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July 20, 2001/Tamuz 29, 5761, Vol. 53, No.41
Skewed reportingEditorialThere are at least 25 violent, bloody, regional conflicts in the world:Locations include East Timor, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Azerbaijan and Afghanistan. And yet, judging from the reporting in any major newspaper, one would be aware of a significantly smaller number of confrontations. What continues to dominate coverage is the ongoing violence between Israelis and Palestinians. At the same time, for two decades, a civil war - financed by a vibrant slave trade - has raged in the Sudan, claiming at least 2 million lives. And for the last 50 years, China has occupied Tibet and maintained efforts to eliminate its once-vibrant Buddhist culture. But these stories and many more raging along social, political and religious lines, are under-reported, buried or not covered at all. Still, every day readers can learn about Palestinians lobbing mortar shells on Israeli towns or Israeli soldiers firing upon stone-throwing youth. Why is this the case? Part of the reason could be the high number of reporters living in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, who cover not only Israel, but other countries in the Middle East. Another reason could be the ease of being a reporter in Israel. One can live in the suburbs, drive a half-hour to where the action is and return safe and sound by nightfall. Other "hot spots" - like Afghanistan and East Timor - are hardly as accessible or glamorous. And the odds of getting kidnapped, shot or killed are significantly higher. Another reason could be the way Israeli-Palestinian reporting is caught in a "feedback loop." Do editors encourage reporting because demand for stories is high, or is demand from readers high because editors encourage a disproportionate amount of reporting? Media sources would be more responsible and thorough if they presented balanced reporting, and the public would be more informed if they demanded more honesty, truth and knowledge from the media. After all, knowledge is power. |
