The perception that Israel's response to Hezbollah attacks was disproportionate, and that indiscriminate force was aimed at the Lebanese population, was largely a result of media reports on the casualty breakdown in Lebanon. But there is plenty of reason to doubt often repeated claims that almost all Lebanese casualties were civilians.
The Associated Press wrongly claimed that Hamas leader Mohammed Deif, in a July 2006 interview, called for Muslims to fight to liberate the West Bank. After CAMERA pointed out Deif was actually calling to "liberate" Israel in its entirety, the Associated Press published a correction.
A blog-driven exposé of Reuters' doctored photos may be the tip of an iceberg of manipulated information and photographs coming from Hezbollah-controlled areas. The question is will America's prestige media give greater scrutiny to the images they publish?
Since Hezbollah first attacked Israeli towns and troops on July 12, hundreds of thousands of Israeli and Lebanese civilians have fled their homes. While the Associated Press reports in story after story about Lebanese displaced, the wire service has had little to say about Israeli displaced.
As Israel began responding to Hezbollahí¢â‚¬™s cross-border assault, the Associated Press was rewriting the history of conflict between Lebanon and Israelwith a skewed timeline entitled "A look at key events in Lebanon-Israel conflict." Update: A piece dispatched by AP less than a week later does a better job.
When AP covers Palestinian refugees, the stories often uncritically present Palestinian grievances about purported Israeli "crimes." So why is it that when the wire service discusses Jewish refugees from Morocco, only glowing accounts of the Arab-Jewish relationship are cited, while the discrimination and pogroms faced by the community are overlooked completely?
Despite its victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections, Hamas remains the same old organization committed to Israel's destruction. News consumers might be forgiven, however, for thinking the group has reformed, because much of the American media appears eager to minimize threats to Israel and to blame the Jewish state for all lack of progress in Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy.
After noticing a number of Associated Press (AP) news stories that referred exclusively to the international Road Map peace plan's demands on Israel, while overlooking the Road Map's requirements of the Palestinians—even in news reports about Palestinians flouting the plan—CAMERA undertook to determine whether these one-sided citations of the Road Map were anomalies, or part of a larger pattern.
The influential wire service is more responsive in correcting some factual errors, but continues to downplay attacks against Israelis. The Associated Press might be the single most influential news organization
in the United States if numbers are the measure. The agency serves 1,700 newspapers and 5,000 radio and television stations nationally. Worldwide, over one billion people a day obtain news from the AP, according to the organization.
