Here is an excellent piece by Robert Fisk on how journalism can sometimes lose the actual context of the story and be very easily shaped by selective choice of words in the reporting. Do this piece by Fisk justice and read all of it – don’t skip around, it really builds well and the examples he has cited in this speech are simply brilliant.

You can click the title of the quoted piece below for the original source from Al Jazeera English or just read it below:

Journalism and ‘the words of power’ by Robert Fisk

Power and the media are not just about cosy relationships between journalists and political leaders, between editors and presidents. They are not just about the parasitic-osmotic relationship between supposedly honourable reporters and the nexus of power that runs between White House and state department and Pentagon, between Downing Street and the foreign office and the ministry of defence. In the western context, power and the media is about words – and the use of words.

It is about semantics.

It is about the employment of phrases and clauses and their origins. And it is about the misuse of history; and about our ignorance of history.

More and more today, we journalists have become prisoners of the language of power.

Is this because we no longer care about linguistics? Is this because lap-tops ‘correct’  our spelling, ‘trim’ our grammar so that our sentences so often turn out to be identical to those of our rulers? Is this why newspaper editorials today often sound like political speeches?

Let me show you what I mean.

For two decades now, the US and British – and Israeli and Palestinian – leaderships have used the words ‘peace process’ to define the hopeless, inadequate, dishonourable agreement that allowed the US and Israel to dominate whatever slivers of land would be given to an occupied people.

(A condensed version of this article should appear in the upcoming print of The Muslim Perspective newsletter.)

Long before the ballots for the 2008 elections were cast, there was an unusual amount of optimism regarding a skinny guy with a funny name from Hawaii and what he could accomplish not only for those here in America but what he deliver for those around the globe. A large community that is going to be impacted is the Muslims not only here but around the world.

The simple rationale for the new hope behind Barack Obama could be found in his political approach to nearly every critical issue facing us today. He has been brutally honest in his assessments regarding the economic turmoil, his willingness to be patient to rally for multi-national support in determining foreign policies, bringing immediate change from the previous administration by admitting early on in the race for Presidency that he was willing to put all options back on the table when dealing with Iran.

President Barack Obama in his inauguration speech spoke to the Muslim world leaving very little to imagination. “To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect,” he stated in his address and sought to renew a relationship built upon trust and not based on power or dissent. It has probably been a long time coming but the time is here for the Muslim world to be thrust upon the center state in a positive light by an American President.

“In Islam, there is a hadith that reads ‘None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself,” he said at a prayer service just two weeks after his inaugural address, once again showing his willingness to put asides the philosophical and ideological differences of the past administration in hope for a new beginning.

CBS’ 60 Minutes has quite an eye-opening piece and quite frankly an amazing segment exposing Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians.  The piece is by Senior CBS Foreign Correspondent Bob Simon, who is Jewish living outside Tel-Aviv and produced by Robert G. Anderson. 

“While my heart still wants to believe that the two-state solution is possible, my brain keeps telling me the opposite because of what I see in terms of the building of settlements. So, these settlers are destroying the potential peace for both people that would have been created if we had a two-state solution,” Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, once a former candidate for Palestinian president, told Simon.

Palestinians had hoped to establish their state on the West Bank, an area the size of Delaware. But Israelis have split it up with scores of settlements, and hundreds of miles of new highways that only settlers can use. Palestinians have to drive – or ride – on the older roads. 

Gaza Justice Action Center has an appreciation page for those who watched the video and want to express their support that reads the following:

Thank you for exposing Israel’s apartheid policies against Palestinians during your January 25, 2009 piece titled: Time Running Out For A Two-State Solution?

It’s rare to find impartial meaningful news stories about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by American media outlets. Your story relayed to viewers the untold realities that are blocking peace progress in that region.

I urge you to produce similar balanced stories on the conflict and occupation. Thank you again

Credit: CBS – Time Running Out For Two State Solution

Popularity: 3%

So I finally served my public duty and went out to a portest for a cause I believed in. Actually I had no idea the protest was going on but my dad was going last Sunday (1/11) and I ended up going with him on a frigid Sunday morning. You all pretty much know where I stand on the issue so I won’t go much into that but I will say that voices need to be heard.

It does not matter which side on the issue you stand on but voices matter and the people who really make me angry and make themselves sound ignorant are the ones who say that protests accomplish nothing. It was Martin Luther King Jr. who once said that “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends” and those words ring seriously loud today. Whether its on this crisis in the Middle East where no Muslim nation has the guts to stand for their fellow brothers and sisters who are abused by acts of genocide or whether it is any other issue, those who continue to remain silent are probably just as guilty as those committing the crimes. 

I have told plenty of people this and most of them who I had probably argued or debated with on a certain issue: “I may not like or agree with the stance you took on a particular issue but I will certainly fight until my last breath to make sure you have the right to say it.”

Popularity: 1%

A great return for The Daily Show last night by talking about the chaos in the Middle East and having the moderator of Meet The Press, David Gregory, as his guest. What is great about Jon Stewart is that even when he is talking about serious, informative points, he’ll make you laugh. And you know that  when he is passionate about a certain issue he doesn’t let it go. He’ll keep trying to get his questions answered or his points understood. 

I think he drives home a good point saying that everyone keeps using the analogy that is Hamas kept attacking America with these rockets, how would we retaliate?” but rarely do you hear the other side of that conversation by someone asking what would America do if another country came in and occupied their land and made the American people go through checkpoints while traveling within their own cities. 

I inserted a couple of quotes but the two clips below the break are (1) his intro after coming back from break and (2) David Gregory interview and he asks the Israel question around 4:50 in the second clip.

Jon Stewart: Why can’t anyone – this always surprises me – why can’t any American politician criticize Israel in any way for their behavior. I’m watching these shows and there’s not one person going jesus it’s kind of complex. Yeah Hamas is a bad actor – they shouldn’t be throwing missiles, but gosh you know the treatment of the Palestinian people maybe for the past 50 years is not so nice either. But you never hear that side.
…
You know you never hear anyone say hey man you know the settlements or that kind of stuff. Is that really the third rail of American politics now?
…

David Gregory: You know settlement activity under the Bush administration – you know from 2000 and 20007 settlement activity increased the population 45% in Israel. That doesn’t say anything about illegal outposts. So there is no question this is not an area where the Bush administration was pressuring the Israelis.  

Popularity: 3%