The Media Accountability Project  

One-sided CBC article downplays Palestinian death toll and cost of Israel’s siege

The picture of the Palestinian girl with a toy gun demonizes Palestinians, the vast majority of whom resist peacefully. About a quarter of the Palestinian deaths in Gaza have been children.

Poor coverage - Media outlet to be critiqued

A CJPME Media Researcher has launched a media alert for the following article. Please submit a quick response to the media, even if it’s just a sentence or two:

Title of Piece: Chris Brown: "Palestinian workers stranded in West Bank fear for families in Gaza — but refuse to condemn Hamas."

Media Outlet: CBC News
Click here to access the piece on-line

Comments of the CJPME Media Researcher:
(Note: Please do not copy and paste the material below as the content to your message to the media - put all comments in your own words):
Please respond to this highly unbalanced piece by Chris Brown for CBC News. The piece is on the longish side, but please take the time to read through it to get a sense of some of the many problems. Some of the points you can refer to in your letter could include:

  • The title puts the onus on Palestinian to denounce Hamas, even though Palestinians shouldn’t have to answer for Hamas in order to share their grief and opinion.
  • The reporting of Israelis is front-loaded in the article, and given much more prominence overall, even though Palestinian casualties were far greater by the time the report was published (currently 2750 Palestinian fatalities)
  • The reporting itself includes news about the killing of Israeli children, but no new reporting on Palestinian children deaths
  • In reporting the deaths, graphic language (e.g. “killed,” “horror”, “horrific”) was used to describe Israeli deaths, and passive language (e.g. Palestinians “have died”)
  • Even though the article talks about Israel distributing guns to illegal Israeli settlers, rather than showing a picture or the thousands of right-wing, armed Israeli settlers, the article includes a picture of a Palestinian girl with toy gun
  • The picture of the Palestinian girl with a toy gun demonizes Palestinians, the vast majority of whom resist peacefully. About a quarter of the Palestinian deaths in Gaza have been children.
  • The article fail to mention that, according to human rights experts, Gaza has been occupied since 1967.

Please click here to launch an email in which you can draft a response to this media coverage.

If you have any problems, please email [email protected].

Thank you very much. Every response makes a difference.

The CJPME Media Centre Team
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