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Media Bias

© lawhawk

So much violence, so much news, yet so little accuracy. Bias has permeated coverage of the conflict in the region that what actually is going on has been distorted to support or undermine one side or the other.

Facts are that the Palestinians and Israelis have suffered egregious losses. More Palestinians have been killed in the fighting than Israelis. That is where the facts end. The spin begins here:

The Palestinians claim that the Israelis are targeting civilians and killing civilians - something the Israelis deny. Israel states that their reprisals are at military targets, which may happen to be in buildings that are occupied by civilians or used by terrorists as cover (and if fellow civilian Palestinians are killed, they're martyrs anyway).

Israel claims that the Palestinians are using children as cover for the Palestinians who have guns and fire at Israeli positions. Thus, the Israelis blame the Palestinians, and especially Arafat for the slaughter of children. The Palestinians have a different tale to tell. If the children are killed, it is the Israelis fault, not the Palestinians since they are fighting an uprising against an unjust and illicit occupation of their land.

Palestinians that bear arms against the Israelis are militiamen. Israel calls them terrorists since they target innocent infants, children, and women who are not bearing arms. Palestinians claim that their very presence in the territories are going to incite violence.

The press can't keep the story straight. Even those that follow the events in the region closely can't always tell when the spin starts and ends since everything about the conflict is shrouded in spin.

Among the issues with the media bias are the overwhelming coverage of the Palestinian boy that was killed in the crossfire between Palestinian forces and Israeli soldiers while the death of a 10 month old Israeli girl received scant coverage. However, the reprisal attacks got a large amount of coverage.

Spy Plane Down in China

In other news, the US is awaiting word on when it can bring home its reconaissance airplane and crew of 24. The airplane was on patrol over the South China Sea when it collided with a Chinese fighter. The fighter went down and the pilot is presumed dead. China is awaiting a full apology for the incident, claiming that the US was at fault. The US claims that it was China's fault and that the plane was flying in international airspace when the incident occurred.

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