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For Philadelphia
Inquirer, only Israeli suffering deserves front page pictures |
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A PMWatch Report August 2. 2002 Introduction The following
report details an analysis of front-page photographs about the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict published by the Philadelphia Inquirer between
March 28, 2002 and August 2, 2002. A total of 46
photos were counted. The photos were
classified into 5 categories: 1 – Pictures depicting the result of Palestinian
attacks on Israelis – total = 13 2 - Pictures depicting the result of Israeli
attacks on Palestinians – total = 10 3 – Pictures showing Israeli presence (other than
in 1) – total = 2 4 - Pictures showing Palestinian presence (other
than in 2) – total = 10 5 – Other pictures – total = 11 Summary of key findings
1 - Pictures
showing result of Palestinian attacks on Israelis: (13) 13
out of the 46 pictures published depicted the result of Palestinian
attacks on Israelis. All
13 pictures focused on suicide bombing attacks. All
of the 13 pictures were above the fold. All
13 pictures contained Israeli human faces, many of them close-ups of Israelis
crying or in distress. 2 - Pictures
showing result of Israeli attacks on Palestinians: (10) 10
out of the 46 pictures published depicted the result of Israeli attacks on
Palestinians. 6
out of the 10 were above the fold. Only
1 picture out of those 6 above the fold showed Palestinian faces. The
remaining 5 pictures above the fold showed buildings and property being
destroyed, with no human presence. The
other remaining 4 did depicted Palestinian faces, but were below the fold,
and noticeably smaller. 3 – Pictures showing Israeli presence other
than in (1): (2) Only
2 out of the 46 pictures, other than the 9 above the fold ones covered in
(1), showed Israelis. The
2 pictures showed Israeli soldiers: one of Israeli soldiers patrolling
Palestinian streets, the other of an Israeli soldier quarrelling with
Palestinian in a check point. The
two pictures were noticeably smaller than those in (1) and were more than
half below the fold. 4 – Pictures
showing Palestinian presence other
than in (2): (10) 10 of the 46 pictures, other than the
3 covered in 2, showed Palestinian presence or faces. Of
the 10, 6 depicted suicide portraits of suicide bombers or pictures of
accused Palestinian militants; Of
those 6, 3 were above the fold. The only pictures above the fold were those
3: all depicting a suicide bomber or an accused militant. 4
pictures showed Palestinian civilians sympathetically, one of Palestinians in
an angry demonstration, one two Palestinian brothers, one of a man carrying a
Palestinian child, and one pf an IDF soldier quarrelling in at checkpoint
with a group Palestinians (same as one depicted in 3). Those pictures were noticeably smaller in
size. Analysis The Philadelphia
Inquirer’s front page gives much greater prominence to Israeli victims than
it does to Palestinian victims. Indeed, all 13
pictures showing the result of Palestinian attacks against Israelis were
published above the fold, often with banner headlines; and all 13
contained Israeli human presence, often showing up-close the grieving or
shocked faces of the victims. By contrast, the
Inquirer published 10 pictures showing the result of Israeli attacks on
Palestinians; of those pictures, 6 were published above the fold but only
one of those 6 showed human Palestinian faces, while the other five showed
only destruction of buildings and other property. That is, between
March 28, 2002 and August 1, 2002, the Philadelphia Inquirer published
only 1 picture above the fold depicting the human suffering of Palestinians
as a result of Israeli attacks; while at the same period, it published 9
pictures showing human suffering from the Israeli side. Moreover, the
Philadelphia Inquirer published only 2 photos vaguely depicting Israelis in
acts of aggression. One of the
pictures showed Israelis patrolling empty streets, while the other one showed
an Israeli soldier quarreling with Palestinians at a checkpoint. By contrast, the
Philadelphia Inquirer published 10 photos showing Palestinians. Of those 10, 6 depicted militants,
suicide bombers, and would be suicide bombers; while the other four showed
the Palestinians sympathetically.
