Check out this Twitter response to one of our readers that the Jodi Ruderon article on the Islamic Jihad prisoners’ hunger strike failed to include an Israeli response.
What a line of bulltwit.
Jodi, while we’re glad that you take our concern seriously and know that you “could have done more,” do you really believe that including the IPS comment makes a difference?
Really?
Let’s take a look, shall we?
In your article, you used:
1. Indirect quote from “Palestinian Minister of Detainees”
2. Direct quote from Islamic Jihad prisoner: “I love life” (No mention of the lives of Israelis murdered by Islamic Jihad that he definitely does not love -ed.)
3. Direct quotes from Palestinian mob in support of jailed Jihad members
4. Direct quote from Hanan Ashrawi, PLO Executive Committee member
5. Direct quote from leader of Islamic Jihad
6. Direct quote from mother of jailed Jihad member (just in time for Mother’s day)
7. Information from the Palestinian Solidarity Project (obviously an unbiased source)
8. Indirect quote from leader of the “Palestinian Prisoners Club” (another objective and honest source)
9. Second quote from the above “club” leader
10. Direct quote from another Jihad Mom
11. Direct quote from a Jihad spouse
12. Direct quote from a Jihad Dad
Twelve Palestinian sources. And yes, Ruderon did use an Israel Prison Service spokeswoman as a source.
Buried deep in the story is a half sentence, indirect quote. But even that indirect quote doesn’t address the main issue of the story.
One indirect quote vs a stream of a pro-Islamic Jihad supporters?
Jodi, you included nothing at all from Israelis explaining why these men are being held in administrative detention, as many of your colleagues did. Dare you to read through our report and explain why CNN, Reuters, and even Al-Jazeera included more balanced information.
Thanks to our reader @Nushukton for immediately contacting Ruderon and getting her to write back. This is just the sort of effort we need to let journalists know that they can’t get away with this garbage. (@Nushukton, if you get in touch I will send you an HR pin or something.)
And let’s not forget that Rudoren admits she could have used more Israeli sources. Let’s hold her to that statement.
This also shows the power of Twitter. By using Twitter, journalists can bypass editors and media hierarchy to give their true opinions. And it also gives anyone the power the skip over barriers and get right to the journalist (for the record, Rudoren is @Rudoren on Twitter.)
