Tuesday, June 8, 2010

MSNBC: Disappointing Shill Reporting

Duplicity on the airwaves

Published: Tuesday, June 8, 2010 10:45 AM CDT
On June 2, Chris Mathews interviewed Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank on MSNBC about the recent Israeli-Gaza-flotilla incident. Both men gave unbalanced, cleverly skewed and dishonest assessments of the occurrence including calling peace activists terrorists, changing the subject to North Korea, bringing Iran into a conflict which involved Turkey and misrepresenting Israel’s wrongdoing in militarily attacking an unarmed civilian ship in international waters.

The duplicity of this kind of press commentary is evident because it was based entirely on Israel’s press statements and public relations spin. Getting the other side of the story would have taken a lot of work because as soon as the incident happened, Israel imposed a blackout on any reporting about it except their own.

What do Americans who have not studied the history of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict think when they turn on mainstream media and get a blather of public relations spin instead of balanced news? Frank and Mathews are no more than shills for the Israeli government, a government which appears to have taken over our own.

Frank does not sit on the Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee and is a self-admitted staunch friend of Israel. Yet, MSNBC chose him to be the primary commentator about the Israeli diplomatic blunder on the high seas. Mathews owes his job to a pro-Zionist television network that, in the past, has been silent about Israel’s misdeeds. Silence influences American thought through omission that belies the importance of information we need to know.

How difficult would it have been for MSNBC to interview a less biased member, say, from the Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee. So much for balance in reporting. So much for MSNBC, liberal in all ways but one. People, check the Internet to get the real story.

Elizabeth S Mayfield
Ames

Monday, June 7, 2010

Why Do Churches Refuse to Question Israel's Actions?