Has all media, good and bad, forgotten how to report with facts and context?
This sad trend is dangerous to every single civilian at risk, on either side in the Israeli/ Hamas war
TAT readers,
So sorry to bother everyone on Sunday but over the past week, a trend has emerged, even in the best news entities that must be fixed… yes, “fixed.” Some may call this a mini-rant, and yes, this description just may be accurate.
The only news show that I watch on the weekend, is Face the Nation. My secret celebrity crush is Margaret Brennan, who, “takes no prisoners,” regardless of party, nation, movement or otherwise. Where the hell are the rest of the news media sources?
A very large piece of my professional experience is evaluating media for the purpose of assigning credibility to reporting. This is often annoying to people who have entrenched beliefs, often in the US, political beliefs, or so they claim. Today’s piece criticizes even my most credible personal sources, like Reuters, The Associated Press, USA Today and the BBC. I still find these very credible, but I do have significant issues with their editors.
For the past week or so, what happened to Israelis on Oct 7th was as barbaric as it gets and, on a huge scale. Most Western media has completely forgotten or so it would seem. Front pages now tell a one-sided story, about Palestinian refugees and the poor downtrodden of Occupied Israel at threat because of Israel. Let’s get some things straight and I hope TAT''s, well-read followers, will share and put some pressure on these errant editors, to stop playing the “both sides” and “false equivalency” game.
Here’s the problem:
The same BS, that media used as “boilerplate” during the Trump administration and still does, is that all situations must include a “both sides” perspective, of “false equivalency.” Hamas is a terrorist organization, massively supported by Iran and doing their bidding. There zero equivalency to the IDF, who operates observing the laws of armed conflict, while that Hamas, Hezbollah and especially Iran, focus almost exclusively on civilian targets, including using their own people as human shields and bait.
For example, is the GOP is a legitimate political party when controlled by MAGA? Yes, a rhetorical question. Of course, they are not. There is a morsel of truth here, but zero legitimate equivalency at this point in US history.
I have regularly, in the recent five updates on Israel’s victimization by evil, barbarous terrorists of Hamas told the entire truth in context. Most media cannot say this.
I’ve also identified accurately, six primary nations and terrorist entities to blame and this includes Bibi’s extremist right-wing coalition as one of those six.
The others are Hamas, Hezbollah (both FTOs), Iran, their master, Russia, Iran’s master and overall, China’s influence, even tangentially over them all.
“Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) are foreign organizations that are designated by the Secretary of State in accordance with section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), as amended. FTO designations play a critical role in our fight against terrorism and are an effective means of curtailing support for terrorist activities and pressuring groups to get out of the terrorism business.”
US Department of State
It’s not that hard to tell the truth in context, instead of “one-siding” it. Why the hell can’t professional journalists do the same? Yes, this is a rhetorical question. We all know the answers and those answers, are dishonest.
Dishonesty and lack of context is a fatal flaw when it comes to all reporting, especially when innocent lives are at stake. To this point, I’ll include below some of the points that reinforce my perspective, born of reporting and influence operations in and out of combat zones.
Failure to employ narrative principles in reporting, deprives your audience of context and meaning. Our adversaries though, always deliver first deliver, narratives of their meaning about events. Counter-narratives, almost ALWAYS fail, especially if meaning cannot be delivered with reporting.
Not one moral person believes that Palestinian and Israeli civilian lives are worth less than the other and yes, this includes Israel other than Bibi’s extreme right-wing administration. One side acts on this belief and it sure as hell is NOT the Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Russia and Chinese axis of evil.
Because Israel does all possible to adhere to the Law of Armed Conflict and all of the above don’t try at all, why does media report the “false equivalency” of “both sides?”
Still, the front pages around the world, only focus on refugees but NOT why they are so impoverished, unsafe and used quite literally as human shields. They neither discuss how Hamas has since 2007 controlled most of the aid delivered to Gaza and never once invested in sustainable improvement of the lives they controlled. These Palestinians, actually Arabs are those that are refugees now.
Feeling empathy for anyone downtrodden and/or abused by those that control them, doesn’t mean only feeling like this, one-at-a-time. We are all complex human beings, capable of understanding multiple issues at one time. Standard trends in today’s media seem to treat all of us as imbeciles, only capable of understanding one perspective at a time, whichever one that they build their reporting around. For over a week now, the front pages of most reporting have completely forgotten what Israel experienced Oct 7th, the intentional barbarian assault, on Israeli men and primarily women, children and the elderly. WTH?
