August 09, 2006

Bias: 88% of News Photos Show Lebanese Civilian Victims, 4% Show Israeli

A major theme of MSM photos coming out of Lebanon is to make sure the reader is very clear that the people in the photos are civilians. And to make sure that the civilian victims are Lebanese. And to drive home the point that Lebanese civilians are being victimized by the Israeli military.

Number of photos at Yahoo News containing the search terms "civilians" "Lebanon": 765

Percent of the first 100 photos showing Lebanese "civilian" dead or other victims (such as the displaced or funeral mourners) of an Israeli military operation: 88%

Percent of photos showing the Israeli military, but also mentioning dead Lebanese "civilians": 16%.

Percent showing protests outside the war zone, but mentioning "Lebanese civilians": 2%

Percent showing Israeli "civilian" casualties or other victims of Hezbollah terrorism: 4%

Not scientific, but I think the differences are enough that the point is made.

Nope, no bias here. And did we mention all the victims are civilians?

That's right, civilians.

I said civilians.

Civilians!

CIVILIANS!!

Some photo examples below.


A Lebanese woman grieves during a funeral of Lebanese civilians, who died in an Israeli air strike on an apartment building Monday, at a funeral in Shaheedein cemetery in the southern suburbs of Beirut Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2006. A series of at least six missiles fired from Israel ships off the Lebanese coast slammed into the south Beirut suburbs Wednesday, as residents were conducting a funeral for some of the 41 victims killed in Israeli air strikes there three days earlier, police said. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

But, the MSM and their photojournalists always want to provide fair and balanced coverage. Here's an example of the 16% of the photos showing an Israeli victim.


Israeli soldiers carry away the body of a comrade after a rocket attack in the northern Israeli village of Kfar Giladi August 6, 2006. Hizbollah killed 10 Israeli soldiers on Sunday in its deadliest rocket strike yet and Israeli bombs killed 10 Lebanese civilians as Lebanon rejected a draft U.N. resolution to end the 26-day-old war. ISRAEL OUT REUTERS/Eric Sultan (ISRAEL)

Israeli soldiers and Lebanese civilians. Fair and balanced.

Oh, an Addidas outfit is a sure sign of a civilian.


Rescue workers and civilians evacuate the dead killed after an Israeli airstrike on the town of Mashghara, in the Bekaa valley, in eastern Lebanon. Israel's destruction of roads and bridges in Lebanon and its threat to bomb vehicles has virtually paralysed the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian relief, aid agencies said.(AFP/Joseph Barrak)

By Rusty Shackleford, Ph.D. at 11:59 PM | |