Every Picture Tells a Story: Have Israel and the US Advanced Peace?

Posted on September 16, 2020 by First.One.Through

After 26 years of seeking a normal place in the Middle East, Israel struck two normalization agreements in a single day with the help of the United States. The Wall Street Journal broadcast the news while The New York Times hid it in the shadows.

Cover page of The Wall Street Journal, September 16, 2020

Featured prominently on the WSJ cover page in a large color photo were leaders of three foreign countries surrounding U.S. President Donald Trump standing on the balcony of the White House. With smiles and waves, the four gentlemen conveyed the new warm feelings they had for each other, with the imprint of the presidential seal.

The caption was just as positive: “SEALED: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Trump, Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani and the United Arab Emirate’s Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al Nahyan wave from the White House balcony after the signing ceremony Tuesday. The pact is seen as the foundation for a broader alignment against Iran in the region.” The top of the picture had a bold header “Israel, Two Gulf States Sign Peace Deal at White House”

A moment for celebration with each other and the whole world.

The New York Times had a very different view of the two pacts.

Cover of the New York Times, September 16, 2020

The Times also gave the story a large photo – but it was impossible to make out any of the individuals or even if the photo was in color, as it showed the backs of the four men in a dark room.

In contrast to the WSJ picture of people standing together, the Times showed a disjointed group. The Journal showed global leaders happily standing before the world while the Times made it appear that the four men were reluctantly engaged in a farce.

The caption of the NYT picture was a short single line: “President Trump hosted the Prime Minister of Israel and the foreign ministers of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.” None of the foreign leaders had their names mentioned – perhaps not a surprise as their faces were not shown either. The caption did not even mention that Trump hosted these world leaders TO SIGN A NORMALIZATION AGREEMENT, the first Israel signed with an Arab country in 26 years!

The New York Times could not give the historic agreements – nor the leaders it despises in Trump and Netanyahu – the limelight. It belittled the milestone and the men.

But in reality, the pictures laid bare the disgraceful anti-Trump, anti-Israel and anti-peace bias of The New York Times.

The Media Splits on Showing “Islamic Terrorism” and its Presence in Israel

Posted on March 23, 2017 by First.One.Through

On March 22, 2017 a terrorist attack in the heart of London left several people dead. The description of the attack from two leading media companies took very different approaches.

Islamic Terrorism

The Wall Street Journal made no bones about the terrorist and his motives. In the opening lines of the lead article “London Rampage Leaves 4 Dead,” the paper wrote “A suspected Islamist Terrorist mowed down scores of pedestrians…” The article continued to underscore the ongoing battle with Islamic terror at various points:

‘the most serious act of terror in the U.K. since 2005, when coordinated bombings by Islamist extremists on buses and subway trains claimed 52 lives.”

Mark Rowley, the U.K.’s top counter-terror police official said… it was an act of ‘Islamist-related’ terrorism”

“a man fatally shot a soldier at Canada’s National War Memorial before getting inside the country’s Parliament building and being shot by security forces, in a Islamist-influenced terror attack”

Front page of Wall Street Journal March 23, 2017

The New York Times took a very different approach.

The New York Times ran an article “Deadly Attack Near U.K. Parliament; Car Plows Victims on Westminster Bridge,” which ran over 1700 words. At no time did the article mention the words Muslim or Islamic.

The Times referred to a “knife-wielding assailant” carrying out the attack and that the “assailant” had been killed. The only reference that the terrorist was even a male came from third party sources such as Prime Minister Theresa May confirming “that the attack had been carried out by a lone male assailant.” Witnesses gave corroboration that the attacker was a “middle-aged man holding a knife.”

I’m glad that the Times was avoiding male-bashing. Or maybe it was because the New York Times did not want to assume that the terrorist did not identify as a woman?

Israel

The Times did quote someone that noted that these kinds of terrorist attacks have occurred in other countries – including Israel.

“Political violence is relatively rare in Britain, where gun ownership is stringently restricted…. Jeremy Shapiro, a former State Department official now at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that the London attack was consistent with the recent pattern of attacks in which a vehicle was used to kill people, citing assaults in France, Germany and Israel.”

That was an improvement relative to the Wall Street Journal that recalled vehicular attacks in France and Belgium, as well as Islamic terrorism in Canada. But not such terrorism in Israel.

Pretty extraordinary, since the car-ramming attacks in Israel were so prevalent in recent years.

For some time, The New York Times has avoided labeling terrorism as having anything to do with Islam. It has now seemingly made a further pivot to label terrorism as politically (not religiously) motivated, which may let it acknowledge the incessant terrorism waged against Israel by Palestinian Arabs. (The liberal editors of the Times will seemingly forever ignore the Hamas Charter which declares “Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious,” and “In face of the Jews’ usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised.“)

Should the pro-Israel community claim a small victory? Maybe.

