The Times of London published a slideshow from the Iraqi war (Day Six), featuring 11 military photos and one anti-war protestor. From the hundreds of protestor photos available to news agencies that day, The Times chose a close-up of a woman donning a headband emblazoned with the words, “KILL JEWS.” The photo is captioned simply: “A university student protests against the war in Iraq.”
View the slideshow and click on photo #5:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,343-624507,00.html
Once the initial shock of the photo wears off, one wonders:
— Why did The Times’ editors choose this particular photo to represent the tens of thousands of worldwide protestors who oppose a conflict between two non-Jewish nations? Is this woman really “protesting against the war in Iraq”? Why did The Times’ editors grant her call for genocide such a forum?
— Why does The Times refrain from a detailed photo caption (unlike the others in the series), referring merely to the subject as “a university student” — an anonymous, unplaced scholar with Anglo features? In fact, as the AP reported, the woman marched in Islamibad, Pakistan — one of the world’s hotbeds of radical Islam.
HonestReporting encourages members to respond to The Times of London, requesting their rationale for publishing the loathsome photo in such a context.
Write to:
[email protected]
= UPDATE: CORRECTION FROM LONDON TIMES =
Kudos to member Deborah Orlick, whose letter to The Times of London regarding the photo of a protester with the headband “Kill Jews” merited the following response from Times’ editors:
“We very much regret that this photograph was incorrectly captioned when it was posted on the site. Although the caption – which should have made clear that the protest in question took place at the Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad, Pakistan – was promptly replaced, the incorrect version remained cached on our site. As soon as we became aware that the correction had not gone through as it should, we made the necessary adjustment to the slide show. The correct version should now be displaying. Please accept our apologies for this error.”
The apology is welcome from the Times, but our first concern above — regarding the selection of this particular picture — remains unanswered.
==== I.S.M.: HUMANITARIAN AID? ====
The International Solidarity Movement — the pro-Palestinian “humanitarian group” to which the late American college student Rachel Corrie belonged — is back in the news. On Thursday, the IDF raided the ISM’s Jenin office to find a wanted member of the Islamic Jihad sheltered within. The terrorist was arrested; the ISM claimed ignorance.
This is the same Islamic Jihad that took responsibility for today’s terrorist bombing in Netanya that injured 30 Israelis.
HonestReporting encourages members to monitor your local media to ensure full coverage of the ISM’s activities — which stretch beyond bulldozer blocking.
