About two years ago we critiqued a San Diego Union-Tribune article that compared the deaths of Marla Bennet (who was murdered at a Hebrew University lunchtable) with Rachel Corrie (who died while serving as a ‘human shield’ for Palestinian terrorists).
Now it seems the Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger has done the same thing, placing an article about Alisa Flatow — murdered while riding a bus in Gaza — directly alongside yet another Corrie article. HR subscriber Daniel R. writes:
The Star Ledger printed two articles on opposite sides of the two pages of about equal length… These two articles being printed side-by-side gives the reader the impression that the two deaths are similar but that each individual was working for the other side. The newspaper portrays their deaths as if they should be seen as morally equivalent. One was a student in a women’s Seminary, the other a political activist working with an organization that has been complacent and even supportive of terrorist activities. This is not shown by placing these articles side-by-side.
The online versions linked above do not, of course, accurately convey the important layout issue described by Daniel.
Comments to Newark Star-Ledger: click here
