demand mamamia end bias reporting
We have seen countless examples of bias in mainstream media in relation to the Genocide in Gaza and the occupation of Palestine that is being funded and bolstered by western supposed democracies including Australia.
Mamamias reporting on the genocide has shown consistent bias :
MAMAMIA - “Distribution of aid within Gaza has been hampered by military operations, inspections of aid demanded by Israel, communications blackouts and shortages of fuel” - Actually! multiple NGOS have reported that starvation is being used as a weapon of war in Gaza by the Israel
MAMAMIA “A blast at a Gaza hospital has killed hundreds of people as the conflict between the Israeli military and the Hamas terror group plays out”. - This reporting makes it seem like a blast happened and we don't know who? Israel have made unrelenting attacks on hospitals in Gaza and the entire healthcare system has crumbled. Furthermore Intent in the Genocide case against Israel is not hard to prove, they have never hidden their intent.
MAMAMIA ”Particularly, Hamas’ slaughter of Israeli children evokes collective Jewish memories of pogroms and the Holocaust – and the attempt to annihilate the Jewish people”. Hamas militants killed approximately 30 Israeli children when they attacked civilians on Oct. 7 EVERY CHILD HAS THE RIGHT TO BE SAFE FROM WAR, However, BY COMPARISION in September 2023 it had been reported Israel killed 8000 children, and 11,500 children at time of writing, but thousands more are left maimed, limbs removed without anaesthesia, orphaned, and there are reports by Palestinian journalists that some died of heart failure due to fear. Mamamia have not reported any of these numbers or stories to my knowledge.
MAMAMIA “Hundreds of patients, including dozens of babies, have been trapped inside Gaza's largest hospital as Israeli troops and Hamas militants are fighting outside” Many of us watched the unfolding horror of Al Shifa that was live streamed by Palestinian medical professionals and journalists - we saw a constant bombardment of Israel’s air strikes that massacred women children trying to shelter there as well as doctors and other essential health professionals.
In our nonviolent peace work towards CEASEFIRE and END TO OCCUPATION we must demand and end to this destructive media bias we are seeing across media networks.
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SCRIPT (use parts or all!)
- I am calling to express my disappointment in Mamamias reporting of the Israel-Gaza War. I call it a war to follow the lead of Reuters, Al Jazeera and BBC- However the ICJ ruling has shown its plausible, I would argue probable what we are witnessing is indeed a Genocide.
In a recent analysis on media coverage of this conflict, Dr Susan Carland writes;
THE DISCREPANCIES AND DEHUMANISATION WE RAISE ABOVE IN OUR REPORT ARE NOT MERELY SEMANTIC SQUABBLES; THEY CAN AND DO LEAD TO “DESTRUCTIVE OUTCOMES”.
In the analysis commissioned by the Islamophobia register Australia that looked at posts by major media outlets between October 7 and November 2023 there was a clear pro-israel bias. This included how outlets were more likely to use the active voice when discussing attacks against Israel, despite the massive disproportionate deaths between Israeli and Palestinian civilians.
This is systematic dehumanisation of Palestinians. Tokenistically humanising one child, in one Mamamia article, does not count. Your company states that your purpose to make the world a better place for women and girls. I want to ask you, when will you stop suppressing the reality of life for women and girls in Gaza right now?
I wish to respectfully remind you that journalists should be adhering to the highest principles of Honesty Fairness, Independence, Respect for the rights of others and disclosure of all essential facts.
So lets talk facts.
More than 11,500 children have been killed in four months, 24,000 children have lost one of both parents, 10 children a day lose one or both legs due to bombs being dropped on them- sent by Australia and the United States, one million children will require mental health support, UNICEF spokesperson has said “THIS IS A WAR ON CHILDREN”
The day BEFORE October 7th 2023 was already the deadliest year on record for Palestinian children in the West Bank- where Hamas are not in control.
Israel has one of the most powerful militaries in the world- and Palestinians are a stateless, displaced, controlled, occupied people who do not even have freedom of movement.
BEFORE October 7 they had experienced more than seven decades of a brutal oppressive occupation, dehumanisation, transgenerational trauma, and mass displacements by the state of Israel.
Israel’s occupation forces kill, maim, orphan and illegally detain hundreds of children in the occupied Palestinian territories every year. While you focus on hostages, you fail to report that Israel has 8000 Palestinian languishing in their prisons.
At this point I refuse to say “but Hamas” or ‘October 7” anymore or “has a right to defend itself”. This did not start October 7th, globally the world is condemning a disproportionate response.
Standing up for Palestinians under occupation is not anti semitic, many Jewish writers, social justice groups, ex IDF soldiers, scholars and historians have condemned Israel’s occupation such as Norman Finkelstein, Gabor Mate and Ilan Pappe. I encourage you to learn the history.
The campaign of terror committed daily by the state of Israel against Palestinian civilians for four months, and seven decades before October 7th is right now doing more to make jews and especially Israeli jews unsafe than those of us calling for sustainable long term ceasefire, and end to the occupation. We want peace for everyone, including jews.
Normalising the bombing of hospitals, universities, schools, essential infrastructure, women and children, makes EVERYONE unsafe. Is this the world you want to live in?
I am asking that mamamia reflect seriously on the real world consequences and potential destructive outcomes of your reporting. I encourage you to consider the analysis put forward by the REPORT A war of words: preliminary media analysis of the 2023 Israel-Gaza Conflict