If anyone needs to revisit my first 5 updates I have written since last Thursday, you will see a fair, honest and expert reporting that honors all victims while concurrently, accurately delivering context about the six primary nations and FTOs deserving of a percentage of blame.
Let's unpack the complex, barbaric attack on Israel and those to blame. (truthaboutthreats.com)
Short Friday notes after yesterday's long report on Israel (truthaboutthreats.com)
A quick Sunday update regarding the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in Gaza (truthaboutthreats.com)
Three things about the war in Gaza that we all must understand. (truthaboutthreats.com)
5th in the series, Israel and Hamas updates. (truthaboutthreats.com)
A simple google search of the six players described in my first 5 updates regarding human rights, would sicken even the most hardened of hearts. Beginning at the top:
China
Russia
Russian Federation | OHCHR
Russia | Country Page | World | Human Rights Watch (hrw.org)
Iran
Iran (Islamic Republic of) | OHCHR
Iran | Country Page | World | Human Rights Watch (hrw.org)
Hezbollah
Hezbollah & Other Shia Groups Archives – Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
What Is Hezbollah? | Council on Foreign Relations (cfr.org)
Hamas – Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
hamas_human_shields.pdf (stratcomcoe.org)
Netanyahu’s extreme-right-wing government
Netanyahu's government is a 'threat to Israeli democracy,' Anshel Pfeffer says : NPR
Four Ways Netanyahu’s New Far-Right Government Threatens Israeli Democracy | American University, Washington, D.C.
Israel's Netanyahu back in power with hard-line government | AP News
Summary
Well at least the US does not equivocate on Hamas and Israelis right to defend herself, including the legal requirements of conduct on the battlefield regarding civilians. If you read one link on this post, please see the one below, with a professional military assessment, from the Leiber Institute at West Point.
Israel – Hamas 2023 Symposium – Inside IDF Targeting - Lieber Institute West Point
I happen to, for many professional reasons know a great deal about targeting terrorists on the battlefield. Israel does not approach this substantially different from the way the US does with one exception. Israel has an IO/ Information Operations ability, far superior to any other such capability around the world, especially ours. They do an excellent job of preparing audiences, reporting and assessing that effectively supports their operations.
They had to have it because like my article today, shows most media opposed to telling the contextual truth. The alleged hospital bombing story is a perfect example. Falsely taking a position of “both sides” is actually lying unless supported by facts and context. This is today’s media environment, globally. I don’t expect better from fraudulent news sites like Hamas, Iranian, Russian, Chinese or biased western and US sites like FOX, NewsMax, Breitbart, OAN and many of the further left-wing sites as well. Insanely, the far-right folks listed above, even go so far as to insanely blame President Biden.
Overall, most US citizens back Israel, right, left or otherwise, but even in some further left sites, Israel is the so-called, “bad guy.” News consumers from both right and left sides need to review their moral spine and appreciation for facts and knowledge. News without full facts and context is NOT journalism, it’s propaganda. That same majority of US citizens, also back the safety of innocent Palestinians and long have. Why does most media fail at telling the truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth? Yes, this is also a rhetorical question because the bottom-line is, advertising dollars and or the paid influence of professional, political influencers.
Every single victim of the Israeli response to the Hamas barbarians and as supported by thug nations like China, Russia and Iran, deserve our support. The six entities on my chart above, deserve none.
I have witnessed war, through the eyes of one targeting terrorists. I have seen first-hand, what happens when mistakes are made by friendly forces and the overwhelmingly more frequent intentional terrorists. It is at the very heart of my PTSD. It still can often break me down temporarily. It does to all who witness but never can escape those inhumane and recurring memories.
This is what nearly every IDF member experiences or will experience in the coming days, weeks or more. It is NEVER something that a committed terrorist of supporting state experiences. That’s the terrible difference. There is no “both sides” to this. It’s what I know from a long career in CT/ Counterterrorism. Let’s not expand this debilitating curse carried by IDF soldiers, more than it already exists.
Telling the truth in our news sites, will in the long run, better serve both the legitimate combatants and more importantly, the innocent victims, regardless of which side of this conflict, they experience this war from.
This rare request for sharing this article is important to everyone’s understanding and I would respectfully ask for as many of you to share this as possible. Human lives, literally depend on it.
My best for the rest of your Sunday,
Paul
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