From: perlman@qso.Colorado.EDU (perlman eric)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast
Subject: Re: How to post an article from the news media.
Date: 9 Apr 92 23:24:11 GMT
Article-I.D.: colorado.1992Apr9.232411.17759
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder

In article <1992Apr9.145308.28492@ncsu.edu> hernlem@chess.ncsu.EDU (Brad Hernlem) writes:
>In article <1992Apr9.000119.2176@das.harvard.edu>, adam@endor.uucp (Adam
>Shostack) writes:
>> In article <1992Apr8.164308.11653@ncsu.edu> hernlem@chess.ncsu.EDU
>(Brad Hernlem) writes:
>> 
>> >TROOPS KILL THREE IN WEST BANK
>> 
>> >OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, March 29 (Agencies) 
>> 
>>  [43 lines deleted]
>> 
>> >[Arab News, March 30, 1992]
>> 
>> This is was article written by Arab News reporters, based on data from
>> Agencies.  It would be more honest to quote it as being from the Arab
>> News, based on wire service reports.  no news wire calls Jerusalem
>> Occupied Jerusalem.
>> 
>> An order of magnatude worse is Ralph Winstons postings from "The Daily
>> Northwestern" ads.  It is a decietful use of a tag line, please stop
>> doing it.
>> 
>> Adam
>> 
>> Adam Shostack 					adam@das.harvard.edu
>> 
>> What a terrible thing to have lost one's .sig.  Or not to have a .sig
>> at all.  How true that is.      
>
>How would you like me to edit these articles so that they are more
>suitable to your sensibilities? I have transcribed this article as it
>appeared in the source and then listed the source at the end of my
>posting. Jerusalem is indeed occupied territory and the majority of the
>world does not recognize its annexation by Israel; many consider the
>seizure of the western portion of the city by Israel to be illegal, as
>well.

While in the eyes of some in the world this may be true, stating
'Occupied Jerusalem' as the place for the story explicitly defines the
political alignment as agreeing with that POLITICAL OPINION.  Note the
stress.  By doing so, objectivity is at best decreased, and more likely
removed altogether.

> If this is the worst that the reporters at the Arab News have done
>it pales in comparison to the work of some of these very same wire
>services and the newspaper editors in the "West". Just recently, I
>noticed several sources reporting on the celebration of International
>Qods Day referred to this as International "Jerusalem" Day (actually I
>did not see a single Western source use the word "Qods" anywhere). Was
>this any different? Was this deceitful?

Absolutely not.  This is similar to American sources calling the city of
Munchen (the German spelling) Munich, and no more.  Plus, the name
'al-Quds' is an arabic REnaming of the city, which had been called
Jerusalem for over a thousand years before it was called al-Quds (or
actually Yerushalayim in the Hebrew and Aramaic of the time).  You're
completely distorting the picture, Brad.  The bias that Adam points out
is real; what you point out doesn't compare, by orders of magnitude.



-- 
"How sad to see/A model of decorum and tranquillity/become like any other sport
A battleground for rival ideologies to slug it out with glee." -Tim Rice,"Chess"
     Eric S. Perlman  <perlman@qso.colorado.edu> or <eric@lyra.Colorado.EDU> 
  Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, University of Colorado, Boulder
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast,soc.culture.arabic,soc.culture.lebanon