Mideast Realities

According to Washington Post Front Page Photographs

Palestine Media Watch Report

http://www.pmwatch.org

A. Introduction

The following report details an analysis of front page photographs about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict published in the Washington Post between April 1 and June 20, 2002.

A total of 54 photographs were counted during this period. The photographs were classified into 5 categories:

1. Photographs depicting the result of Palestinian attacks on Israelis

a. Human subject

b. Inanimate subject

2. Photographs depicting the result of Israeli attacks on Palestinians

a. Human subject

b. Inanimate subject

3. Photographs depicting an Israeli presence (other than in 1)

a. Presented as aggressor

b. Presented as victim

4. Photographs depicting a Palestinian presence (other than in 2)

a. Presented as aggressor

b. Presented as victim

5. Other

a. Sharon

b. Arafat

c. Other

B. Summary of Key Findings

• Between April 1 and June 20, 2002, the Washington Post published 13 photographs depicting the result of Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians.

• 13 of 13 were published above-the-fold.
• 12 of 13 depicted a human presence (close-ups of crying, distraught, or wounded Israelis or panicked medics).
• 1 of 13 depicted an inanimate object as the subject of the photo (a burned-out bus).

• Between April 1 and June 20, 2002, the Washington Post published 13 photographs depicting the result of Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians.

• 8 of 13 were published above-the-fold.
• Of the 8 above-the-fold photographs, 4 depicted a human presence (close-ups of crying or distraught Palestinians). The remaining 4 above-the-fold photographs of Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians depicted inanimate objects as the subject (blown-out buildings, heaps of rubble in the street, destroyed property).
• 5 of 13 were published below-the-fold.
• Of the 5 below-the-fold photographs, 2 depicted a human presence and 3 depicted an inanimate subject.

• Between April 1 and June 20, 2002, the Washington Post published 7 photographs depicting an Israeli presence not connected to a specific act of Palestinian violence.
• 1 photo of Israeli soldier pointing a weapon at a seated Palestinian man.
• 2 photos of Israeli soldiers patrolling empty streets.
• 1 photo of Israeli soldier arguing with peaceful demonstrators.
• 1 photo of a line of Israeli tanks.
• 1 photo of Israeli soldiers checking Palestinian identification at a checkpoint.
• 1 photo of Israeli soldiers standing with Palestinian priests outside the Church of the Nativity.

• Between April 1 and June 20, 2002, the Washington Post published 11 photographs depicting a Palestinian presence not connected to a specific act of Israeli violence.
• 3 photos of suspected Palestinian militants.
• 1 photo of protesters burning American and Israeli flags.
• 1 photo of Israeli soldier pointing a weapon at a seated Palestinian man.
• 3 close-up photos of Palestinian women.
• 1 photo of a tattered billboard with a Palestinian flag in the foreground.
• 1 photo of Israeli soldiers checking Palestinian identification at a checkpoint.
• 1 photo of Israeli soldiers standing with Palestinian priests outside the Church of the Nativity.

PHOTO TYPE	PHOTO # [refer to Section F]	TOTAL	SUBJECT
			Human		Inanimate
			ABOVE FOLD	BELOW FOLD	ABOVE FOLD	BELOW FOLD
Depicting the result of Palestinian attacks on Israelis	1, 2, 12, 16, 17, 20, 30, 38, 39, 42, 52, 53, 55	13	12	0	1	0
Depicting the result of Israeli attacks on Palestinians	4, 5, 10, 13, 15, 18, 19, 23, 26, 28, 31, 44, 51	13	4	2	4	3
Depicting other type of Israeli presence	6, 7, 11, 34, 36, 41, 43	7
Depicting other type of Palestinian presence	9, 11, 22, 24, 27, 36, 37, 41, 45, 46, 47	11
Other	3, 8, 14, 21, 25, 29, 32, 33, 35, 40, 48, 49, 50	12

C. Analysis

• During the three-month period that is the focus of this report, the Washington Post published 12 above-the-fold photographs depicting the human toll of Palestinian attacks on Israelis, while during that same it published just 4 above the fold photographs depicting the human toll of Israeli attacks on Palestinians.

• The 12 pictures depicting Israeli suffering comprised ---% of all above the fold pictures on the conflict depicting human suffering after Palestinians attacks; Palestinian suffering comprised just ---%.

The period of this report was intentionally selected to encompass the April invasion of the West Bank (when, according to estimates contained in the latest UN report, 497 Palestinian lives were lost) to the recent spate of frequent suicide bomb attacks on Israeli civilians.

