A senior correspondent based in the region, who preferred not to be named, accused Western outlets of being biased towards Israel in their reporting, complaining about the unwillingness of some news organisations to differentiate between civilians and combatants.

"We are not getting the full picture at the end of the day, but international outlets continue to report. It is a very difficult situation," he said, adding that viewers in the West receive a much "cleaner, nicer image" of the violent consequences of the military incursion.

BCC Arabic correspondent in Amman Saad Hattar said the perceived bias towards Israel is not intentional, but a by-product of media organisations' inability to enter the Gaza Strip.

"It all depends on accessibility. Israel is denying all journalists from reporting accurately on what is occurring in Gaza," he said, noting that the BBC has two correspondents reporting from the besieged coastal strip.

Restricted, Western coverage fails to reflect the true nature of the conflict, often glazing over the "carnage in Gaza" and instead focusing on damage done to Israeli towns by Hamas rockets, he noted, adding that regional coverage has not always been free of bias, either.

For example, "Al JazeeraAl Jazeera uses different terminology when referring to the attacks that are closer to the rhetoric of resistance. Journalists should show everything that is going on and let people judge - people don't have to be dragged into such terminology," Hattar said.

Jerusalem-based journalist Omar Karmi said he relies on a colleague in Gaza to be his "eyes and ears" when it comes to reporting the conflict, as he is not allowed to enter the strip.

"I would hope that other reporters are doing the same. If you cannot be on the ground, you need someone to walk the ground for you," he noted.

Media watchdogs have expressed alarm and disappointment over the lack of access to Gaza, warning that the absence of reporters in the coastal enclave has created an inherent bias in coverage of the conflict.

Despite campaigning by the Foreign Press Association and an Israeli supreme court ruling allowing 12 journalists to enter the besieged strip, journalists are still barred from entering Gaza by the Israeli defence ministry, according to the association and Reporters Without Borders (RWB).

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) has expressed concern about the coverage of the military offensive in US media outlets, which it said present the conflict as "Palestinians are attacking, Israel is retaliating."

The "straightforward recitation of events is rarely heard in much of the rest of the media coverage of the violence in Gaza... since Israel began its full-scale assault," FAIR said.

Campaigning for greater access to Gaza, RWB expressed its "solidarity with media collaborators working in Gaza at the moment in particularly difficult and dangerous conditions" and underlined in a statement sent to The Jordan Times the need for "professionalism while working in a context that encourages the propagation of rumours".

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), meanwhile, warned that the lack of access to Gaza has prevented reporters not only from doing their job, but from painting an accurate picture of the conflict.

"A bias is bound to happen as most journalists report from the border between Gaza and Israel and tend to only have access to Israeli ministry officials in that area," said Ernest Sagaga, IFJ human rights officer.

"We are concerned that they are receiving very partial information and we want them to check and verify for themselves," Sagaga added, noting that regional networks often rely on Gaza residents to report events.

"Some are fortunate enough to have people in Gaza because they happen to live there, so they are able to actually have input inside. What we want is for all organisations which desire to report from Gaza to have access," he said, adding that the organisation is sending a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and urging the EU and African Union to pressure Israel to allow reporters into the besieged enclave.

Organisations with correspondents active in Gaza, meanwhile, said more needs to be done to accurately report the conflict.

"Western media depicts Israelis as humans while the death toll of Arabs are reduced to mere figures," Al JazeeraAl Jazeera correspondent in Amman Yaser Abu Hilala charged.

He lamented the "shallow" coverage of the conflict, noting that as most foreign media outlets don't have correspondents inside the Gaza Strip, they often fail to project a balanced story.

"It is as if Hamas was declaring war on the world. This is their way of coverage, as the case was during the war in Iraq. They just cover things at the surface level and don't dig deeper," he said, adding that Al JazeeraAl Jazeera has benefited from having multiple reporters and camera crews in the coastal strip.

"It helps to have correspondents who are relying on the facts. We just depict images as is, without any montages or captions. Let people decide for themselves," Abu Hilala said.

Wael Dahdouh, Al JazeeraAl Jazeera correspondent in Gaza City, said that even within Gaza, physical divisions, checkpoints and conflict zones prevent reporters within the strip from moving between the north, south and central regions.

Despite the countless restrictions and ongoing bombardments, he said those already in Gaza have the capacity to report the conflict accurately.

"Local journalists are more than capable of covering the conflict from where they are, showing you the complete picture and allowing viewers to decide for themselves," Dahdouh told The Jordan Times in a phone interview, alleging that reporters within Gaza are not protected.

"They do not differentiate journalists from anyone else, even combatants. Journalists themselves are being targeted in Gaza as Israelis want to stop them from conveying the truth," he claimed.

"There is a danger for journalists here at all times," he said, alleging that several journalists have been killed in the 18-day military offensive.

According to RWB, three journalists, all Palestinians, have died in Gaza, including radio broadcaster Ala Mortaji, Ihab Wuheidi, correspondent for the Palestinian Authority's Filasteen TV station, and Bassel Faraj, a cameraman for Algeria's TV, Algérie.

In between ongoing bombardments, Dahdouh, expressed hope that footage from Gaza will be seen in every country, not just the Arab world.

"With the large amount of devastation and martyrs, it's like nothing I have ever seen before. There is much more here than any journalist can cover," he lamented.

Despite several attempts by The Jordan Times, no official at CNN, The New York Times, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse Jerusalem office was available for comment.

By Taylor Luck

© Jordan Times 2009

 

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