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‘Herd Mentality’ Evident in Media Coverage of Israel — Former AP Reporter
Cybercast News Service ^ | October 20, 2017 | 5:37 PM EDT | Patrick Goodenough

Posted on 10/21/2017 10:51:48 PM PDT by Olog-hai

News coverage of Israel is distorted both by the lopsided amount of attention it gets from world media and from a “herd mentality” that embraces and promotes a narrow, simplistic view of “what the story is,” according to an author and former Associated Press reporter in Israel.

Israel accounts for 0.01 percent of the world’s territory and has roughly the population of New York City, but when Matti Friedman joined the AP in 2006, he recalled in Jerusalem this week, the wire service had 40 full-time staff in the country. That was more than the number of AP staff covering China or India (with populations of 1.3 billion and 1.1. billion respectively), more than the number covering all of sub-Saharan Africa, and more than the number covering all of the countries where the so-called “Arab spring” erupted, combined. The entire AP presence in Syria in 2006, he said, comprised a single, part-time stringer. […]

In 2016, there were about 110 fatalities in the entire conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, one-sixth of the number of homicides in Los Angeles County — “and no one thinks there’s a war in Los Angeles County.” […]

The second element that characterizes malfunctioning media coverage of Israel, Friedman said, is the content. Journalists are inclined to agree “what the story is”: There was an occupation in 1967; reverse the occupation and there will be peace. Friedman attributed the nature of much foreign media coverage to a lack of knowledge and the fact journalists tend to “cling to the simple story” that they hear from colleagues, diplomats and NGOs. …

(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Israel; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: antisemitism; associatedpress; dissociatedpress; friedman; liberalagenda; liberalmedia; palestinians; rop

1 posted on 10/21/2017 10:51:48 PM PDT by Olog-hai
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To: Olog-hai

MSM sheep just spew the Leftard talking points....


2 posted on 10/21/2017 11:15:03 PM PDT by Enchante (Bill, Anthony, Harvey .... how does lesbo Hillary manage to surround herself with male predators???)
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To: Enchante
"“When there’s a vacuum in the Middle East it isn’t filled by something good,” he said. “It’s filled with the guys with black masks and black flags and very different ideas about what the future holds.”

Israel’s withdrawal, under the Oslo peace process, from territory claimed by the Palestinians resulted in the worst spate of terrorist violence in Israel’s history, he recalled. Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon and the vacuum was filled by Hezbollah; Israel pulled out of Gaza and Hamas took over.

3 posted on 10/21/2017 11:15:49 PM PDT by Enchante (Bill, Anthony, Harvey .... how does lesbo Hillary manage to surround herself with male predators???)
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To: Olog-hai

4 posted on 10/21/2017 11:19:36 PM PDT by Enchante (Bill, Anthony, Harvey .... how does lesbo Hillary manage to surround herself with male predators???)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...
Israel accounts for 0.01 percent of the world’s territory and has roughly the population of New York City, but when Matti Friedman joined the AP in 2006, he recalled in Jerusalem this week, the wire service had 40 full-time staff in the country... more than the number of AP staff covering China or India... more than the number covering all of sub-Saharan Africa, and more than the number covering all of the countries where the so-called "Arab spring" erupted, combined. The entire AP presence in Syria in 2006, he said, comprised a single, part-time stringer... In 2016, there were about 110 fatalities in the entire conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, one-sixth of the number of homicides in Los Angeles County -- "and no one thinks there’s a war in Los Angeles County."
Gosh, it's almost as if decisionmakers in so-called journalism are trying to shape the story! :^) Thanks Olog-hai.
5 posted on 10/21/2017 11:44:20 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (www.tapatalk.com/groups/godsgravesglyphs/, forum.darwincentral.org, www.gopbriefingroom.com)
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To: Olog-hai

Re: Friedman attributed the nature of much foreign media coverage to a lack of knowledge and the fact journalists tend to “cling to the simple story” that they hear from colleagues...

I disagree.

I think most of the news coverage is generated by reporters who are anti-Jew and anti-Israel.


6 posted on 10/22/2017 1:48:23 AM PDT by zeestephen
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To: SunkenCiv

The relatively huge contingent of western reporters based in Israel has another aspect. Part of it is indeed an unwarranted obsession with trying to magnify any perceived Israeli failings. But it is also because Israel is the only decent society in the region where journalists can be based.


7 posted on 10/22/2017 4:44:22 AM PDT by Enchante (Bill, Anthony, Harvey .... how does lesbo Hillary manage to surround herself with male predators???)
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To: Enchante

I.e., the AP and other western journalism entities much prefer to base their regional operations in the safe and free society of Israel. Even while the churnalists propagandize against Israel they don’t want to be subject to the harsh dangers of the Arab and Muslim world.


8 posted on 10/22/2017 4:47:36 AM PDT by Enchante (Bill, Anthony, Harvey .... how does lesbo Hillary manage to surround herself with male predators???)
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To: Enchante

Always proudly fiercely independent of reality...


9 posted on 10/22/2017 8:55:10 AM PDT by GOPJ ("NFL: Now Far Left" - - freeper Lazamataz)
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you'd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

10 posted on 10/22/2017 3:21:51 PM PDT by SJackson (The Pilgrims—Doing the jobs Native Americans wouldn’t do !)
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To: SJackson

Only in the coverage of Israel? Media coverage of everything has a herd mentality.


11 posted on 10/22/2017 3:23:42 PM PDT by Eleutheria5 (“If you are not prepared to use force to defend civilization, then be prepared to accept barbarism.)
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