LA Times Can Give You Anti-Israel Cycle-Of-Violence Framing. Full And Accurate Reporting, However, Is Not Their Forte.
The Los Angeles Times continues to demonstrate why it is suffering one of the worst sustained circulation drops in the history of US media. Ken Ellingwood reporting on the deadly rocket barrage that is falling on Israeli schools and hospitals in Sderot:
A separate attack later in the day seriously injured a 17-year-old boy in Sderot, which is frequently targeted by Palestinian militants. The salvos were among more than a dozen rockets fired into Israel, at least four of which hit the city of Ashkelon. The militant group Islamic Jihad and the military wing of Hamas each said it had launched rockets to avenge the deaths of 19 civilians. The Palestinians died last week when Israeli artillery shells struck a neighborhood in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. Israel said the shells went off course because of problems with the targeting system.
That's some fine reporting right there. The very first paragraph sets up the "Israel is overreacting" meme, telling you that this death is an anomaly (as if that makes it OK). Then the second sentence tells you - again - that the rockets have rarely killed anybody (in case you forgot that "Israel is overreacting").
Then a little lower, you get told that Israel said that the shells went off course. That's true - an investigation did yield that as the explanation for the shell that struck the apartment building. But Israel ALSO said that the Palestinian terrorists who were launching the missiles were at fault, because they were the ones hiding in civilian areas. So an accurate reporter would leave the reader with the information that:
(1) The Palestinians were firing rockets at Israeli towns from densely packed Palestinian neighborhoods
(2) When Israel tried to stop the Palestinians from firing rockets at Israeli towns, they accidentally hit a different apartment building than the one that the Palestinians were hiding in
(3) The Palestinians retaliated for this by... firing rockets at Israeli towns from densely packed Palestinian neighborhoods
Instead, Ken Ellingwood and the LA Times give readers all of that information, except the part about how the accident was caused by Palestinians firing rockets from densely packed Palestinian neighborhoods and how they're returning to firing rockets from densely packed Palestinian neighborhoods. So in other words, all the information except the relevant background and the information that would allow the reader to predict where the story is going in the next few days.
But the anti-Israel overreaction meme? That part got through loud and clear.
And the both-sides-at-fault cycle of violence meme? That part gets implied too.
Full and accurate information, though, seems a little beyond what can be expected.
Previously:
They Really Do Just Make Things Up, Beit Hanun Meme Watch - (2) "The Palestinians Are Really Pissed Off" - And The NYT Will Publish Death Porn To Prove It, Beit Hanun Meme Watch - (Interlude) Convergence of Bias - With This Simple Formula, You Too Can Produce Solid Anti-Israel Journalism