The report’s findings clearly show that the Washington Post’s front page gives much greater prominence to Israeli victims than it does to Palestinian victims. In fact, all 13 pictures showing the result of Palestinian attacks against Israelis were published above-the-fold, often with banner headlines; and 12 of the 13 contained an Israeli human presence, often showing up-close the grieving or shocked faces of the victims.

During this period, the Post also published 13 photographs showing the result of Israeli attacks on Palestinians. In contrast, just 8 of those were published above the fold. Furthermore, just 4 of those 8 showed a Palestinian human presence. The remaining 4 showed only destruction of buildings and property.

In other words, the Washington Post published more than three times as many photographs depicting the human toll that Palestinian attacks have on Israeli civilians as it did photographs showing the human toll of Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians.

D. Conclusions

According to the Associated Press, there have been a total of 242 Israeli deaths due to suicide bombers since January 2002. During the month of 2002 alone, there were 248 Palestinians killed.

Moreover, one of every 3,648 Palestinians (713 total) has been killed in an Israeli military attack or terrorist attack since January 2002. The same ratio applied to the population of the United States would equate to 78,773 American citizens – more than 26 times the number of people killed in the September 11 terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and Pentagon and aboard United Airlines Flight 93.

And yet, an examination of the Washington Post’s front page gives readers the false impression that:

• The bulk of civilian suffering is borne by the Israelis: 13 photographs of suffering Israeli civilians (12 of them above-the fold) were published in contrast to just 4 above-the-fold photographs of Palestinians.

E. Recommendations

The Washington Post should faithfully communicate to its readers the harsh realities of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It should therefore provide equal space above the fold to both Palestinian and Israeli suffering, and humanize the suffering of both sides to the same extent.