Also, out of those 10 pictures, 3 were above the fold;
significantly all 3 pictures depicted suicide bombers and accused militants. Conclusions According to the Associated Press,
there have been a total of 256 Israeli deaths due to ‘suicide bombers.’ In
the month of March, 2002, alone, the Israelis killed 248 Palestinians. Moreover, one of every
3,648 Palestinians (713 total) has been killed in an Israeli military attack
or Israeli terrorist attack in the past 6 months. The same ratio applied to
the population of the United States would equate to 78,773 American citizens.
That's more than 26 times the number of people killed in the September 11
attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and aboard United
Airlines Flight 93. And yet, if
one were to examine the Philadelphia Inquirer’s front page, one would reach
the false conclusion that (1)The bulk of civilian suffering is borne by
the Israelis: 13 pictures, all above the fold, of
Israeli victims, were published. (2)They would also reach the conclusion that
Israel rarely acts as an aggressor;
when the Inquirer does show the face of Israeli aggressions, it minimizes
them both in number (only 2 pictures), in prominence (all below the fold),
and in content (one depicting soldiers patrolling empty streets, while the
other depicting a irritated soldiers wagging a finger at a Palestinian
crowd). (3)In clear contrast, the front page of the
Philadelphia Inquirer sharply downplays the human suffering of Palestinians
from Israeli attacks (in 4 months only 1 picture above the fold of
human Palestinian suffering, while all pictures sympathetic to
Palestinian placed below the fold), choosing time and again to literally keep
out of the picture the human face of Palestinians (5 out of the 6 pictures
showing the result of Israeli attacks without any human Palestinian presence
on Palestinians were above the fold).
(4)And when the face of Palestinians does
make it to the front page and above the fold, it mainly did so as the face of
a militant, would be suicide bomber, or suicide bomber (aside the lone
picture of Palestinian victims, all other 3 pictures were of accused
militants and suicide bombers). Recommendations The Philadelphia
Inquirer should faithfully communicate to its readers the harsh realities of
the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It
should: (1)
Provide equal
space above the fold to both Palestinian and Israeli suffering; (2)
Humanize both
suffering to the same extent (3)
Equally show
the violent face of both Palestinians and Israelis Appendix Pictures showing result of Palestinian attacks on
Israelis Total pictures: 13 Total
pictures above the fold: 13 Total pictures
below the fold: 0 No. above the fold showing Israeli
faces: 13 No. below the fold showing Israeli faces:
NA No above the fold not showing Israeli
faces: NA No below the fold not showing Israeli
faces: NA Total space occupied by above the fold
showing Israeli faces: 2322.48 – 100% Total space occupied by below the fold
showing Israeli faces: 0 – 0% Total space occupied by above the fold
not showing Israeli faces: 0 – 0% Total space occupied by below the fold
not showing Israeli faces: 0 – 0% Pictures showing result of Israeli attacks on
Palestinians Total pictures: 10 Total pictures
above the fold: 6 Total pictures
below the fold: 4 No. above the fold showing Palestinian
faces: 1 No. below the fold showing Palestinian
faces: 4 No above the fold NOT showing Palestinian faces: 5 No below the fold NOT showing
Palestinian faces: 0 Total space occupied by above the fold
showing Palestinian faces: 328.5 -- 19.70% Total space occupied by below the fold
showing Palestinian faces: 244.89 – 14.68% Total space occupied by above the fold
not showing Palestinian faces: 1094.52 – 65.62% Total space occupied by below the fold
not showing Palestinian faces: 0 – 0% Pictures showing Israeli presence (other
than in 1) Total pictures: 2 Total pictures
above the fold: 0 2 depicted Israeli
in negative light (neither above the fold): 236.86 – 100% Pictures showing Palestinian presence (other
than in 2) Total pictures: 10 Total pictures
above the fold: 3 Total pictures
below the fold: 7 6 depicted
militants, suicide bombers, and would be suicide bombers: 762.89 – 76.30% 3
were above the fold – all three depicting suicide bombers: 645.89 – 65.25% 4 that showed
Palestinians sympathetically (all below the fold): 236.86 – 23.70% |
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