Palestinian stabs Israeli on train; Reuters AWOL

On Thursday, a female Israeli soldier was stabbed within inches of her heart while traveling on the Jerusalem light railway.  A Palestinian Arab suspect was arrested a short time later near Ramallah.

Reuters fails to report on the incident, which is not unusual gatekeeping for an agency committed to providing public relations on behalf of the Palestinians.

Of particular note, is that the suspect would almost certainly have disappeared into that portion of Judea and Samaria (the "West Bank") under Palestinian control had Israel not been operating a checkpoint at Qalandiya between Jerusalem and Ramallah.

Of course, experience shows that had Reuters covered the story, the agency's correspondents would have focused on the "daily humiliation" of Israeli checkpoints.

Meanwhile, in Jerusalem....

Even as Reuters refuses to report on Iran's call and religious justification for the annihilation of Israel and genocide of the Jews as disseminated on the regime's website, the agency's correspondents are busy condemning the Jews for graffiti spray painted in Jerusalem:

(Reuters) - A Jerusalem monastery, built on the site where tradition says the tree used in the making of Jesus's cross once stood, was defaced with "Death to Christians" graffiti on Tuesday.
The words "Price Tag" daubed on a vandalised car parked outside the 11th-century Monastery of the Cross suggested that militant Jewish settlers were responsible and police said they were investigating that possibility as well as other angles.

Keep in mind that Reuters was similarly quick to accuse Jewish settlers of vandalism in the Arab village of Tuba Zangaria last October but has failed to follow up with reported evidence that it was local Arab villagers, not Jewish settlers, who likely committed the crime.

So, all a Muslim has to do to convince Reuters that Jews have vandalized property, and to persuade the agency to commit line space and three correspondents to report on this, is to spray paint "price tag" somewhere -- anywhere.

Whereas, if an Islamic government, heavily engaged in developing nuclear weapons, calls for the genocide of six million people on religious grounds and provides targeting maps pinpointing the greatest population density of that people for maximum kill ratios, Reuters correspondents are out to lunch.  

This is one sick media company.

The Power of the Gatekeeper

Gatekeeping is the power of the managing or lead editor in a media company to determine which stories get published or aired, and which don't.  It's one of the most dynamic, and insidious, tools for disseminating propaganda because by definition, it's a biased process, yet one that leaves little evidence of that bias.  The editor gets to decide which stories, which perspectives, will make the news and have an opportunity to influence audiences.  Other stories, other perspectives, simply never see the light of day.

British attorney Trevor Asserson, now living in Israel, conducted a study of the BBCs gatekeeping role in its production and airing of documentaries on the Middle East conflict:

Asserson checked various BBC TV programs on the Middle East against its commitments under the charter. He analyzed all documentaries on the Middle East shown on BBC 1 and 2 from late June 2002 to 2004. Afterwards, Asserson said that the BBC is conducting “what amounts to something equivalent to a campaign to vilify Israel, broadcasting a documentary critical of Israel every two to three months…88% of documentaries on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict paint either a negative impression of Israel or (in two cases) a positive image of Palestinians.” [...]

Asserson concluded: “BBC’s news reports concerning Israel are distorted by omission, by inclusion, by only giving partial facts, by who is interviewed, and by the background information provided, or lack of it.

Reuters similarly employs heavily ideological gatekeeping in its Middle East reporting in an effort to vilify Israel and lionize the Arabs.  Check our right sidebar entitled, "Reuters Censoring", and you will see scores of important, factual stories vital to any contextualized understanding of the conflict.  Yet, not one of them was covered by Reuters.  Why?

Because they would interfere with Reuters anti-Israel propaganda campaign and concurrent pro-Arab advocacy campaign.

Incidentally, if confronted with this list, we have no doubt Reuters editors would feign indignation and protest their innocence with a claim that they were too busy covering more newsworthy stories.

Yes, we're certain of that.

Reuters, the unscrupulous gatekeeper

Reuters devoted untold barrels of ink last year in a propaganda campaign designed to demonize Israel for its naval blockade of the Hamas-held Gaza Strip and boarding of the Islamist ships trying to run that blockade in May.

The United Nations has now released its report on the incident which found Israel's blockade to be entirely legal in international law.  The investigative panel also said the flotilla "acted recklessly" in trying to breach the blockade and that there were "serious questions about the conduct, true nature and objectives" of the Islamist İnsani Yardım Vakfı (IHH), which organized and manned the flotilla. 

Turkey has, in response to the report, expelled Israel's ambassador and terminated military cooperation with Israel.  Here's how Reuters reports on events:

(Reuters) - Turkey expelled Israel's ambassador and senior Israeli diplomats and suspended military agreements Friday, the day after it emerged a U.N. report said the Jewish state had used unreasonable force in a raid on a Gaza-bound ship that killed nine Turks.
Stung by Israel's refusal to meet demands for a formal apology, pay compensation for families of the dead, and end the blockade of Palestinians living in the Gaza enclave, Turkey announced it was downgrading ties with the Jewish state further.
"Turkey-Israel diplomatic relations have been reduced to a second secretary level. All personnel above the second secretary level will be sent home by Wednesday at the latest," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a news conference in Ankara.

While it is true that the UN report also found that the Israel Defense Forces had used unreasonable force following the attempted lynching of the boarding party by passengers, Reuters fails to disclose the relevant findings which exonerate Israel, from any claim of illegal behavior, until the fourth paragraph of the story:

Turkey's reaction to the long-awaited report, which also declared that Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip was legal, deepened Ankara's rift with Israel.

Thus, a key conclusion of the report, demonstrating Turkey's rank hypocrisy and contempt for international law in allowing the flotilla to sail, is mentioned only once in the story, buried four paragraphs down.

The power of an editor to decide what is published and where it is positioned is known as gatekeeping.  Reuters demonstrates here how to use that power to advance its own editorial agenda and violate its corporate governance charter.

UPDATE SEPT 3, 2011: The Reuters story cited above has been updated, with the first mention of the UN finding exonerating Israel buried deeper still, now in the 13th paragraph.

What Reuters doesn't want you to know

RMEW calls attention to the frequent errors, bias, and overt propaganda devices in regular use by Reuters correspondents in their reporting on the Middle East conflict.  A particularly insidious propaganda ploy, not plainly visible, is known in media studies as card stacking or selective omission.  Here, the propagandist deliberately omits essential information or context necessary for the audience to fully understand the story and draw a considered conclusion as to what has occurred and why.

In many cases, Reuters omits coverage of an important story entirely because it does not fit the agency's political agenda.  This is primarily due to a decision taken by the managing editor at the bureau who, with his or her power to dictate what is published, controls the flow of information and is referred to in media studies as the gatekeeper.  (The current Editor-in-Charge at Reuters Jerusalem Bureau is Jeffrey Heller and the current Bureau Chief is Crispian Balmer).

One such example of the above was Reuters failure to report on the story of a Facebook page, with 350,000 supporters, calling on Palestinians to take up arms against Israel and for genocide of the Jews.  Both the Associated Press and AFP covered the story.

We highlight many of these stories in our right-hand column, "Reuters Censoring", and provide links to alternative sources which report rather than suppress the news.  Have a look to see what Reuters would prefer you not know.