F. Detailed Photo Breakdown

#	DATE	CAPTION	DESCRIPTION	LOCATION
				ABOVE FOLD	BELOW FOLD
1	April 1	"Israeli police and rescue workers inspect a restaurant in Haifa that was attacked by a Palestinian suicide bomber."	Israeli medics are shown attending to victims on the sidewalk of a restaurant with a blown-out roof.	P
2	April 1	"A young man bursts into tears as a paramedic treats a victim of the bombing in Haifa, known as a city where Jews and Arabs have peacefully coexisted."	An Israeli is shown being wheeled away on a stretcher by a medic, with another weeping Israeli walking by his side.	P
3	April 3	"Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat speaks with pacifists who are staying with him in his Ramallah headquarters, which is surrounded by Israeli troops."	Arafat is shaking hands with an unidentified man.	P
4	April 3	"The corpses of 17 Palestinians are buried in the parking lot of a hospital in Ramallah after the morgue overflowed. The bodies began to decompose after the power was cut, and a curfew by Israeli forces prevented hospital officials from reaching the cemetery."	Six Palestinians, including uniformed hospital workers, are standing in a trench containing several bodies covered with white sheets.		P
5	April 4	"A lone Palestinian woman walks down an empty road during a curfew imposed by the Israeli army in Bethlehem.”	A Palestinian woman is shown walking down a road, with a massive pile of rubble in the background.	P
6	April 4	“Israeli police officers and soldiers outside Jerusalem try to ontain the fighting at what was supposed to be a peaceful protest by women.”	A uniformed Israeli soldier is seen pushing back an unidentified Palestinian or Israeli man at a demonstration.		P
7	April 5	“Israeli soldiers move through Bethlehem for house-to-house searches.”	A uniformed Israeli soldier is seen running down a deserted alley.		P
8	April 6	“Yasser Arafat meets with the U.S. envoy to the Middle East, Anthony C. Zinni, at the Palestinian leader’s compound in Ramallah. Arafat has been confined to a few rooms in his headquarters since last week.”	Arafat is seen standing to the right of Zinni.	P
9	April 6	“A protestor jumps over burning U.S. and Israeli flags in front of the U.N. House in central Beirut, part of anti-U.S. and anti-Israel protests that continued throughout the Arab world, including in Egypt and Jordan, as the Israeli military campaign in the West Bank showed no signs of abating.”	A protester is seen stepping on a burning American flag.	P
10	April 7	“A huge fire rages after an explosion in Bethlehem. The Vatican has put forward a plan to resolve the armed standoff inside the Church of the Nativity.”	Flames are seen rising from a church in the distance.	P
11	April 7	“Israeli soldier approaches a Palestinian man with a white flag in Ramallah.”	A uniformed Israeli soldier is shown crouching next to a Palestinian man seated on the ground, and is holding a machine gun several feet from his head.		P
12	April 8	“Israeli troops gather at the grave of Oded Kornfein, a soldier killed during a gun battle at a refugee camp in the West Bank town of Jenin.”	Three uniformed Israeli soldiers are seen embracing at the flowered gravesite of a fellow soldier.	P
13	April 8	“A Palestinian man watches the burial of seven Palestinians at the courtyard of a mosque in Nablus, a city in the West Bank. An Israeli commander said 30 Palestinians have been killed in the city since midday Friday.”	A Palestinian man is seen standing in the foreground and waving his arm angrily at an unseen individual. In the background are men brandishing rifles.	P
14	April 9	“Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told parliament that attacks on other Palestinian sites would continue “until the mission is completed.”	Sharon is shown reading from a sheet of paper.	P
15	April 9	“For the first time since Israeli forces attacked the West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday, Palestinians were allowed to evacuate casualties.”	Six Palestinian medics along with other civilians are shown carrying away stretchers with bodies away from a demolished building.	P
16	April 10	“An Israeli soldier injured in heavy fighting in the West Bank town of Jenin is evacuated to a hospital. With 13 soldiers dead, the Israeli army suffered its heaviest combat casualties since the invasion of Lebanon two decades ago.”	Two Israeli medics are shown wheeling away an Israeli man on a stretcher.	P
17	April 11	“Michal Arazi weeps at funeral in Hadera for her son, one of 13 Israeli soldirs killed in an ambush Tuesday in the West Bank city of Jenin. The attack involved a Palestinian suicide bomber and snipers.”	Two Israelis are shown helping a third Israeli woman to her feet, as she seems to have collapsed at a flowered gravesite.	P
18	April 12	“During a brief break in a week-long curfew in Jenin, resident Fariaah Jaman expresses her bitterness at the destruction wrought by Israeli troops, who destroyed countless homes. Palestinians called the army operation in the West Bank town a massacre, a charge Israeli denies.”	A Palestinian woman is standing in the foreground, with a blown-out building in the background.	P
19	April 12	“A tractor carrying supplies rumbles past damage in Jenin during a respite in the Israeli imposed curfew on the West Bank town.”	A tractor is seen driving past a destroyed lamppost towards an unidentified building.	P
20	April 13	“A suicide bombing at a Jerusalem marketplace killed six people and wounded more than 80. The female assailant struck during a busy time of day and just before the start of the Jewish Sabbath.”	Bodies covered with sheets are seen laying on the sidewalk next to a blown-out bus.	P
21	April 13	“Secretary of State Colin L. Powell gestures before private talks with Ariel Sharon.”	Sharon is seen standing to the right of Powell.	P
22	April 13	“Nijal Khatib, left, and Khatim Khalid were evicted from their homes during fighting in the Jenin refugee camp.”	A close-up shot of two women, one holding a baby.		P
23	April 14	“Palestinians survey the damage done during the Israeli siege of Bethlehem, which recently spent millions on repairs.”	Two Palestinian women are seen walking past a pile of rubble from a demolished building.	P
24	April 14	“A tattered billboard and a flag rise above the West Bank town of Tulkarm.”			P
25	April 15	“Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, talks with Secretary of State Colin L. Powell at a meeting at Arafat’s office in the West Bank city of Ramallah.”	Arafat is seen standing face to face with Powell.	P
26	April 16	“A woman weeps in the streets of the Jenin refugee camp, where aid workers found widespread devastation, much of it caused by Israeli bulldozers.”	A weeping Palestinian woman is seen standing in front of several demolished buldings.	P
27	April 21	“A masked member of the militant al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades brandishes a rifle in the Gaza Strip.”			P
28	April 22	“A Palestinian man inspects the damage at the Ministry of Public Works in Ramallah after the withdrawal of troops from most of that West Bank city.”	A Palestinian man is shown sifting through files of papers in the midst of a ransacked office.		P
29	April 24	“Sharon’s goal was to make the Palestinians reconsider any resumption of suicide bombings.”	A close-up shot of Sharon gesturing.		P
30	April 28	“Sheri Shefi is comforted by her husband, Jakov, after her daughter was killed and two sons were wounded.”	A weeping Israeli woman is seen being embraced by an Israeli man.	P