Eru fréttirnar ættaðar frá bandaríska sendiráðinu?

Örblaðamennskan íslenska um Gaza og atburðina þar hafa verið íslenskum fjölmiðlum til skammar. Ekki nokkur tilraun er gerð til sjálfstæðrar blaðamennsku eða vandaðrar umfjöllunar um málið. Látið nægja að þýðar greinar og éta upp bandarískar túlkanir á ástandinu. Í frétt mbl.is um daginn þar sem sagt var frá því að ísraelar hefðu skotið danskan sjúkrabílablota í tætlur þrátt fyrir að bílarnir hefðu verið merktir rauða krossinum í bak og fyrir var sérstaklega tekið fram að það væri ekki vitað hvort þetta væri óviljaverk! Og í þessari frétt er aðalatriðið að kannski sé ekki eins mikil lyfjaskortur og róttæki læknirinn vill meina! Og að hann sé hallur undir Palestínumenn eins og það geri hann sjálfkrafa að vondum manni.

Læt fylgja hér nokkur sýnishorn af alvörublaðamennsku í boði The Independent:

Mark Steel: So what have the Palestinians got to complain about?

To portray this as a conflict between equals requires some imagination

Wednesday, 31 December 2008 „When you read the statements from Israeli and US politicians, and try to match them with the pictures of devastation, there seems to be only one explanation. They must have one of those conditions, called something like "Visual Carnage Responsibility Back To Front Upside Down Massacre Disorder".

For example, Condoleezza Rice, having observed that more than 300 Gazans were dead, said: "We are deeply concerned about the escalating violence. We strongly condemn the attacks on Israel and hold Hamas responsible."

Robert Fisk: Keeping out the cameras and reporters simply doesn't work

Monday, 5 January 2009 „On the other hand, the Israelis are so ruthless that the reasons for the ban on journalism may be quite easily explained: that so many Israeli soldiers are going to kill so many innocents – more than three score by last night, and that's only the ones we know about – that images of the slaughter would be too much to tolerate. Not that the Palestinians have done much to help.“

Gaza: The death and life of my father

Monday, 5 January 2009 „The house was reduced to little more than powder, and of Dad there was nothing much left either. "Just a pile of flesh," my uncle, who found him in the rubble, said later with brutal honesty.“ 

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Red Cross slams Israel over access to wounded

Thursday, 8 January 2009 „The international Red Cross accuses Israeli forces today of failing to assist wounded Palestinians and of "unacceptable" delays in letting rescue workers reach a Gaza home where four small children were found alive next to their mothers' bodies.“ 

Babies cling to life in stricken hospital

Thursday, 8 January 2009 Even with the glimmer of hope that a ceasefire may finally be under negotiation, the situation at Gaza's biggest hospital remains desperate, with more than 70 life-support patients now precariously dependent on generators because the main power supply has been down for five days.

Massacre of innocents as UN school is shelled

Wednesday, 7 January 2009 Hundreds of Palestinians had fled their homes for the refuge of the al-Fakhoura school, hoping the blue and white flag of the UN flying over the impromptu shelter would protect them from the Israeli onslaught. The UN had even given the Israeli army the co-ordinates for the building to spare it from the shells and air strikes raining down on the Gaza strip.

Bruce Anderson: Israel is in danger of fighting the last war, not the next one

Monday, 5 January 2009 The world wrings its hands, anxious and despairing. Israel presses on, grim and resolute. There are a number of interesting short-term questions. Would the Israelis have acted now if their election were six months away, not two, and if Mr Obama had already taken office?

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