Tuesday, August 25, 2009
fox news v.s. aljazeera
i'm sure all of you remember at least hearing something about the recent Israeli invasion of the Gaza strip a few months ago. it was heavily covered in endless news reports for a few weeks as the story unfolded. well, i was interested in finding out more because at the time i didn't have much knowledge about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to begin with. a long time friend of mine happens to be from Iran and so i began to ask what he thought about the issue. not to my surprise, what he had to say wasn't being aired on any of the channels i had seen. i immediately assumed that he was a bit biased as were the news channels i had seen. when i asked him where he was getting his information he told me aljazeera, a news forum that his parents regularly subscribe to. so we went on an information hunt. it just so happened that the Israeli's were not allowing any press into gaza during the conflict; however, the aljazeera reporters were already there and filming so they had the scoop. we went on their website and began to watch videos covering the story. it amazed me how opposite their story was from our news networks. their take was that the Israeli's had been pushing the former Palestinians into the gaza strip like cattle for months and then proceeded to blockade the area from all deliveries, essentially drying up all the food and water resources for Gaza's inhabitants. they showed endless footage of injured and deceased Palestinians, men women and children alike. they had personal accounts of the Israeli's willingly killing innocent people during a search for their target, the leaders of hamas. they explained that the Israeli's had cut the power to hospitals and specifically bombed houses which had been pre-screened to find only innocent families boarded up in hiding. the way aljazeera showed it, the Israeli's formed the blockade to entice hamas to fight back and then used the "few homemade rockets" which hamas had sent over the blockade (injuring no civilian israeli's) as an excuse to enter Gaza and begin a sort of genocide. as you may assume i was startled, it was as if i was hearing about a completely different event, and aljazeera was certainly biased; however, they had enough video footage to prove most of what they were saying. after seeing this i went to fox news's website to hear their story and found a fox news anchor on video conference call with an English speaking Palestinian woman from Gaza, she seemed to have a considerable amount of education and was familiar with the american side of the story. as she was explaining exactly what aljazeera had reported, the news anchor began to get frazzled and instead of letting her finish, or attempting to learn more, he simply spoke over her on numerous occasions, insulting her intelligence and credibility. he even went as far as to accuse her of not knowing her own country and then had her line disconnected and continued to apologise for her ludicrous remarks after she was gone. it was astounding to see, especially when the aljazeera network was the only network present during the conflict, for the fox news anchor to act like that against a credible opposing viewpoint left me at a loss for words. i implore anyone interested to look at the two networks websites and watch the Gaza excerpts for themselves.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAl-jazeera, like foxnews, is about as biased as it comes. Al-jazeera focuses on one side of the issue while demonizing the other.
ReplyDeleteThey don't mention that Israel warned Hamas that if they didn't stop firing missiles into Israel they would do it themselves.
Or that the Israeli army telephoned houses that were being targeted in advance warning people to disperse and that instead hamas sent women and children in to die.
One of the most successful tactics used by Hamas is to parade around horrific footage of the dead and dying while playing the part of the innocent victim. This is why the continue to use human shields. So that there will be as much casualties as possible.
This issue is extremely complex and you won't find the truth on either Al-jazeera or Foxnews.
My advice to you would be to refrain from believing any source that places the blame squarely on one side.
easycrat,
ReplyDeletei dont know if i agree that the biggest problem in U.S foreign policy is the israeli-palestinian conflict; not that it is not on the center board everytime there is a new development but there is a large number of issues and conflicts to be considered is issuing that statement.
i do agree that the U.S blindly sides with israel and i think it is for a few reasons. mainly that israel is the closest model of our own paths of thinking that can be found in the middle east, and seeing that there are so many interests in that region i.e: oil, the spread of democritization, prevention of large scale conflicts.... and others, it serves our western impulses to aid israel in its own regional issues.
yes, it is certainly true that the palestinians have a legitimate reason for backlash and they should have their predicament mended but the question in solving that problem is cut short by the obvious boundaries in place, and these are not only physical boundaries. this conflict has been going on for thousands of years and just in the past sixty or so years it has been exasserbated by the post WWII actions of the west, and we are finally having to deal with it. hamas and israel, jordan and syria and all the other political entities are simply the modern players in a game which has been played continuously since the times of christ. personally i believe that these issues have become so deep-seeded over the centuries that the two sides simply are incapable of resurecting an agreement.
i will shortly touch on your last statements, yes the israelis oppress the palestinians and yes it is done unfairly but my contention is that this allows the palestinian rebel forces and their political counterparts to use these actions diplomatically and what i think is overlooked is the opposite side of the spectrum. how do you think the palestinians would be treating the jews if the land had never been taken. they certainly would be just as opressive if not more, and i cite history. pre-WWII, the tables were turned and although the issue didnt make front page news in the western world the palestinians werent exactly inviting to the zionists in that area, which is why we found a mass diaspora of jews across europe.
neither side is right or wrong and their both at fault.
just a thought.
nate,
yes, absolutely aljazeera is biased, in such a "busy" part of the world i'd be surprized to see any unbiased reporting.
however a prominent piece of information is that after the democratic election of hamas was denied legitimacy from the west, including the U.N, israel took the opporunity to blockade the gaza strip with its densley populated areas from even shipments of food and water. after a few weeks of that blockade, i personally can understand the frustration which could lead the people in the strip to make rockets and fire them. i dont even begin to claim that i know enough of the subject to form an educated opinion, but either way, that fact cannot be left out.
as for hamas, i am not backing them either. i do believe that THEY believe that everything they do is warranted after years of opression and decemination of the palestinian plight but no one wants to agree with a group that resorts to violence, that at least to us (as we sit sipping our lattes and watching fox news) seems horrific and unwarranted but my point is that there is three sides to every story, and symbolicly in this case its the fox side, the aljazeera side and omnicient, and unfortunately our provider doesnt offer access to that channel.
i thank both of you for your input.
@ Blake M...I disagree. The biggest headache to the United States foreign policy is the Isreal/Palestine conflict. Religious defferences between both countries make it difficult for any kind of solution to that conflict. The Muslims are always suspicious of the United States involvement in any kind of diplomacy because the United States have always been pro-Isreal.
ReplyDeleteI like this article, very well written. It's understandable that the U.S media reports shows some bias towards Isreal because they are promoting American policy towards that region and thus need public support. Al jazeera is doing the same thing because they also need public support. The media plays a important role in how public opinion is formed/shaped, and they achieve their objectives by reporting the news in such a way they believe the world should work.
agree to disagree. haha
ReplyDeleteGotta say that this is one of the best posts that I have read. It is really well written and I wonder how many people have taken the time to compare the two. Keep these up they are great.
ReplyDeleteI just read an article recently that brought me back to your blog post. Despite the facet that many Palestinians have been killed by the Israelis, Palestines hands are not entirely blood free either. Hamas has bombed Israel several times. Although the Israeli response was grander and cost more lives, we can't just wipe one side clean because Al Jazeera has footage to prove the Israelis guilty. Even videos can be doctored. They can be used to create an image-framing. I watched a documentary not to long ago that accused Al jazeera of staging actors to make their news more dramatic.
ReplyDeleteIt was wrong of Fox news not to listen to other side of the story, but lets not forget that both Palestine and Israel are guilty.