Related First.One.Through articles:

The Big, Bad Lone Wolves of Terrorism

Absolute and Relative Ideological Terrorism in the United States

The Media Finds Religion in Matters of Security. Sometimes.

New York Times’ Lost Pictures and Morality for the Year 2015

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Every Picture Tells a Story: Anti-Semitism

Posted on February 23, 2017 by First.One.Through

The Every Picture Tells a Story series in FirstOneThrough compares the use of photographs and captions in the major US newspapers. It demonstrates time-and-again how a liberal paper like The New York Times advances a Palestinian Arab narrative over an Israeli narrative, even in the use of pictures.

It would appear that the Times prefers to bury stories of anti-Semitism as well.

On February 22, 2017, the major papers reviewed the toppling of roughly 200 headstones in a cemetery in St. Louis, MO. The conservative paper, The Wall Street Journal, was clear about both the significance of the event as well as the target of the attack: Jews.

Cover page of the WSJ February 22, 2017

The paper printed a large color photograph on the top of its front page with a heading: “President Denounces Weekend of ‘Hate and Prejudice and Evil.” The caption of the photo read: “DESECRATION: Headstones were toppled in a Jewish cemetery over the weekend in University City, Mo. President Donald Trump on Tuesday denounced anti-Semitism, after calls for him to address the vandalism and bomb threats against Jewish community centers.”

The WSJ ran a story on page A4 which included another colored picture.

WSJ Page A4 on February 22, 2017

The caption read: “Jewish headstones that were toppled over the weekend were being put back Tuesday at Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in Missouri.” As with the front page picture, the caption of the picture was clear that Jews were targeted in the hate crime.

That was in sharp contrast to the coverage in The New York Times.

NYT Page A13 on February 22, 2017

The New York Times did not give the story any prominence. There was neither a cover story nor picture. However, back on page A13, there was a medium-sized black-and-white picture with an innocuous caption: “Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in University City, Mo., where nearly 200 graves were vandalized.” The caption did not mention Jews or anti-Semitism.

The New York Times has a long history of picking on Israel, including targeting its leadership and policies. The paper often minimized stories of anti-Semitism in Europe when it was tied to Israel fighting hostile neighbors. But now, as it continues to minimize stories of anti-Semitism in the United States, the Times is making more clear that the target of its bias is not Israeli policy, but Jews and the Jewish State.

Related First.One.Through articles:

Every Picture Tells a Story: Arab Injuries over Jewish Deaths

Every Picture Tells a Story: Goodbye Peres

Every Picture Tells a Story: Versions of Reality

Every Picture Tells A Story: Only Palestinians are Victims

Every Picture Tells a Story: The Invisible Murdered Israelis

Every Picture Tells a Story, the Bibi Monster

Stories on New York Times minimizing anti-Semitism:

“An anti-Semitic Tinge”

“Tinge” Two. Idioms for Idiots

New York Times’ Small Anti-Semitism

New York Times Finds Racism When it Wants

NY Times Discolors Hate Crimes

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New York Times’ Small Anti-Semitism

Posted on February 16, 2017 by First.One.Through

The number one star of YouTube – by a wide margin – is a Swedish guy by the name of Felix Kjellberg, known to his fans as PewDiePie. This week, Disney announced that it was severing all ties with the Internet sensation, after it was revealed that PewDiePie made many anti-Semitic jokes and posted Nazi imagery in his videos.

The Wall Street Journal gave the story a prominent position. It wrote about it on the front page on February 13. It followed up on the next day, giving the story a dominant position on the cover of the B Section of the paper with a large color picture, graphics and story that continued inside.

February 14, 2017 Wall Street Journal Page B1
Featuring story of PewDiePie anti-Semitism

One would have a hard time finding any mention of the story in the New York Times.

Somewhere on page B3, under a section titled “Arts, Briefly” among various pictures about other news stories, there was a small mention in the final story called “Maker Studio Drops YouTube Celebrity.” No pictures, no graphs. Just a small story nestled among the crossword puzzle, KenKen and movie listings.

New York Times February 14, 2017 Page B3. Find the article about PewDiePie

The New York Times is obsessed with media and the arts. It features a special Arts section every day, and most days there are cover stories about racism and bigotry in the arts such as “Dealing with #GrammysSoWhite” on the same day as the PewDiePie story. But that story about possible bias against blacks was on the cover page and included a picture. On February 16, the front page of the Arts section had an article about racism in the Oscars, with a story titled “Oscar Trail is a Leader’s Pathway to Progress.”

The Grammy’s, with a viewership of about 25 million, had follow up stories on the cover page about possible racism, long after the event. The Oscars, which have not even happened but typically get about 37 million viewers, had a lead up cover story about racism.

But the number one YouTube star with 53 million followers who posts constantly, barely got a mention in the Times for being terminated for anti-Semitic posts.

