Just Journalism's Carmel Gould writes in Haaretz on the Israeli 'dog death sentence' story widely circulated in the international media. Wednesday 22 June 2011 Why were news outlets around the world so quick to report on a story about a religious Jewish court's apparently ludicrous ruling, when the original source had already issued a retraction? In the age of instant news and the spreading like wildfire of information - true or false - via the Twittersphere, there are genuine questions which need answering about the future of accurate news reporting. The debunking of the Gay Girl in Damascus blog, which it turns out was written by an American man in Scotland, made many people nervous about how easy it is to be taken in by an internet persona. Journalists continue to be banned from action hotspots like Syria where information is at a premium - maybe it was just easier to believe in Gay Girl than to do without her. The recent story about the alleged sentencing to death of an Israeli canine inhabited by the spirit of a hateful secular lawyer reminds us that verification of facts can still play second fiddle to getting a juicy story out quickly. Worse, the response from media outlets following a debunking raises similarly serious issues as the original publication of the skewed report. See also: British media reports sensationalised dog 'death sentence' story Tues. 21 Jun. 2011 @ 14.14 - Rocket fired in Gaza injures Palestinian woman, highlighting long-standing issue of militant activity within civilian areas. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), a Gaza-based NGO, has condemned the injuring of a Palestinian woman who was struck by shrapnel when a militant rocket hit her home. According to the PCHR's press release from Sunday, the incident occurred when: '....at approximately 22:30 on Thursday, 16 June 2011, a home-made rocket hit the first floor of a 3-storey house belonging to Suleiman 'Ayash Abu 'Owaida in al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. As a result, Samia 'Ayash Abu 'Owaida, 18, was injured by shrapnel throughout his [sic] body, and the house and neighboring house belonging to Sameer Sa'id Abu Jayab was damaged.' Tues. 21 Jun. 2011 @ 16.16 - Cancellation of meeting scheduled to determine positions in interim government sparsely covered by the British media. The BBC News website and Financial Times were the only media outlets to report the stalling in negotiations between Fatah and Hamas, following the cancellation of a key meeting that was scheduled for today. Hamas' rejection of Salam Fayyad as prime minister was seen as the main stumbling block for the meeting, at the end of which the make-up of the unity government was to be announced. As Just Journalism reported last week, there have been numerous indications that the Palestinian factions remain noticeably divided, and that the reconciliation deal has done little to change facts on the ground. 'Palestinian Fatah-Hamas reconciliation talks 'on hold'', published yesterday on the BBC News website, cites Fatah officials in Ramallah confirming that 'continued disagreements meant the talks had been postponed indefinitely'. Doyle asserts: 'Events in Tunisia had been bubbling for some time, with Kasserine and Sidi Bouzid at the centre of socioeconomic discontent. Egypt too had been in turmoil with increased workers' strikes and opposition action. In most Arab states, there is a dangerous combination of high unemployment, high food prices and corruption together with a lack of political freedom and abuse of human rights. Perhaps the more pertinent question is why such uprisings had not happened before?'
June 22, 2011 Op-eds and Features Jewish dog wags international media's tail
The Wire Militant rocket injures Gaza civilian
The Wire Breakdown of Fatah-Hamas reconciliation underreported
The Wire Pro-Arab council: Media 'part of collective failure' to anticipate Arab Spring
Fri. 17 Jun. 2011 @ 14.26 -
Chris Doyle, Director of the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding (CAABU), concurs with Just Journalism report on coverage of the Arab world prior to Arab Spring.
'The press and the Arab spring: Six reasons for failure', published alongside the Next Century Foundation's 'Media Credibility Index', states that '[m]ost people in the West, analysts and experts included, were stunned and amazed at the revolts which spread across the Arab World'. This is despite the fact that 'all the ingredients for such uprisings were present and well known.'
Thursday, 23 June 2011
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