CNN staff say network’s pro-Israel slant amounts to ‘journalistic malpractice’
GuardianJAN 2024
CNN Faces Staff Backlash Over Alleged Pro-Israel Bias
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The Spin
Pro-Palestine narrative
The extreme bias seen in CNN's coverage of the Israel-Hamas war amounts to journalistic malpractice. The network is only telling one side of the story and downplaying information that threatens the Israeli government's narrative. This irresponsible coverage has effectively dehumanized the Palestinian people in the eyes of CNN's viewers and minimized Israeli culpability for destruction and violence in the Gaza Strip.
Pro-Israel narrative
It is Israel that must cope with an untenable level of bias from the mainstream media in this conflict. Take, for example, the allegations that journalists associated with CNN and other outlets even joined Hamas on Oct. 7 to document the atrocities. Accordingly, it is fully reasonable that Israel maintains a robust public information process to ensure that balanced reporting occurs that does not endanger Israeli security.
Cynical narrative
Both the Israeli and Palestinian sides of this conflict claim that the media is biased against them. Moreover, the sheer level of polarization seen in this conflict has created a media environment so polluted that one's politics completely dictate their perception of the facts. The media must be able to provide a platform for dialogue and understanding wholly missing from the current coverage of this conflict.