Media Bias? Nothing New Here by Ruth King

Many years ago an Arab in Jerusalem stabbed an elderly Orthodox Jew whose companions gave chase, captured the assailant and beat him until the police came. Peter Jennings, who was the anchor of ABC News from 1984 until his death in 2005, described it thus: “Today an Orthodox mob chased and beat a Palestinian Arab.” That was artful bias–reporting an incident factually with no exculpatory explanation.

The other networks were no better. NBC reported outright lies during their coverage of the Lebanon War.

In 1984 Americans for a Safe Israel produced a documentary entitled NBC in Lebanon- A Study in Media Misrepresentation. In The New York Times, the television critic John Corry reviewed it as flawed (naturally) but admitted “[I]t attempts to prove, and to a large extent does prove, that coverage by theNBC Nightly News of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the summer of 1982 was faulty.”

He continued “One may argue, of course, that journalism ought not to reflect any viewpoint, and that to accuse NBC of not reflecting the ‘Israeli viewpoint’ is only to accuse it of not taking sides. On the other hand, the documentary, judiciously using NBC’s own film, suggests that NBC was indeed taking sides and pressing the viewpoint of the P.L.O.“

Of Tom Brokaw, the  “star” of the AFSI documentary, Dan Rather who ‘resigned’ in disgrace from CBS after he orchestrated a false report on the National Guard Service of then President George Bush, and Peter Jennings, journalist Sarah Pentz had this to say: “Each of these men leaves a shameful legacy on the face of American journalism. They led their networks into a shocking wave of politically biased reporting and did absolutely nothing to rebuke those who indulged in it––because, it was their agenda, too.

They knew exactly what they were doing. Each is responsible for the blackening tarnish that covers all journalists today because of their partisan politics.”

These biased network journalists paved the way for the clowns who dominate network as well as print media today. At least those three had credentials as journalists, however badly they misused them. The present lot reports on world events, and especially Israel without a clue. They pretend that the history of Israel started in 1967 when Jews, without provocation or legitimate rights, invaded the peaceful and productive lands of the “West Bank.”

Chris Matthews of MSNBC worries that moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem will “desecrate the Holy City”, defends Palestinian Arab terrorism, and worries, worries, worries full time about the perverse Jewish lobby, Jewish Republicans, Jewish influence–and non Jewish Donald Trump.

As Stuart Schwartz summed up in the American Thinker in 2010: “Matthews has long used his television platform to spotlight the danger to the United States posed by Israel and American Jews who conspire against the country. Call it ‘The Protocols of Chris Matthews,’ or, perhaps, ‘The Protocols of the Elders of MSNBC.’ Rid us of Israel, rid us of Jews, and Pandora will return to its pre-kosher bliss.”

In 2014, in a widely circulated column from The Atlantic “What the Media Gets Wrong About Israel – The news tells us less about Israel than about the people writing the news” former AP reporter Matti Friedman writes: “The uglier aspects of Palestinian society are untouchable because they would disrupt the ‘Israel story,’ which is a story of Jewish moral failure.”

He includes this pithy 1946 quote from George Orwell: “The argument that to tell the truth would be ‘inopportune’ or would ‘play into the hands of’ somebody or other is felt to be unanswerable, and few people are bothered by the prospect that the lies which they condone will get out of the newspapers and into the history books.”

Media reporting on North Korea, China, Iran, Africa, Russia, and anything about the President and domestic policies is devoid of historical context and alternative perspectives. It is “one size fits all” liberal cant.

Celebrities routinely host galas to reward themselves: Emmies, Golden Globes, Oscars. Journalists have their own awards for distinction in reporting–the Peabody, the Pulitzer, the Edward R. Murrow.

I would recommend the Apate award for all those who compound ignorance and bias into fake news. In Greek mythology Apate was the goddess of deception, guile and fraud. The statuette could have a Pinocchio nose, although the Disney legend was limited to thirteen lies, and reporters have no limits.