It is a sad continual story of the liberal paper’s refusal to acknowledge anti-Semitism in the world. Does it make the paper anti-Semitic? Read the related articles below before you decide.

Related First.One.Through article:

NY Times Discolors Hate Crimes

New York Times Finds Racism When it Wants

The Media Finds Religion in Matters of Security. Sometimes.

Your Father’s Anti-Semitism

“An anti-Semitic Tinge”

“Tinge” Two. Idioms for Idiots

Eyal Gilad Naftali Klinghoffer. The new Blood Libel.

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The Wall Street Journal Shows Unity with Israel

Posted on January 11, 2017 by First.One.Through

The conservative newspaper The Wall Street Journal has a long history of supporting Israel. The articles and editorials typically take an Israeli narrative, as reviewed in the related stories section below.

The contrast in the daily coverage to the New York Times is striking, even in the pictures each paper opts to print.

This week, a Palestinian Arab terrorist used a truck to ram down several Israeli soldiers who were standing along a beautiful promenade in Jerusalem. The Wall Street Journal showed empathy with Israel in giving the story a full page large picture at the very top of the front page. The picture showed a circle of Israeli soldiers mourning.

Front page of the Wall Street Journal, January 9, 2017

This compared to a small black-and-white picture at the bottom of page A4 that the New York Times opted to use to cover the story.

New York Times page A4 on 1/9/17,
with a small picture of the terrorist attack in Jerusalem

The caption of the WSJ read: “SHOW OF UNITY: Israeli soldiers gathered near the site of a truck-ramming attack Sunday. Four soldiers died and some 17 were injured.” The conservative paper has repeatedly shown its unity with America’s ally, in sharp contrast to the liberal NY Times.

Related First.One.Through articles:

Every Picture Tells a Story: Versions of Reality

Framing the Israeli-Palestinian Arab Conflict: WSJ and NY Times

Every Picture Tells a Story: Goodbye Peres

Every Picture Tells A Story: Only Palestinians are Victims

Every Picture Tells a Story: No Christians Targeted

Why the Media Ignores Jihadists in Israel

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Join Facebook group: FirstOne Through Israel Analysis

Every Picture Tells a Story: No Christians Targeted

Posted on December 13, 2016 by First.One.Through

A horrific terrorist attack on a Coptic Church in Cairo Egypt killed dozens on December 11, 2016. The coverage in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal could not have been more different, and underline an ongoing difference between the two papers: the WSJ does not shy away from telling its viewers about radical Muslims targeting Christians and Jews in the Middle East, while the NYT would rather minimize that story, and highlight the Muslims are also victims in the wave of jihadists.

Cover of The Wall Street Journal
December 12, 2016

The cover page of the WSJ had a single large color photograph of the carnage in Cairo. The boldface title of the picture read” “Bombing in Cairo Kills Dozens of Christians, Mostly Women.” The caption continued: “Targeted: A nun surveys a church attached to Cairo’s Coptic cathedral, where at least 25 were killed in a bombing on Sunday. A8” The paper did not seek to place the blame on radical Muslims on the cover, but it did make clear that Christians were specifically targeted in the attack.

Now consider the coverage in the Times.

Cover of The New York Times
December 12, 2016

The main picture on the NYT cover page was about discrimination against poor people. It was part of a multi-day story of the Times about injustices faced by people of color and the indigent. The smaller picture on the bottom of the page discussed how ISIS marked up the pages of children’s books, presumably of Muslim children. There was no coverage of the attack on the Christian community in Egypt.

Page A4 in the Times, December 12, 2016

The Times did cover the story in the middle of the paper. On page A4 there was a copy of the same picture that the Wall Street Journal posted in color on the front page. However, the Times posted it in black-and-white. The Times shrunk the picture to such a level, that it was almost hard to notice it compared to the giant picture of Nigerian refugees (people of color) in the middle of the page. The headline of the bombing attack did state that the “Bombing Targets Egypt’s Christian Minority,” however, it is a question of whether anyone would pause to read the article compared to the prominent article on the page “Niger Feels Ripple Effect of Boko Haram.”

The Times coverage of world affairs follows a familiar pattern: Christians and Jews do suffer, but hardly as much as Muslims and people of color. Racism and Islamophobia are the themes of the Times. Do not get distracted by tinges of hatred of Christians and Jews. To do so, would be to invert victim and perpetrator.

Related First.One.Through articles:

Every Picture Tells a Story- Whitewashing the World (except Israel)

Every Picture Tells a Story: The Invisible Murdered Israelis

Every Picture Tells A Story: Only Palestinians are Victims

Every Picture Tells a Story: Versions of Reality

Every Picture Tells a Story: Arab Injuries over Jewish Deaths

NY Times Discolors Hate Crimes

The New York Times Thinks that the Jews from Arab Countries Simply “Immigrated”

Every Picture Tells a Story: Goodbye Peres

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Join Facebook group: FirstOne Through Israel Analysis