Mainstream media bias: Israel controls the narrative while Palestinians are murdered

Israel’s relentless and merciless bombings of Palestine over the last few days, is becoming a massacre.  The latest one that is inflicted by ruthless colonial Zionism.

At the time of writing, reports suggest the death toll in Gaza alone, stands at approximately 150, the vast majority of casualties being civilians, including women and children.  That number will have likely risen by the time you read these words.

Hundreds have been injured and tens of thousands more have been rendered homeless by Israel’s latest round of brutal violence.  And Israel, in spite of global revulsion, shows no sign of stopping.  It knows exactly what it’s doing. It has one of the most sophisticated armed forces in the world.  The carnage is intentional.

In addition to the countless fatalities and injuries inflicted, vital infrastructure in Palestine has also been destroyed by Zionist bombs while families in Gaza remained terrified at the prospect of not knowing where and when the next explosives might land, with nowhere to escape, nowhere to hide, and with no means to withstand the onslaught and protect their families.

The devastating impact of Israel’s bombing raids has been visible on social media for the world to see, with heart-wrenching images and videos of the dead and injured being shared by millions, sparking intense fury leading to protests around the globe, as marches in solidarity with the Palestinians have been gathering steam in many major cities.

But the only thing worse than the continued ongoing support of Israel’s murderous regime by most of the international community, their blatant approval or complicity voiced or signaled either through silence or lukewarm ‘neutral’ and meaningless statements, is an equally compliant Western mainstream media.

One expects to hear the usual redundant platitudes of describing the butchering of Palestinian civilians as “clashes” while calling for “both sides to take steps to secure peace”, from politicians.  It’s the norm.

But these are the kind of phrases we are also seeing churned out by media outlets, in a 24 hour revolving cycle of lies.  It’s always been the way, but now it seems as bad as ever.

Journalists and news anchors, who in theory are supposed to describe the truth and reality of a situation, are instead presenting the attacks by Israel, the murder of civilians and destruction of Gaza as a ‘conflict of two sides’, hiding under the justification of ‘balance’ as a reason for doing so.

People have rightly called out the British taxpayer funded BBC for being guilty of this, over the last week or so.

But in truth, switch on your TV at any moment of the day, and observe the coverage on nearly all of the Western mainstream media channels, about what is happening in Gaza. You will see a different story being told, compared with the disturbing images of the countless Palestinians who have been maimed and killed in recent days, which are being shared all across social media.

There is no ‘balance’ in the so-called conflict between Israeli and Palestinians.  And any serious journalist knows it.  Israel is illegally occupying Palestine, with armed forces and weaponry, which is the most cutting-edge and state of the art equipment.  The Palestinians, who have a legal right to resist occupation, barely have an army.  

It is the politics of another universe, to suggest that what Israel is doing to Gaza is part of an ‘equal war of two sides’.  And the reality is, most of the world can see this and knows it, but the mainstream media, which still yield an incredible amount of influence, far from reflecting the truth of the dire situation in Palestine and Gaza, are actually seeking to control the narrative and present illusions as fact.  And this is a grotesque betrayal of the truth.

Israel is not defending itself.  Israel is brutally attacking a defenceless people, who are sitting -ducks, right now, as we speak.

And of course, what we are now learning is that Israel’s narrative is not just being peddled by a willing Western media.  The narrative is also being controlled now with force, as it is being reported that Israel destroyed the building which housed several media outlets which operate in Gaza.

In much the same way as pro-Palestinian voices are silenced within social media platforms, and censored, Israel’s war on truth and the attempt to control the flow of information, has led to those platforms in Gaza, reporting from within Gaza, being deliberately targeted and destroyed by Israel.

In much the same way as every decent human being should be appalled at Israel’s latest attacks on the Palestinians, all right-minded journalists should be appalled at Israel’s attempt to prevent the truth of its brutal actions from being reported on, from directly within Palestine.

But Israel is seriously losing face. Millions more people around the world are joining the growing tide of voices condemning Israel’s behavior and are siding with the Palestinians, demanding justice.

Despite Israel’s bombs, Israel cannot and will not stop the truth from reaching the world, and from more and more people reaching the simple conclusion, that Israel is a violent apartheid settler enterprise, constantly breaking international law.  

Vast swathes of global public opinion are now at odds with the continued status-quo, and are furious at Israel’s ongoing murder and brutalization of Palestinians. They are demanding that it come to an end, right now, and that Israel finally be held accountable for the murder of innocent Palestinians.

Richard Sudan is a journalist, writer and TV reporter working for Press TV.