Gaza Fence deaths vs Ramadan deaths: media hypocrisy

(Last updated June 13, 2018)



Media hypocrisy continues to undercut public respect for journalism--and for the world's media. The latest new items to highlight this hypocrisy suggest that the media--in print, TV, internet-- does nothing to improve its credibility at a time when its credibility needs a boost because of an orgy of fake news reports that have demonized US President Donald Trump--and, separately, the state of Israel. 

The hypocrisy of media reporting about the two cases below suggests that the media is either in denial regarding the poor state of its reputation--or, the media has morphed into a one-sided propaganda tool for Leftist beliefs, and it doesn't give a damn if you don't like those beliefs. 

Either way, the media shoots itself in its proverbial foot. It seems to be doing everything to destroy its reputation.

The latest news items that hurt the media both popped up over the last week, one appearing June 6th, the other appearing June 11th. Both focus on how the media reports the violent deaths of Muslims--and therein lies the hypocrisy. 

In one instance, the world's media pulls your heartstrings over the loss of Muslim life (Nagham Mohanna, here). In this case (ibid), the media presents the 'culprit as a killer. The media lavishes attention on how the loss of Muslim life embitters and destroys the lives of Muslim families. It reports to you how these deaths create rage. It suggests that the rage begets a desire for revenge. It humanizes the 'Palestinians' by describing their anguish while it refers to Jews of Israel only as the impersonal Israel' (for example, here and here).

The second instance is different. Here, the media says nothing whatsoever about the loss of Muslim life. It lavishes no attention on how Muslim lives are shattered. It ignores any rage over these deaths. It says nothing about revenge. It ignores Muslim death altogether. 

To see why this difference in coverage is telling, you will want to note that both instances took place during the same time period, May 14-June 10,  2018.

Actually, that's not exactly true. The time frame of the first instance (May 14-June 10, 2018) is three days longer than the time frame of the second (May 17-June 10, 2018). 

What turns the coverage of these two instances into hypocrisy are the death tolls. Where the media cried aloud in bitter anguish over Muslim death, some 75 Muslims had died violent deaths. Where the media found no reason to say anything at all about violent Muslim deaths, the death toll was 605.

These numbers aren't typos. Where media cried bitterly, app 75 died. Where media said nothing, 605 died (Edwin Mora, here).  

If all loss of life is equally tragic, we would not have expected such silence for so many additional deaths in the second instance. After all, if the crying is so bitter for 75, what must it sound like for 605? If the pictures and stories of grieving families is so fraught with tragedy-and-loss for 75, what must those pictures and stories be like for 605?

Why won't the media report on the 605? Is their tragedy that much less than the 75?

Unfortunately for the media's reputation, there's an explanation for this disparity in reporting. There's a reason for the difference in media anguish. In the case where 75 Muslims died, Muslims were clashing with Israeli soldiers at the Gaza-Israel border. Muslims were rioting. They were calling to destroy Israel. They were stoning Israeli soldiers. Some shot at Israeli soldiers. Some threw hand grenades. Some set kites afire and sent them aloft to land in Israel, where they burned thousands of acres of Jewish farmland.  Some attached IEDs to kites and sent them aloft into Israel. 

The 75 died during riots against Israel between May 14-June 10, 2018. These Muslims were killed by (everyone assumes) soldiers who were Jewish. They were supposedly killed, in other words, by Jews.

The media's anguished outcry was very, very loud. It was heard 'round the world. 

The media expressed no such outcry in the second instance. Here, between the dates of May 17-June 10, 2018, some 605 Muslims died. They died primarily in Muslim countries. They died during the month-long Muslim holiday, Ramadan (Edwin Mora, here). They were killed by other Muslims, not Jews. Many victims were civilians, mostly on holiday, minding their own business.

Apparently, when Muslim kills Muslim, the media sees nothing newsworthy. It sees nothing tragic to report. It sees no anguish to report. It sees no violations against the rights of the dead to cry about.

When Jews kill Muslims, however, even in circumstances where Muslims are attacking Jews or the Jewish state, the media suddenly cares. It cares a lot. 

It cares about human life. It cares about grieving families. It cares about the rage of the victims.               

This kind of behavior--along with the racist attitudes that underlie it--does nothing to commend the media to the public. This behavior isn't uplifting (unless you're an anti-Jew racist yourself). This double-standard reportage--demonize Israel/ignore Muslim culprits-- doesn't demonstrate the media's commitment to honesty, equal anguish for all or to 'equal reporting for all'. It does something completely different. It inflames public disgust for mainstream media hypocrisy.

Where do you think that's going to lead?