There are many ways to distort and slant news coverage against Israel.
Taking events out of context, neglecting to mention salient facts and spreading misinformation are some of the most common ways, and generally are swiftly noted by alert members of the public.
Others, such as photo bias, are trickier to discern.
Take the example of a recent International Business Times story, titled “Pope’s Christmas Message Appeals For Peace In Global Flashpoints.”
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The piece is sourced from Agence France-Presse, better known as AFP. The practice of reproducing text, or ‘copy’, as it’s known in the trade, from wire services such as AFP and Reuters is common and a useful filler for news outlets, as well as a substitute for having correspondents on the ground in numerous locations around the world. In this case, the article itself is balanced and unworthy of special comment.
In his traditional Christmas message, Pope Francis remarked upon armed conflicts in Africa as well as the crises in Lebanon and Venezuela, saying, “May Christ bring his light to the many children suffering from war and conflicts in the Middle East and in various countries of the world.”
Given his words, one would expect that if newspaper outlets would attach pictures to the AFP article, they would be primarily of children in Lebanon, Venezuela and Africa.
As such, it’s notable that the International Business Times version of the story includes six images – four of which are from areas within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Picture 2: A Gazan resident unable to reach Bethlehem
Picture 3: Palestinians protesting by the security barrier
Picture #4: Priests in BethlehemOne other photograph, of activists in Lebanon, is published twice.
A Google search shows that other news outlets such as The Australian, Pakistan’s Tribune Express, India’s Times Now, and The Korea Herald reproduced the article. None of them ran these images.
Related Reading: EXPOSED: Photographer Reveals Market, Not Truth, Behind Conflict Images
Interestingly, when Deutsche Welle ran its own article on the topic, it mentioned some of the countries the pope mentioned by name:
The 83-year-old called for a resolution to current crises in Syria, Venezuela, and Lebanon, among others. He also denounced attacks on Christians by extremist groups in West Africa, calling out Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Nigeria, particularly.
The Argentinian pope then prayed for migrants who attempt a perilous sea crossing in hopes of reaching Europe.
So five different pictures are used by the International Business Times to illustrate a piece about global conflicts, all but one focus on the Israeli-Palestinian area. Despite the Pope explicitly mentioning Venezuela and African conflicts, and despite the ongoing horrendous suffering in Syria, none of these flashpoints are deemed worthy of a picture. Comparing the words spoken to the images published makes for a striking contrast.
Even if we were to accept the bizarre premise that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict warrants more attention than the rest of the world put together, it’s telling that none of the images show the persecution of Christians within Palestinian society. One angle alone comes to the fore, and Israel alone seems to be blamed.
