# are the US media to biased toward Israel ? (video) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 15, 2006, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-us-media-to-biased-toward-israel-video/368820 "2006-08-15T13:39:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wildfire\_MM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f08c70/32.png) [@Wildfire\_MM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildfire_MM)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-us-media-to-biased-toward-israel-video/368820/1 "2006-08-15T13:39:29Z")
This is a very interesting documentary about the American media and how they are accused of being very biased in this conflict It shows how US networks uses words like community instead of settler colony to describe settler villages on occupied land, and it also shows the difference between US networks and BBC World. It shows how zionistic and pro-Israeli groups control the use of pictures and language used in US network. It’s shows how the information is more or less filtered be these groups [Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land: Media & the Israel-Palestine Conflict](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6604775898578139565&q=genre%3Adocumentary+duration%3Along) 1 hr 19 min 14 sec Do you feel that US media too biased toward Israel and that the US networks are not so free as you assume or should be ? ---
**Author:** ![Wildfire\_MM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f08c70/32.png) [@Wildfire\_MM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildfire_MM)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-us-media-to-biased-toward-israel-video/368820/2 "2006-08-15T13:48:04Z")
Another important thing to noticed in the doc. is that Israeli media seams to be far more critical toward Israeli actions in Palestine than US media. Especially the famous Israeli newspaper Haaretz which is one of the biggest in Israel This is also my own impression ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-us-media-to-biased-toward-israel-video/368820/3 "2006-08-15T13:56:14Z")
You’re beating your head on a stone wall here, Wildfire. Very few people around here will admit that the mainstream news media list heavily to port. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-us-media-to-biased-toward-israel-video/368820/4 "2006-08-15T14:12:45Z")
[QUOTE=Wildfire\*\*MM] It shows how US networks uses words like community instead of settler colony to describe settler villages on occupied land, [/quote] If terrorists are called “militants” than settlements can be called “communities”. It’s called objective language. [QUOTE=Wildfire\*\*MM] and it also shows the difference between US networks and BBC World. [/quote] Well, yeah. From my purely subjective POV, BBC has a fierce anti-Israeli bias [QUOTE=Wildfire\*\*MM] It shows how zionistic and pro-Israeli groups control the use of pictures and language used in US network. [/quote] Control? Israel and its supporters employ PR. As does the other side. Public relations is not “control”. [QUOTE=Wildfire\*\*MM] It’s shows how the information is more or less filtered be these groups [/quote] It’s “filtered” by the news orgs. themselves. That’s their job. Do you believe that every word, every image presented by Hizballah and its cronies to be absolute truth? Or are Israelis simply bigger liars. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6604775898578139565&q=genre%3Adocumentary+duration%3Along Do you feel that US media too biased toward Israel and that the US networks are not so free as you assume or should be ? [/QUOTE] IF the U.S. media is biased, the bias is not nearly as strong as European bias to the other directoion. Tjhe U.S. media is as free as any in the world, and freer than most. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-us-media-to-biased-toward-israel-video/368820/5 "2006-08-15T14:16:54Z")
Erhm… does that imply that there is a connection between being liberal and being biased toward Israel? I have no doubt in my mind at all that the US media has a bias toward Israel. But I think it is a bias that is largely representative of Americans as a whole. There’s nothing sinister behind it. However, I have never heard the word “community” used to describe settlements/colonies. I believe the preferred nomenclature in the US media is “settlements.” And the link in the OP doesn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-us-media-to-biased-toward-israel-video/368820/6 "2006-08-15T14:19:09Z")
Ouch. That’s what I get for responding to a post after I’ve only skimmed over it lightly. No, there isn’t a pro-Israel bias in the American news media. The media are not secretly controlled by a sinister Jewish cabal. Any more questions? ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-us-media-to-biased-toward-israel-video/368820/7 "2006-08-15T14:22:09Z")
[QUOTE=Wildfire\*\*MM] It shows how zionistic and pro-Israeli groups control the use of pictures and language used in US network. It’s shows how the information is more or less filtered be these groups [/QUOTE] Perhaps you missed the recent flap about Hezballah successfully getting doctored photographs splashed all over the Western media? ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-us-media-to-biased-toward-israel-video/368820/8 "2006-08-15T14:24:54Z")
[QUOTE=Wildfire\*\*MM] This is a very interesting documentary about the American media and how they are accused of being very biased in this conflict [/QUOTE] You’re beginning to sound like a one-trick pony. Posters that obsess over one topic to the exclusion of everything else, and those that seem to promote an agenda, get very little respect on the SDMB. Is there anything else that interests you, besides Israel and how terrible the United States is? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-us-media-to-biased-toward-israel-video/368820/9 "2006-08-15T14:25:49Z")
