From: Spudboy100@aol.com
Date: Tue Mar 18 2003 - 00:35:11 MST
http://nationalreview.com/comment/comment-gross031403.asp
What follows is a snippet of a well-deserved attack on the New York Times, by
National Review writer, Tom Gross. This is an alternative view highlighting
how many newsorgs cover events. Food for thought
<<By Tom Gross
s the world's most important daily newspaper, the New York Times is
disproportionately influential in framing the public and diplomatic discourse
on many issues, both in the U.S. and beyond. This is particularly true with
regard to the Middle East, given how much space it allocates to the subject.
One of the great myths of modern journalism, particularly outside the U.S.,
is that the New York Times is "pro-Israel." In fact, it would be truer to say
that the opposite is the case.
A TALE OF TWO BAPTISTS
On March 4, a 59-year-old American Baptist, William P. Hyde, was among 21
people killed by a suicide bomber in Davao in the southern Philippines. That
an American died was made clear in the following day's New York Times. The
Times titled its news report "Bombing Kills An American And 20 Others In
Philippines." The first seven paragraphs concerned Hyde, who had lived and
worked in the Philippines since 1978, and another American, Barbara Stevens,
who had been "slightly wounded" in the attack. The caption alongside two
photos on the front page of that day's Times also made reference to his
death, as did a news summary on page 2. In addition, the paper ran an
editorial titled "Fighting Terror in the Philippines." And a front-page photo
of a wounded boy, and the caption that accompanied it, made clear that at
least one child had been among the injured.
On the next day (March 5), another American Baptist, 14-year-old Abigail
Litle, was among 16 people killed by a suicide bomber on a bus in Haifa,
Israel. The story and photo caption in the March 6 Times, tucked at the
bottom corner of page 1, made no mention of Abigail's name. Neither the
headline nor the photo caption indicated that an American had died, or that
the suicide bomber had deliberately chosen a bus packed with schoolchildren,
or that a majority of those killed had been teenagers.
The suicide bombers in both Davao and Haifa were acting on behalf of Muslim
fundamentalist groups fighting for separate states. But the Haifa bomber was
arguably worse. He deliberately chose children as his target, and his bomb
was packed with specially sharpened nails and shrapnel to maximize pain and
to make it harder for doctors to save the wounded.
Readers of some newspapers — but not of the Times — were told that Litle's
Missouri-born parents had rushed to Haifa's Rambam hospital to look for their
"wounded" daughter and instead had found only what remained of her: her legs.
They had identified Abigail from an ankle bracelet still attached to one of
them. That day's New York Post carried a picture of the pretty, New
Hampshire-born schoolgirl who had been active in Jewish-Arab school dialogue
groups on its front page...>>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Tue Mar 18 2003 - 00:42:51 MST