Washington Post survey of Middle East protests leaves out Palestine

by on March 15, 2011 11
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The Washington Post has a click-on-the-country map of the "Middle East and North Africa in turmoil" where you can get the latest updates from various countries. Well, Palestine doesn't count-- despite the huge turnout today to demand unification of Hamas and Fatah. And despite the weekly demonstrations all across the West Bank against occupation and land confiscation.

The same goes for the New York Times, by the way, in its Middle East summaries. Says my anonymous friend who pointed this out:

The Post and NYT seem to have nothing to say in their country summaries about demonstrations against Israeli occupation or even those calling for Palestinian national unity. Do these not count? Why not? I wonder if the Post's new ombudsman might have something to say about it. Is Palestinian freedom a lesser concern? I would have thought the Post would move abruptly to update readers about Palestinian demonstrations in Gaza in the hope of having an anti-Hamas story to report. I can still see the Post doing that. The real question will be whether they also cover in the summary Palestinian demonstrations against the apartheid wall.

About Philip Weiss

Philip Weiss is Founder and Co-Editor of Mondoweiss.net.
Posted in Israel/Palestine

{ 11 comments... read them below or add one }

  1. pabelmont says:
    March 15, 2011 at 9:52 pm

    Palestine is not a country for the WaPo and NYT, and, for them, Palestinians are not “a” people and probably not “people” at all. Else how could their human rights have been so thoroughly ignored, by WaPo and NYT, for 43 years (or 63 years)? (Never explain, never excuse, stiff upper lip). (Has NYT ever published a story mentioning that Sadat offered a peace treaty to Israel in 1970 and that Israel ignored it? Leading to the 1973 war and a much better “deal” for Egypt? In the 1980′s Chomsky said that NYT had not admitted that fact even in a long Obit for Sadat, a hero!) (We do not make mistakes at NYT. Our decisions not to publish are grounded in PRRRRRINCIPLE).

  2. DICKERSON3870 says:
    March 15, 2011 at 10:18 pm

    RE: “Wash. Post survey of Middle East protests leaves out Palestine” – Weiss

    SEE: Katharine the Second Begins Reign at Washington Post, By John Koblin, New York Observer, 07/15/08

    (excerpts) Katharine Weymouth, the most powerful person at The Washington Post, was making her way from the elevator bank across the dingy lobby to the exit of the building, a big brutal concrete thing on 15th Street NW. Fred Hiatt, the paper’s editorial page editor, was at the door right before her and almost let it close on her before he realized who she was. There was a big lurch, and with all his arms and legs, he kept the door from slamming on the new publisher.
    “Thanks,” Ms. Weymouth said. “Getting a coffee and some sunlight!”
    “Yeah,” Mr. Hiatt said.
    Ms. Weymouth has been the New Publisher of The Washington Post for almost six months now…She’s thin, blond, young for this gig at 42. On this uncharacteristically comfortable summer day in Washington, she was wearing what she called a “Summer Friday” look: a billowy and translucent green-and-white silk blouse from Milly with a wide scoop neck held together in a little tie, with a camisole inset visible underneath. The sleeves ended just about an inch or so off her shoulder, held together by tight elastic, exposing tanned arms. She wore white pants and a plastic white watch covered in rhinestones forming a skull and crossbones pattern. They were a gift from her mother, Lally Weymouth. Her white hite flip-flop heels put her over the 6-foot mark…. [Clearly, she's no Amy Goodman! - J.L.D.]

    ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to observer.com

    AND THEN SEE: Amazing Story Of Why Washington Post Is So Weirdly Neocon, By M.J. Rosenberg, TPM Cafe, 09/20/10

    (excerpts) Yesterday the Washington Post published Lally Weymouth’s interview with British Vice Prime Minister Nick Clegg which wasn’t too bad until she became prosecutor, not interviewer, when the subject of Israel came up. (Weymouth is the daughter of former Post publisher Katherine Graham and mother of current publisher and CEO, Katherine Weymouth).
    I wondered how Lally Weymouth, the Post heir, became such a right-wing Zionist…
    …this is an amazing story – link to nymag.com
    …Sad that it is about her 42 year old boyfriend’s funeral — he really was a tragic case…
    …the problems of Weymouth’s boyfriend started when, as a Senate Intelligence Committee staffer, he was busted for a heroin purchase. But that did not stop him from being hired by Rupert Murdoch as editor of the New York Post or, in any way, slow his rise within the fanciest of bipartisan social and political circles. Nor did it affect his right-wing politics.
    “After a period of rehabilitation, for his body, his psyche, and his reputation, Breindel signed on at the [N.Y.] Post’s editorial page in 1986. And immediately, he came out shooting bullets. Homeless people, poor people, gay people, the mentally ill, single mothers. All were subjected to Breindel’s uncharitable lashings. There were never even subtle shadings in his writing that indicated he was someone who knew what it was like to stumble, to give in to temptation, or simply to suffer from some common human failing…”
    Favorite part, about the funeral itself. Even at the saddest of moments, Marty goes off.
    “All of the speakers, even the pols, kept to the imposed three-to-four-minute time limit. Except Marty Peretz. Distraught over the loss of his friend and unhappy about sharing the moment, the Harvard professor and owner of The New Republic went on for nearly half an hour…”

