@glynmoody That open letter wasn't "critical of coverage" or even focused on threats and dangers to journalists, but rather a demand that coverage use the most extreme, anti-Israel rhetoric possible. While it is normal to see terms like "genocide" and "apartheid" tossed around casually by armchair political scientists on social media and purveyors of propaganda, these words have actual meanings and definitions in the real world and similar use in professional journalism would be irresponsible.
You are correct that "'genocide' and 'apartheid'" "have actual meanings and definitions in the real world". That's what the journalists are calling for.
Let's check the open letter:
"We are renewing the call for journalists to ... use precise terms that are well-defined by international human rights organizations, including 'apartheid,' ... and 'genocide.'
"U.N. experts have warned ... yet Western outlets remain hesitant to quote genocide experts ..."
@boud@glynmoody We agree that these journalists are specifically calling for those words, but we disagree that the words are appropriate.
Interesting choice of ellipsis in your final quote: glossing over the hedging language that the genocide experts alway use to avoid explicitly saying a genocide is happening. Pretending that this is a simple question with clear expert consensus and taking a hard position on "genocide" or "apartheid" would be irresponsible, biased journalism.
@boud@glynmoody Are you trying to make the point that there are people calling it genocide? Yes, that is true. There are also many reasonable people who are not willing to do so. You may not agree with them, but that's not the same as the responsibility of a newspaper. The letter says that the matter is definitive and it urges news organizations to unquestionably declare this "genocide" and "apartheid." This would be irresponsible for a news outlet, and the LAT was correct to reject that.
@richard_merren
2/2 On "reasonable people": the most "reasonable" procedure for justice for war crimes||crimes against humanity||genocide is for all states to ratify the #RomeStatute .
Among the rogue states that have effectively declared that they have "reserved the right" for their nationals to carry out war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are:
@boud@glynmoody You are more interested in dunking on Israel than discussing the varied opinions on the question of whether it it actually genocide or whether apartheid is a reasonable description. That's fine for a keyboard warrior who has made up his mind and wants to argue, but responsible newspapers will recognize that this is not a simple and settled fact. You are doing a great job of demonstrating the argumentative, propagandistic approach that this paper wants its reporters to avoid.
@boud@glynmoody You are only interested in talking about why you don't like Israel. If you want to discuss this LAT issue, please feel free to chime in. Otherwise, have a nice day.
@glynmoody WTF?!? I know there are a lot of people being silenced across various industries and academia - even losing their jobs - but this is beyond bleak.
I hope their subscriber numbers plummet.
Add comment