Western media prioritizes pro-Israel bias over ethical, accurate coverage

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When I began studying at the Newhouse School of Public Communications, I was bright-eyed with pen and paper in hand, hoping to master the craft of journalism. I was ready to break into the media industry post-grad and be a part of the fourth estate. Now, weeks away from graduating, it’s hard for me to not be disillusioned with the state of journalism.

These past few months, having witnessed the West’s reporting on Gaza, I have seen headlines, reports, op-eds and political cartoons so wildly racist, Islamophobic, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian that I have begun to question how I could be part of an industry that I once viewed as noble.

From parroting unconfirmed claims of Israeli and American officials; lack of fact-checking and sourcing; fear-mongering and sensationalizing Muslim, Arab and brown people as innately violent; not allowing anti-war or diverse viewpoints; and using and creating racist rhetoric, the media has not just passively overseen the Israeli and American government’s destruction in Palestine, but actively given its stamp of approval for genocide.

Western editorial and newsroom coverage have proven to “whitewash Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians, obscure the great power asymmetry between the parties, and exempt Israel from any responsibility for its actions,” according to The New Arab.

Not even beloved liberal-leaning papers which progressives consider to be the gold standard of journalism are innocent. An Intercept analysis looked into coverage from The New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times and found that “for every two Palestinian deaths, Palestinians are mentioned once. For every Israeli death, Israelis are mentioned eight times — or a rate 16 times more per death that of Palestinians.”

A few egregious examples of Western media bias which should forever mar the reputation of these outlets include: a Washington Post headline which called the murder of four Palestinian babies “lives found ended” rather than plainly stating they were killed at the order of the Israeli Defense Forces; a New York Times report calling a bombed refugee camp a “densely populated neighborhood”; and an ABC News headline calling the 12,300 children killed by Israeli bombardment “Palestinian minors.”

“At the very least people are asking for the media to be specific and accurate,” said Newhouse Professor Nausheen Husain, whose research focuses on news coverage of the “War on Terror” after 9/11. “It’s almost like we are asking for objectivity, which is an insane thing because objectivity is such a flawed concept. But in this situation, objectivity would be a huge step up in our case. We are not an objective media. We tend to dehumanize people and blatantly favor occupation and violence.”

Instead of acting independently to obtain information, newsrooms are choosing to open stories up to Israeli censorship and bias. All of CNN’s Gaza coverage is monitored and approved by the IDF before publication. CNN, ABC and NBC journalists embed with the IDF, making them “susceptible to legitimizing the military’s view of the conflict,” according to The New Republic.

Across major American media outlets, serious ethical violations are being committed. Recently, the NYT employed a former Israeli military intelligence agent who was found to have liked a tweet calling for Israel to “turn the [Gaza Strip] into a slaughterhouse.” Anat Schwartz, despite having no journalistic experience, was the principal reporter in a controversial NYT piece which has been criticized for weaponizing rape in service of Israeli propaganda. While the NYT has attempted to distance themselves from the writer, they must not be excused for their malpractice.

“The intention isn’t really that important if the impact of that reporting is that a lot of brown people in the Middle East are bombed and killed, then that’s an impact we need to think about as newsrooms,” Husain said.

I worry how I may navigate working for corporations and with colleagues who have contributed to harming my communities. I wonder what the standard practices will be regarding the Middle East and Muslims, who deserve to be covered with fairness, accuracy and respect but rarely are. I also know, realistically, that I cannot alone fight back against bias and damaging coverage in an industry that suppresses media workers whose viewpoints stray from the media’s anti-Arab and anti-Muslim prejudice.

What makes me hopeful during these bleak times are the journalists, like the Writers Against the War on Gaza, who collectively “stand in opposition to the silencing of dissent and to racist and revisionist media cycles.”

They reject justifying Israel’s horrible acts of war as an appropriate response to the October 7 attack; they refuse to shape the mainstream consensus against Palestinians and manufacture consent for their annihilation. These should be the responsibilities of journalists across the board, not rare instances from a few.

I truly admire the Palestinian media workers on the ground, like Motaz Aziza, Bisan Owda and Waed al Dahdouh. They’ve done the heavy lifting in showcasing the reality of Israel’s occupation, war crimes and indiscriminate killing of civilians. But in our commemoration of their efforts, we must mourn the cost of their tenacity. In modern history, this has been the most deadly period for journalists, with a confirmed 89 Palestinian media workers killed by Israel.

Yet, I also fear for the journalists who remain in Gaza. They are targeted not only because they are Palestinian but because, unlike the Western media, they have remained unwavering in practicing the basic tenets of journalism.

Instead of waiting for American legacy media outlets to pivot towards fair coverage, our focus should be amplifying the work of Palestinians who bear witness to the horrors committed by Israel against their people. As journalists, we must stand in solidarity with our fellow colleagues and call for Israel’s killing of Palestinian journalists, a crime against humanity, to end.

Emane Haque is a senior Magazine Journalism major. Her Column appears bi-weekly. She can be reached at [email protected]