- Ruqiya Anwar
News organizations from all over the world have been covering the tragedy since Shireen Abu Akleh's death. The headlines differ, but for many, one thing stood out: the biased, erroneous, and unclear headlines circulating on social media.
According to Reporters without Borders, since 2018, at least 144 Palestinian journalists have been injured by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and the Eastern part of occupied al-Quds. Israeli air raids on Gaza in May 2021 demolished Al Jalaa Tower, which contains several major networks. Western media just reproduced Israeli military talking points instead of reporting the facts, which other journalists confirmed on the site.
As the world awoke to the tragic news of Shireen Abu Akleh's killing, news headlines started flowing in. She has appropriately been acclaimed as the Palestinian voice in their long-running campaign for the liberation of their occupied lands and homes and the release of their loved ones imprisoned in prisons.
News organizations from all over the world have been covering the tragedy since her death. The headlines differ, but for many, one thing stood out: the biased, erroneous, and unclear headlines circulating on social media. The act of killing a Palestinian is always depicted in passive words. They die naturally; no one kills them. They sometimes die due to clashes, with no explanation as to how the fight started or the power imbalance at play.
According to the experts, there are stories of unclear circumstances and no attribution of who killed Shireen instead of explaining how a military sniper fired at the head of an identified journalist. This biased reporting isn't just racist; it's also free advertising for an apartheid administration.
Take, for example, The New York Times news headline. "Shireen Abu Akleh, Trailblazing Palestinian Journalist, Dies at 51," the first story published on the assassination of the famous Palestinian journalist. A news story's headline is the most crucial aspect; The Times purposefully omitted the true subject here, leading the reader to believe that the subject is Abu Akleh herself: the journalist was the sole perpetrator of the crime; she died. Perhaps The New York Times overestimated their readers' basic intellect and alertness, assuming that no one would spot the deception. However, this sparked a massive backlash, prompting the newspaper to change the headline to Trailblazing Palestinian Journalist Killed in West Bank. The New York Times isn't the only news organization to leave out the exact reason for Abu Akleh's death assassination in its headline.
Consequently, western media will be no less than involved in covering up war crimes and crimes against humanity" if media coverage continues in this way. Media coverage is critical in molding public opinion and guiding official policy, as we have seen with the situation in Ukraine. It is incumbent on the media to begin reporting the truth about Israeli Apartheid's crimes. There are no calls for an investigation into who was at fault, and Ukrainian sources and journalists are thought to be trustworthy enough to quote on their own.
Significantly, the international media's attitude has been criticized as reflecting how they regard Palestinian killings as excusable clashes between two sides with uncertain guilt. In their coverage of news about Palestine and Palestinian lives and deaths, the mainstream media has been accused of abandoning objectivity, impartiality, and accuracy. The Western military-industrial-media complex, very blatantly but predictably, cannot perceive this transparent violation for what it is.
Notably, through deceptive headlines and inaccurate reporting, the Western media has again demonstrated its unmistakable pro-"Israel" bias. These headlines are typical examples of media misinformation, spin-doctoring, and strange factual distortion to fit a particular narrative. When reporting on Israeli atrocities in the occupied Palestinian areas, the dilemma is that western media assumes balance means giving equal weight to all sides, even though one is an oppressor and the other is oppressed. There is no comparison.
Even when journalists have been targeted, the Western media has never acknowledged the war crimes in the occupied territories. As a result, Palestinians' lives are unimportant to Western journalists, including Palestinian journalists who risk their lives, to tell the truth. The clear double standards on the Palestinian issue are demonstrated by style guides used by major western news agencies, which effectively forbid the word "Palestine.” This deliberate attempt by editors to impose style-guide requirements for "balanced" coverage without taking into account the topic's complexities is an injustice to both journalism and media practitioners.
Moreover, the differences in western media's approaches to the conflicts in Ukraine and Palestine must be criticized. For example, if Russian armed troops targeted a reporter in Ukraine, the western media would call it an assassination and incite outrage.
Additionally, despite its apartheid regime, occupation, and injustice and humiliation of Palestinians, the news media present such partisan coverage of "Israel." The Western media coverage is blatantly unprofessional and deliberately biased. Hundreds of authors, commentators, and professors, including Noam Chomsky, Edward Said, and other influential communication experts and political figures, have written about this bias. Despite this, the mainstream media continues to support the oppressor and keep the oppression suppressed.
Journalists are a line of defense tasked with withholding responsibilities of some of the world's most powerful countries and individuals responsible. When a journalist is assassinated, it sends a message to the rest of the world about how vital their work is and how afraid those in power are of revealing such stories.
The international media should treat Palestinians, including reporters, with the respect they have earned. It is time for all journalists, especially those in the west, to begin covering events objectively and without any preconceived notions or deliberate misinformation. Journalism should be guided by the principles of giving voice to the voiceless and working for universally agreed-upon principles of justice, equality, freedom, and truth.
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