Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Militants of the Kadima Party
No, this is not a Kadima-bashing election post. It's an AP-bashing post. Get a load of this out-of-control moral equivalence:
We've known for quite a while now that AP, along with most news services, has implemented a policy of calling terrorists "militants" and then euphemistically demoting the militants down to activists before any text hits the wires. It's enfuriating to read carefully worded stories about "a suicide activist who apparently was killed in a blast today inside a crowded..."
But this isn't enough. Now they are taking political activists of centrist Israeli parties and calling them militants. Kadima terrorists can't be far behind -- and that is not election commentary either.
Seriously, I'm sure it's just a Freudian slip, or a computerized moral equivalence filter run amok. No big deal. Except glaring mistakes like these shine a little light on the kind of bias that creates mistake after mistake after mistake, always softening the edge of Palestinian terrorism while at the same time fabricating and embellishing themes of Israeli brutality.
Typographically it's a mistake I'm sure. Thematically? Not so much.
UPDATE: 24 hours later, there was no correction or even surreptious edit. I guess AP isn't reading my blog. Or it wasn't a mistake.
If you really, really liked this -- or even really, really hated it -- there's lots more:
Militants of the Kadima party stand next to portraits of acting prime minister Ehud Olmert, right, and ailing prime minister Ariel Sharon at the Kadima headquarters in Jerusalem Wednesday March 22, 2006. The centrist party Kadima (forward in English) was founded by Ariel Sharon in Nov. 2006 after leaving the right-wing Likud party and is the front-runner in the polls for the upcoming March 28 general elections. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
But this isn't enough. Now they are taking political activists of centrist Israeli parties and calling them militants. Kadima terrorists can't be far behind -- and that is not election commentary either.
Seriously, I'm sure it's just a Freudian slip, or a computerized moral equivalence filter run amok. No big deal. Except glaring mistakes like these shine a little light on the kind of bias that creates mistake after mistake after mistake, always softening the edge of Palestinian terrorism while at the same time fabricating and embellishing themes of Israeli brutality.
Typographically it's a mistake I'm sure. Thematically? Not so much.
UPDATE: 24 hours later, there was no correction or even surreptious edit. I guess AP isn't reading my blog. Or it wasn't a mistake.
