guardian both report on the Palestinian national team's first competitive match at home in Ramallah. The tie, a second-leg qualifying match for the Olympic Games, saw Palestine lose a tight match 6-5 on penalties after the game ended 1-1 on aggregate after extra time. 'Palestinian footballers in bittersweet Olympic match' quotes the Prime Minister of the PA, Salam Fayyad, who noted the symbolic significance of the match: 'It is a historic day for our team, for the first time it's playing a home game, in an international competition, one that counts. This is another occasion on which we can show we are a state.' The head of the Palestinian FA, Jibril Rajoub, is also quoted as saying, 'the world now will see Palestine in different eyes, in sports eyes' and that '[s]port can pave the way to statehood for Palestine'.
March 10, 2011 The Wire Guardian admits Israel 'straightforward target'
The Wire Telegraph commentator criticises reporting 'in a history-less vacuum'
The Wire Palestinian BBC journalist singled out for excessive beating
Towards Palestinian Statehood 
Palestinian national team in historic match in Ramallah
Thursday, 10 March 2011
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