Write Long: "Human Rights Watch, where I worked for many years, strains all its muscles to be completely objective on Israel/Palestine -- an effort that has never gotten it a scintilla of credit from the militant pro-Israel side. Its releases on Israel and Palestine are the only ones in the entire organization that are routinely edited by the executive director himself. An informal arithmetic dictates that every presser or report criticizing Israel has to be accompanied by another criticizing the Palestine Authority or Hamas -- or, if that isn't possible (the PA barely retains enough authority to violate anybody's rights) at least one of the surrounding Arab states.
A mathematical approach to objectivity may help accountants detect embezzlement or captains keep ships afloat, but that kind of balance looks ridiculous in the political world, where the incessant fluidity of action disrupts the illusions of double-entry bookkeeping. (The call for an "embargo on arms" to "all sides" is an excellent example of "objectivity" that benefits one side much more than the other.")
So there you have it: a breaking
story, but news that is filtered to keep the outrage only on alleged human rights
abuses by countries Washington dislikes.
News Dissector Danny Schechter edits Mediachannel.org. He blogs
for Newsdissector.net.
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