Media Lies, Palestinians Die

Malcolm X might have said it best: “The press is so powerful in its image-making role, it can make the criminal look like he’s the victim and make the victim look like he’s the criminal. This is the press, an irresponsible press. It will make the criminal look like he’s the victim and make the victim look like he’s the criminal. If you aren’t careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”

In the current Israeli attacks on Palestine, we are seeing the US media play that role. From the New York Times and CNN to Fox News and NPR, despite the different places on the political spectrum that these outlets occupy, the coverage ranges from obfuscating the origins of the conflict to just being outright racist and genocidal.

To talk more about the role of the media, we’re joined by socialist and anti-imperialist blogger and media critic Steve Patt, whose work you can find on Twitter at @leftiblog. We review some of the most egregious headlines as well as three categories of media misbehavior that Steve’s identified: general bias, disinformation & misinformation, and misinformation by omission.

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