[Reader-list] Media Mathematics by Kalpana Sharma

[Shikha Jhingan]

This piece appeared in the Sunday Magazine of The Hindu. Kalpana talks 
about the daily diary of a brave Palestinian reporter, Kawther Salam, has 
been appearing on the Internet site http:\\www.gush-shalom.org.
Here's the article -


Media Mathematics by

             KALPANA SHARMA

             Barbed wire fences to detain Palestinians ...
             THERE is a surfeit of news these days — a string of dramatic,
             violent, terrible events being played out almost 
simultaneously in
             different parts of the world. Yet, there is not enough news, too.
             Not enough on developments that are also taking place but somehow
             are not considered news, or newsy enough.
             A photograph that appeared in some newspapers opens a small 
window
             into the other story in Israel's ruthless military campaign 
against
             Palestine, a story that has largely gone unreported. The 
photograph
             shows four women waving flags and the caption reads: 
"International
             peace activists wave white flags as Israeli border police stop 
them
             from reaching the Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat's 
compound in
             the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday."

	An extraordinary aspect of the current Israeli revenge war against
             Palestine is that despite the relentless pounding of Israeli 
tanks
             and gunships, peace activists from around the world have 
converged
             on the area and are attempting to intervene. For instance, the 40
             international observers and "human shields" inside President
             Arafat's besieged compound have ensured that at least some of the
             news about the conditions prevailing there gets out to the
             international media. Amongst the 40 is an Israeli, Neta Golan.
             Despite days without water and electricity, and at times when 
their
             cell phone batteries were running low, these observers ensured 
that
             day to day reports of events as seen from the other side were
             getting through. Thus Israel's efforts to block the international
             media's access to President Arafat were thwarted.

	The Internet has been the channel through which this other story is
             reaching out. For instance, a daily diary of a brave Palestinian
             reporter, Kawther Salam, has been appearing on the Internet site
             http:\\www.gush-shalom.org. She writes of harassment by Israeli
             soldiers that has been building up for months. It has reached the
             point where her house has been taken over by them. She has 
appealed
             to the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Mary
             Robinson. International news channels have interviewed Ms. 
Kawther
             and, as a result, what she describes and writes has gone 
beyond the
             Internet audience.

	  Apart from these insights about the state of affairs in Palestine
             today, a strong link between Jewish and Palestinian women peace
             activists has survived all the years of hatred and strife.
             Jerusalem Link, a movement that has brought together women's 
peace
             groups on either side of the border, continues to appeal for 
peace.
             They have held joint demonstrations at times of heightened 
tension
             and argued for peace at times when the rhetoric of war was 
dominant.
             In an appeal that was issued a while back but is still relevant,
             they state: "The men tell us not to be scared. They all tell 
us to
             be strong. We are scared and we want them to be scared. We do not
             want to be `strong'. We don't want them to think that they are
             strong enough to make the other nation disappear or go down in
             defeat and disgrace. We want each and every person to have the 
right
             to live in peace and dignity."

	  But little of this is reflected in the reports carried in our
             newspapers. We continue to be dependent on western news 
agencies and
             even if they are reporting all the news, we only get what these
             reporters can access. The voices that have been silenced or
             sequestered by the Israeli military do not automatically find a
             space during such a fast-moving story.
             Furthermore, regardless of what reporters on the spot might send
             out, the use and display of that news is determined by people
             sitting comfortably in distant western capitals. They have no 
real
             idea of the intensity of that situation as they decide what their
             readers would like to read and what would sell their papers. 
This is
             where even the most professional of newspapers inadvertently 
reveal
             a bias.

	  For its coverage of the West Asia crisis, the Forum for Accuracy in
             Reporting (FAIR), a United States-based media-monitoring
             organisation, has criticised The New York Times. And the 
criticism
             will find an echo here for it shows how biases come to play 
even in
             the most credible and professional of media organisations.
             An article that looks at recent coverage of Israel's military
             campaign in Palestine, illustrates this bias. The suicide 
bombing of
             a bus, in which eight people were killed, predictably made 
headline
             news on April 10. But the same story also reported that at 
least one
             hundred Palestinians were killed in Jenin as a consequence of an
             Israeli attack and that many "still lie where they fell". This
             terrible fact did not merit even a second headline or strap line.
             Instead, it was buried in the sixth paragraph. FAIR asks how 
editors
             decide on the arithmetic of how many Palestinian lives equal one
             Israeli life?
             So should the horror of a suicide bombing, and its dramatic 
nature,
             eclipse the tragic consequences of a systematic attempt to 
deny an
             entire people the right to survive in their own land?

	  In our context, should the horror of the attack on the Sabarmati
             Express have detracted the media from the planned and 
cold-blooded
             killing of hundreds more in the rest of Gujarat as the ruling 
party
             in Gujarat would have liked? Is there any equivalence between 57
             killed in Godhra and almost 800 killed in its wake? Fifty 
seven and
             800, eight and 100. The infamous action, reaction?
             Of course, now our venerated Prime Minister has given further
             sanctity to this type of arithmetic by stating in Goa that if the
             fire in Godhra had not been ignited, Gujarat would not have 
burned.
             So how far back in history do we need to go to ascertain blame 
for
             current actions?
             Is there no end to this senseless justification of brutality that
             leaves no one victorious and the whole world blind and defeated?