    SOURCE – link to tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com

    • DICKERSON3870 says:
      March 15, 2011 at 10:43 pm

      P.S. Katharine Weymouth Steps in It Again, By Jack Shafer, Slate, 09/15/09 ~ A Washington Post piece gets spiked after its publisher expresses a preference for happier stories.

      (excerpts)…Earlier this summer, Weymouth got in Dutch when a Post plan to sell off-the-record access to reporters and government officials at “salons” at Weymouth’s home was made public by Politico. Weymouth and Post Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli quickly canceled the events after much confusion over whether the paper had put its soul up for sale or whether miscommunication on the part of the management team was to blame.
      In the latest Weymouth miscue, she appears to have told freelancer Matt Mendelsohn, a friend of hers, that advertisers desired “happier stories, not ‘depressing’ ones” like the one he had been working on about a young woman whose arms and legs were amputated. His piece was ultimately killed by the Post’s Sunday magazine. The editor who killed it, Sydney Trent, told the Post‘s Howard Kurtz that the spike had been delivered “because it was clear the newspaper wanted to move in a different direction. That handwriting was very clearly on the wall.”
      Mendelsohn doesn’t blame Weymouth directly…
      …The controversy has both Weymouth and Brauchli standing on their chairs insisting that the church-state boundary at the paper was never, ever breached. Brauchli tells the Post, “We are not driven by what one of our business-side colleagues, or even our publisher, thinks about a piece. We follow a journalistic compass.” From Weymouth: “I would never interfere in an editorial decision and I had no intention of interfering.”
      Can you believe for a moment that Katharine Weymouth’s ideas don’t drive what the Post prints? Or, to put a finer point on it, that her ideas shouldn’t drive what the Post prints? Weymouth is the one in charge…

      ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to slate.com

  3. Richard Witty says:
    March 15, 2011 at 10:26 pm

    “despite the huge turnout today to demand unification of Hamas and Fatah”

    Are you sure the turnout was “huge”? Most that I’ve read were disappointed with the turnout.

    In Haaretz, the big news of the day was the interception of a ship bound for Egypt (intercepted in international waters) with some indication that the material’s destination was Gaza, containing masses of weapons.

    PR? Substantive? Lots of issues associated with this one. But, not much here on it.

    Ahead of the news? Behind the news? Ignoring the news?

    link to haaretz.com

    link to haaretz.com

    • fuster says:
      March 15, 2011 at 11:24 pm

      Witty, tens of thousands of Palestinians turning out to demonstrate for a unity government is HUGE.
      Particularly impressive is the turnout in Gaza, where they were likely to be harassed and where they, indeed, were.
      Keep your eye on this, see if the Palestinans are going to sit still for another damn year or two or disunity and foot-dragging from the lousy leadership of both groups.
      If they can overcome their own formidable oppressive overlords, they’ll find a world united in being very very willing to help them throw off the occupation.

  4. fuster says:
    March 15, 2011 at 10:47 pm

    Palestine also is not yet a country for the UN, not just American newspapers.

    And even for a guy as demanding as Philip, it’s hard to print news about demonstrations before the demonstrations take place.
    The big unity demos didn’t happen till today.

    • Avi says:
      March 16, 2011 at 12:10 am

      fuster March 15, 2011 at 10:47 pm

      Palestine also is not yet a country for the UN.

      Actually the Palestinian Authority has a seat at the General Assembly.

      it’s hard to print news about demonstrations before the demonstrations take place. The big unity demos didn’t happen till today.

      The demonstrations in favor of unity have nothing to do with the regional struggle for freedom. In Egypt, protesters wanted an end to the torture regime of Mubarak. In the occupied West Bank and Gaza Palestinians want an end to the occupation. They want their freedoms back, just like Egyptians.

  5. fuster says:
    March 16, 2011 at 12:22 am

    Actually the Palestinian Authority has a seat at the General Assembly. —–

    yet more non-truth from you n avi
    non-nation
    non-member

    they have a very nice chair to sit and observe stuff.
    non-much else.

  6. fuster says:
    March 16, 2011 at 4:48 pm

    thank you, Avi. I had read that and a few other things before I posted my reply to you.

    my reply to you stands. “having a seat”, as you put it, is about all they have.

    the Red Cross has a seat as well.

    they are still a non-member and a non-nation at this time.

    I hope that their status changes so that they become both a nation and member of the UN, but, Avi, you haven’t the power to grant them those things.