The Bad, The Ugly And The US Media
By Fazal M. Kamal
09 August, 2014
Countercurrents.org
In a socio-cultural milieu that has progressed from “It’s raining men” to “it’s raining sharks” it isn’t difficult to imagine the really weird stuff. Like, it’s just not fashionable to use the P word unless uttered pejoratively (and that’s not the word either). It isn’t passé either. In a country that practically rules the world, nay the entire universe really, it’s generally offensive to utilize the word Palestine in any sense that could/might convey the notion that you’re even distractedly being sympathetic to the people who once lived in a place of that name; and even if they’re “armed” with nothing more than crude projectiles which can rarely, if ever, find their destinations; rifles, and most dreaded of all, pieces of rocks. And they aren’t supposed to react in any discernible way against being robbed of their homes, their means of incomes, their freedoms, and their lives as ammunitions of various types, kinds and sorts land on them with gay abandon.
Trying to be fair, I’ll grant this much: most of the offending US news outlets will trot out the principle of neutrality (even though, given the coverage, that too is extremely questionable). But that’s akin to Switzerland pleading neutrality between Germany and the rest of the world during the Second World War. It’s not realistically possible unless you aim to profit from such a stance. There can be no morality is that. In the process, CNN---a onetime pioneer---while attempting to contend with Murdoch empire’s despicable, rabies-infected protuberance, Faux News, is increasingly transforming itself into a purveyor of absurdities. And one set of absurdities is only outpaced by its next phase of ignorance; while its format has become one of yakking talking heads beating a dead horse deader. Not to be outdone NBC, a major TV network in these United States, removed one of its Gaza correspondents (Ayman Mohyeldin) apparently for leaning way too much toward the murdered Palestinians.
So naturally this is what follows, as reported by The Raw Story: “MSNBC kicked things off by giving correspondent Rula Jebreal the … treatment, marginalizing her as ‘Palestinian Journalist,’ and, Jeebus knows, you can’t trust those people. She was then shuffled off to the sidelines because she was harshing everyone’s Bibi buzz…Israel was kind enough to use one of …their time-outs so that bestest pal Wolf Blitzer from CNN could … ride-along with the IDF through the Hamas Tunnels O’ Terror, where Wolf put on his serious face and touched the concrete walls like they were the face of God. …Over at MSNBC, soon-to-be-out-the-door-but-not-soon-enough David Gregory displayed the fine art of being a really f……g horrible journalist by sandbagging a guest. Gregory told UN Relief & Works Agency spokesperson Chris Gunness that he had a film of rockets being launched out of UN schools and asked him to comment on it:
‘The Israeli government has released videotape within the past hour, it was posted on YouTube, NBC News hasn’t independently verified…The Israelis say — and I realize that you cannot see this video, our audience can, and I’m going to describe it to you — that purports to show rockets being fired from a UN school’. The video, it turns out, was complete bullshit, a fact relayed by Gregory at the end of the same episode, noting that the UN had “confirmed that the video does not show rockets being fired from a UN-administrated school in Gaza.” And despite the obvious conclusion the NBC host declares, “So this is a back and forth that we are not able to settle at this point.” Whoa! What gives, Mr. Gregory. No wonder your network has been wondering what’s been happening with you and your dwindling audience. With the larger---and awfully vocal---segment of US politicians going out on a limb to aid, assist and abet Tel Aviv it’s little wonder that these TV networks are sliding into the quagmire they had sunk into soon after George Dubya launched his war on terror. Apparently they are unable to perceive the loss of credibility that’s in progress. And neither can they see the facts.
Consequently, in this environment, larger parts of major media outlets have realized it’s far better to be an echo chamber for Tel Aviv and its leadership than risk being accused---perish the thought!---of being pro-Palestine or worse still by numerous degrees be suspected of being anti-Israel. It’s hence not at all surprising that the Guardian commentator lamented about the “American media's new pro-Israel bias: the same party line at the wrong time,” and asked, “Evolving conversations on the ground demand probing questions on-air. So why does TV news look like a Netanyahu ad?” Chris McGreal then highlights his point: “Here are a few questions you won’t hear asked of the parade of Israeli officials crossing US television screens during the current crisis in Gaza: What would you do if a foreign country was occupying your land? What does it mean that Israeli cabinet ministers deny Palestine’s right to exist? What should we make of a prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, who as opposition leader in the 1990s addressed a rally under a banner reading “Death to Arafat” a year after the Palestinian leader signed a peace accord with Israel?”
McGreal comments, “But it’s a feature of much mainstream journalism in the US, not just an issue of coverage during the last three weeks of the Gaza crisis, that while one set of questions gets asked all the time, the other is heard hardly at all. In years of reporting from and about Israel, I’ve followed the frequently robust debate in its press about whether Netanyahu really wants a peace deal, about the growing power of right-wing members inside the Israeli cabinet opposed to a Palestinian state, about the creeping air of permanence to the occupation. So it has been all the more striking to discover a far narrower discourse in Washington and the notoriously pro-Israel mainstream media in the US at a time when difficult questions are more important than ever. …But still the difficult questions go unasked. Take Netanyahu’s appearance on CBS’s Face the Nation…. The host, Bob Schieffer, permitted the Israeli leader to make a lengthy case for his military’s ground attack, guiding him along with one sympathetic question after another. Finally, after describing Netanyahu’s position as ‘very understandable’, Schieffer asked about dead Palestinian civilians – but only to wonder if they presented a public relations problem in “the battle for world opinion.”
So no surprise there from either side especially since the Guardian is published from London where there’s a much more mature comprehension of the circumstances in Palestine and the horrendous conditions of the Gazans against the backdrop of the relentless bloodletting by Israel. However the surprise maybe in the fact that even Google Play has gotten into the act. A new report says that it has been promoting a video game called “Bomb Gaza” in which gamers are enticed to “drop bombs and avoid killing civilians. new version uploaded. improved performance. added new israel’s theme music.” The news report adds, “In a screen shot shown on the page … Israeli jets can be seen flying over a terrain dotted with cartoon Islamic terrorists and women attempting to protect children. …According to the Google Play Developer Program Policies regarding Hate Speech: ‘We don’t allow content advocating against groups of people based on their race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, or sexual orientation/gender identity.’” So there you have it!
Still, in spite of the US media’s ignorance (which as everyone knows provides bliss), bias and evident soul-less-ness there have been a few famous public figures who followed their conscience. Naturally, they had to face assaults from those who fear the truth might not serve their odious purposes. Among the honest and courageous are the most popular TV host Jon Stewart, singer-actress Selena Gomez, movie star and comedian Rob Schneider, TV personality Rosie O’Donnell, Unicef ambassador and megastar Mia Farrow, actors Mark Ruffalo and John Cusack, celebrity chef and food show host Anthony Bourdain, movie star couple Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, and singer Zayn Malik. And more significantly, last weekend a protest rally in Washington was attended by thousands of Americans. Evidently, as is known around the world, the truth will ultimately emerge out. And hence an increasing number of US citizens are becoming critical of the power lobbies that have so long guided US politicians’ penchant to unquestioningly support Tel Aviv. Which could possibly mean there’s still some hope for the world. I mean, maybe.
The writer has been a media professional, in print and online newspapers as editor and commentator, and in public affairs, for over forty years.
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