Israel had plenty of intense moments in 2017. As we “call it a year,” it’s worth looking back on the 10 most-read posts. What do the articles you clicked on say about the year that was?
1. The journalist’s story
Foreign journalist Hunter Stuart came to the Mideast with a pre-conceived understanding that Palestinians are victims and that Israel is powerful and oppressive. So what changed? Stuart tells us, in his own words:
Eight years of working for the news media has made me more and more alarmed by how partisan it’s becoming. News publishers these days target millennials on social media who’d rather see their own opinions validated than see an article that’s balanced and objective. These audiences don’t want to have their biases challenged. If the media exists only to reaffirm what we already believe, we’ll only become more divided, and there will only be more and more conflict in the world.
EXCLUSIVE: How Reporting From Israel Changed My Worldview Forever
2. Erasing Jews from history
While the practice is not uncommon, in this case the BBC was particularly blatant. Did they really think we wouldn’t notice?
3. If the headlines were about London . . .
There’s no better way to expose poor journalism than with a good compare/contrast. The results are so extreme, they would almost be funny…if it weren’t a matter of life and death. Your clicks showed we can laugh about it.
4. Scrubbing Jerusalem’s history of Jews
NPR erased the modern history of Jews in Jerusalem – as well as the slaughter and expulsion of entire communities. Like we said above, erasing Jews from history is, sadly, all too common.
5. The anti-Zionist editor
Can a person really be expected to report fairly on the world’s only Jewish state, especially when he’s Israeli and openly declares his objection to its very existence?
In light of Ronel’s reply invoking the concept of “free speech,” we simply have to ask: if the best you can say about your writing is that it isn’t outright illegal, isn’t that setting the bar a little low for a professional journalist?
6. Moving the embassy
After Trump’s announcement, the journalism was hectic, dramatic, hysterical: and frequently divorced from reality. We explained the law, the history and the facts.
6. Terrorism without terrorists?
Apparently four Israelis were killed by “a truck.” And the terrorist who was driving the truck? To Le Figaro, he simply didn’t exist. It sounds bad in English, and it sounds just as bad in French. HonestReporting Française took action.
8. The massacre
Always relevant and immediate, this particular edition of the Israel Daily News Stream’s handling on the Israeli angles of the Las Vegas massacre struck a chord.
9. The Six Day War
On the anniversary of this pivotal event, we made sure to provide you with the facts, history and more of the war that rocked the Mideast.
https://honestreporting.com/six-day-war-50th-anniversary-resource-primer/
10. The map fail
Most often the problem is that journalists leave Israel off of maps. Except when there’s a chance to misrepresent Israel. This CNN map blundered into uncharted territory.
These are just 10 of our posts from 2017, the ones you the readers read, discussed and shared the most. Thank you for making our work possible. Thank you for making it matter.
Want more nostalgia? Take a trip down “memory lane” with our top content of 2016.
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