Patrick Connors has pointed out major omissions in the Ethan Bronner piece from Bi’lin in the New York Times that I celebrated earlier today:
Bronner notes 170 Israeli soldiers injured, three seriously, in the "villages"–
“Since the beginning of 2008, about 170 members of the defense forces have been injured in these villages,” [the Israeli army] added, including three soldiers who were so badly hurt they could no longer serve in the army.
How many protesters injured? No mention. Shouldn’t those parallel facts be included in a "balanced" story: one killed in Bil’in and five in Ni’lin, and countless other injuries, including very serious injuries like American Tristan Anderson and Israeli Lymor Goldstein, both w/ brain damage.
More remarkably, the main photo is of "the Elders" (Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tutu) visiting the grave of Bassem Abu Rahme, killed in a protest in Bil’in. This is never explained.
These basic factual omissions come against a context where Bronner says Israeli soldiers shoot "after" Palestinians throw rocks, a highly debatable framing of what typically happens. In most cases the soldiers shoot first. I had three unbiased, uninvolved friends read the article, all agreed when I shared the factual omissions, that these were major gaps in a story they had otherwise believed was "fair" that Bronner should have included. This information shifted their perception of the accuracy of the story.
Jonathan Pollak adds:
Another fact to note is that in Ni’ilin alone 38 people were shot
with live ammunition during demonstrations. Four of them died from their
wounds.
