All the News That's Fit to Slant
New York Times says there's no crisis in Gaza after all
Media analyst Tom Gross points out that the New York Times and other media outlets are suddenly singing a very different tune when it comes to the "humanitarian crisis" in Gaza.
"Since the existence of fancy restaurants, crowded food markets for ordinary Gazans, Olympic size swimming pools, and other signs of prosperity in Gaza, were revealed," he writes, "there has also been a noticeable and dramatic reduction in the number of newspaper reporters and commentators talking of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, let alone of 'starvation.'"
For instance, in a recent piece on the Gaza mall, New York Times reporter Ethan Broner wrote that “the poverty of Gaza is often misconstrued, willfully or inadvertently… The flotilla movement is not about material aid; it is about Palestinian freedom and defiance.”
Nevertheless, Gross reminds us, on at least 15 occasions the The New York Times has described the ships as "aid ships."
The mall article also quotes 22-year-old information technology student Nida Wishah saying that "Gaza is not poor in the way outsiders think. You can’t compare our poverty with that of Africa."
Similarly, a Time Magazine reporter wrote last month that “Gaza’s residents will concede that there is no hunger crisis in the Strip. Residents do love the beach, and the store shelves are stocked. But if you’re focused on starvation, they say, you’re probably missing the point.”
Asks Gross: "Could this be the same Time magazine that wrote in 2008:
'Please spare a thought for the starving Palestinians of Gaza. There are 1.5 million of them, most of them living hand to mouth.'”
