Kiwis for Balanced Reporting on the Middle East
October 5, 2009
Headline ‘Gaza attacks Israel’ — Yeah, right!
A headline in the Otago Daily News ‘In brief’ section read ‘Israel attacks Gaza’. What really happened, as the report states, is that Gaza fired two missiles at Israel on Saturday, after which Israel bombed a weapons workshop and two weapons-smuggling tunnels. Yet one never sees a headline saying ‘Gaza attacks Israel’. This led to the following KBRM letter to the editor:
On Oct 2, Gaza launched two more attacks on Israel, a mortar and a rocket, aimed at civilian areas. In response, Israel precision-bombed a weapons workshop and two weapons-smuggling tunnels in Gaza. No one was hurt in either action. On the same day Israel complained to the UN about the escalation in rocket attacks from Gaza (as if the UN cared!). Yet the headline in the ODT (5.10.09) read ‘Israel attacks Gaza’. Many readers who only read headlines are left with the impression that Israel is ‘once again’ beating up Gazans without reason — the opposite of what really happened. No wonder there is so much anti-Israel feeling in New Zealand
The letter was printed on October 8, followed by a response from the editor that, quite amazingly, missed the point:
[The AP report made it clear that the air strike followed the mortar and rocket attack in a continuing exchange of fire. - Ed]
This led to the following letter by the KBRM member, accompanied by a request for a personal visit:
Dear Murray,
The following letter is written both to you personally, in the hope of a personal response, and also is submitted for publication as a letter to the editor.
You have done my letter a serious injustice in your printed response (8.10.09).
OF COURSE the AP report made clear that Israel's air strike was in response to the Palestinian mortar and rocket attack. If you will look again, you will see that it wasn't the report I criticised, it was the headline that you placed over it. And do you not agree that many readers only look at headlines?
Your response also contained a significant error. Israel's air strike didn't just ‘follow’ the Palestinian attacks, it was ‘in response’ to them, as the AP clearly stated. As a journalist you should know that words matter and that there is a subtle but important difference between ‘followed’ and ‘in response’.
No matter how hard you try to find equality between the two sides, the fact remains that the goal of Hamas is to kill civilians and destroy Israel and the goal of Israel is to defend itself by striking at military targets. Would New Zealand do less?
P.S. I will be in Dunedin on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning next week. If you would like to discuss this I would be most happy to meet with you.