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Washington Post: In-Depth
Some badly biased Mideast reporting is coming out of the U.S. capital.
HonestReporting members have become accustomed to seeing more critiques of the Washington Post, than any other news organization (besides BBC). Post reporters have displayed an unusual eagerness to portray Palestinian terrorists in sympathetic terms, in effect shifting the blame from the oppressor to the victims.
In April 2001, the Post published a sympathetic profile of Palestinian homicide bomber, Dia Tawil. The Post described him as a "star" student, "headed toward a career in electrical engineering" and an "unlikely candidate for a suicide mission."
In July 2001, the Post presented a shocking 1,300-word defense of Aziz Salha, the Palestinian who proudly waved his bloody hands out the window of a Ramallah police station after the brutal lynching of two Israelis in October 2000. The Post says:
"The young man was very ill when he was a baby, he stuttered, he was shy... maybe it really wasn't him photographed in the window... people's emotions were boiling over because of Palestinians teens shot by Israeli soldiers... Israel's settlements and occupation were on Salha's mind... he was a calm, good-natured and athletic kid..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/print/world/
* * *
In August 2001, the Post published a profile of the Hamas organization that dispatches suicide bombers against Israeli targets, painting the terrorist organization in moderate shades:
"The group's goal is an independent homeland in at least the West Bank and Gaza Strip -- and, Israelis fear, on the territory of the Jewish state."
But the Post surely knows that the destruction of Israel is one of Hamas' main tenets and not just a figment of "Israeli fears." The Hamas covenant clearly states, "There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by Jihad." The U.S. State Department's annual terrorism report defines Hamas' goal as "establishing an Islamic Palestinian state in place of Israel."
* * *
In November 2001, The Post's report on Palestinian children accidentally killed by an Israeli bomb equates Palestinian and Israeli motives, claiming that both sides have "an appetite for killing." This despite that Israel's entire leadership quickly expressed regrets and condolences over the death of the children. The fact that the children were playing at a site used by Palestinian gunners and snipers to shoot at Israeli civilians and soldiers did not diminish the Israeli expressions of remorse, which was wide-felt and genuine. Yet the Post quotes a Palestinian man who justifies suicide bombings against Israeli civilians, because "Every night they are shooting, killing our kids."
* * *
In covering the August 2002 bombing of the Hebrew University cafeteria, the Post subtly implied some justification for the attack by suggesting that Hebrew University is located on disputed land. A map in the Post places the university clearly in the West Bank.
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25043-2002Jul31.html
In truth, Hebrew University's Mt. Scopus campus was inaugurated in 1925, and was located on Jewish land long before the establishment of the State of Israel. It flourished until Israel's 1948 War of Independence, when Jordanians seized the surrounding land, even as Israel continued to hold the Mt. Scopus site as an enclave. After the surrounding neighborhoods were restored to Israeli control in 1967, Mt. Scopus again flourished as Hebrew University's main campus.
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In August 2002, Israel made a pinpoint strike against top Hamas terrorist, Nasser Jarrar. Jarrar had lost both his legs and an arm last year, when a bomb he was making exploded. Still he continued to organize and direct terror activities, recruiting suicide bombers and planning a major attack to destroy a multi-story building in Israel.
In reporting on Israel's strike against Jarrar, the Washington Post published the following distorted headline: "Disabled Militant's Defiant Last Battle: Legless, One-Armed Palestinian Dies Shooting." Writer Molly Moore glorifies Jarrar as some type of folk hero, referring to his "resilient career." Only in the final paragraph does the Post throw in the reason why Jarrar lost his limbs.
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19895-2002Aug14.html
* * *
In October 2002, the Post published a story, "In Middle East, Heaviest Toll Exacted on Civilians." While the headline implies hardship on both sides, the article gives just 19 words to the plight of Israeli civilians, versus 1202 words for the Palestinians. The Post quotes highly emotive Palestinian grievances, for example: "'They are killing us like chickens,' sobbed Shaath, tears streaming down her weathered cheeks."
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49434-2002Oct18.html
===== OMBUDSMAN =====
HonestReporting media activists have spared no effort in making their voices heard to the Washington Post editors and staff. The Post has typically responded with silence or insults.
Washington Post ombudsman Mike Getler, who in March 2001 was unhappy by a flood of HonestReporting e-mails, complained at having been "smeared by your robot-like members [who] responded in knee-jerk fashion."
In March 2002, Getler began to address the problem:
"Most of the calls last week, not surprisingly, were about The Post's coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and most charged The Post with a pro-Palestinian bias in the way stories and headlines were written and displayed. These charges, which occasionally are reversed by other readers, have gone on for as long as I can remember. In my view, Post correspondents are doing tough and courageous reporting of a brutal war. But that is not to say that readers with strong, partisan views in this conflict don't lodge valuable judgments at times -- such as underplaying the killing of five Israeli teenagers by a Palestinian gunman as a factor in this weekend's violence. It is the burden of editors to make sure this reporting is presented consistently in a fair manner so that the news doesn't have to fight through perceptions of bias."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63840-2002Mar8.html
The Washington Post ombudsman, Michael Getler, has an impressive journalistic background, including 26 years of senior assignments at The Post and four years as executive editor of the International Herald Tribune.
With the pressure building, Getler acknowledged in April 2002 the Post's failure to report fairly on Palestinian suicide bombings:
"The Post has done a good job of reporting these bombings," Getler wrote, "but it has done less well in capturing the impact of these attacks on Israeli families and society. At the same time, The Post has reported powerful stories about Palestinian suffering from the Israeli offensives taken in response to these and other attacks, and this sharpens the contrast with the lesser focus on the effect of such bombings on Israel's Jewish citizens."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4374-2002Apr5.html
A special website has been set up to monitor the Washington Post's Mideast reporting: http://www.eyeonthepost.org
A listing of The Washington Post's Middle East articles can be found at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/world/mideast/neareast/
Comments can be directed to the Post's ombudsman, Michael Getler:
ombudsman@washpost.com
Write to the Washington Post editor at:
letters@washpost.com
(include home address, and home and business telephone numbers)
Letters to the Editor
The Washington Post
1150 15th Street Northwest
Washington, DC 20071
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