[QUOTE=Alessan] Well, yeah. From my purely subjective POV, BBC has a fierce anti-Israeli bias [/QUOTE] FYI, a recent [independent review of the BBC’s coverage of the Israel/Palestine conflict](http://www.bbcgovernors.co.uk/docs/reviews/panel_report_final.pdf) [pdf] commissioned following such complaints. It concludes: > [@](#): > > Our assessment is that, apart from individual lapses, there was little to suggest deliberate or > systematic bias. On the contrary, there was evidence of a commitment to be fair, accurate and > impartial. There is high quality reporting from location, some outstanding current affairs > programmes and the website provides much valuable historical and other context. > Management’s commitment is clear and has led to several recent changes to strengthen > performance. > > Nonetheless, there are identifiable shortcomings, particularly in respect of gaps in coverage, > analysis, context and perspective and in the consistent maintenance of the BBC’s own > established editorial standards, including on matters of language. All of this points to the > elusiveness of editorial planning, grip and oversight. > > In short, we found that BBC output does not consistently give a full and fair account of the > conflict. In some ways the picture is incomplete and, in that sense, misleading. However, for reference, I wonder if you’ve ever had the chance to watch Sky News (News International/Murdoch/Fox stable) in the UK? IMO its coverage, apart from being somewhat more breathless and hysterical, is indistinguishable from BBC’s reporting, uses the same language, but is labelled as “right wing” and receives none of the same complaints. ---
**Author:** ![Wildfire\_MM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f08c70/32.png) [@Wildfire\_MM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildfire_MM)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-us-media-to-biased-toward-israel-video/368820/10 "2006-08-15T14:32:34Z")
[QUOTE=LonesomePolecat] Ouch. That’s what I get for responding to a post after I’ve only skimmed over it lightly. No, there isn’t a pro-Israel bias in the American news media. [/QUOTE] I think many would disagree with you there By the way, did you see the documentary? ---
**Author:** ![Wildfire\_MM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f08c70/32.png) [@Wildfire\_MM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildfire_MM)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-us-media-to-biased-toward-israel-video/368820/11 "2006-08-15T14:37:33Z")
[QUOTE=Ravenman] Erhm… does that imply that there is a connection between being liberal and being biased toward Israel? I have no doubt in my mind at all that the US media has a bias toward Israel. [/QUOTE] I’m glad that someone is actually admitting that ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-us-media-to-biased-toward-israel-video/368820/12 "2006-08-15T14:37:58Z")
[QUOTE=Wildfire\*\*MM] By the way, did you see the documentary? [/QUOTE] No, the link doesn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![Wildfire\_MM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f08c70/32.png) [@Wildfire\_MM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildfire_MM)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-us-media-to-biased-toward-israel-video/368820/13 "2006-08-15T14:44:42Z")
[QUOTE=LonesomePolecat] No, the link doesn’t work. [/QUOTE] you can then copy it and open a new page ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-us-media-to-biased-toward-israel-video/368820/14 "2006-08-15T14:49:41Z")
Wildfire, please answer my question. Is there anything else that interests you, besides Israel and how terrible the United States is? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-us-media-to-biased-toward-israel-video/368820/15 "2006-08-15T14:58:45Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] FYI, a recent [independent review of the BBC’s coverage of the Israel/Palestine conflict](http://www.bbcgovernors.co.uk/docs/reviews/panel_report_final.pdf) [pdf] commissioned following such complaints. [/quote] Interesting paper. From what I read, the panel itself seems - in my mind - to have certain biases against Israel, which leads me to conclude that the BBC’s approach is a accurate reflection of the society from which it arises. It has no biases that do not exist in the British public at large. That’s OK - every society has its own biases, mine no less than others. A news organization is run for and by the same people. Incidentally, we get Sky News here. It plays like the BBC without the self importance. ---
**Author:** ![Wildfire\_MM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f08c70/32.png) [@Wildfire\_MM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildfire_MM)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-us-media-to-biased-toward-israel-video/368820/16 "2006-08-15T15:09:01Z")
[QUOTE=Alessan] Well, yeah. From my purely subjective POV, BBC has a fierce anti-Israeli bias [/QUOTE] You know that this is rubbish ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-us-media-to-biased-toward-israel-video/368820/17 "2006-08-15T15:14:05Z")
Wildfire, please answer my question. Is there anything else that interests you, besides Israel and how terrible the United States is? ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-us-media-to-biased-toward-israel-video/368820/18 "2006-08-15T15:17:17Z")
I get most of my news during my long morning and evening commutes. In the morning there’s BBC (strongly anti-Israel), NPR (warm toward Israel, but not generally overt about it), and Pacifica’s “Democracy Now” (rabidly anti-Israel and anti anything America does). From the random samples I get, I’d say most of the non-print media is pro-Israel, with reservations. Without bothering to watch, I can pretty much guess where Fox comes down (but I don’t want to get my hate on with those clowns any more than with Amy Goodman). The wire service stuff I see on Yahoo seems fairly even-handed, and shallow. I don’t read newspapers. The WSJ (except, of course, for the editorial page) is the only one that ever gets things right, and it’s too pricey. The editorial page, of course, would support Israel if it gased every orphanage in the Arab world. Just so you know, I’m pro-Israel (as in, wanting it to continue to exist, and to be allowed to do so peacefully), but I think most of their actions WRT the Palestinians are counter-productive. The invasion of Lebanon is, IMO, going to do them as much good as our invasion of Iraq did us. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-us-media-to-biased-toward-israel-video/368820/19 "2006-08-15T15:20:55Z")
[QUOTE=Wildfire\*\*MM] You know that this is rubbish [/QUOTE] Are you calling me a liar? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-us-media-to-biased-toward-israel-video/368820/20 "2006-08-15T15:27:08Z")
[QUOTE=Alessan] Are you calling me a liar? [/QUOTE] It’s rather silly that **Wildfire** MM\*\* labels as “rubbish” something you admitted was “subjective”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-us-media-to-biased-toward-israel-video/368820.md?page=2)