Indro Montanelli, a great master, argued that journalism is such when it acts as a sentinel or watchdog of democracy. If in the democracies of the past there was little free journalism, in the democracies of today it has become a cross between a utopia and a mythological animal. Journalism nowand we have sadly become accustomed to this terrible reality, it is no longer information but the entertainment of news where news that generates ratings is shouted out according to criteria ranging from the editorial line to the need to have as many people as possible in front of the screens when the advertising comes on. Because advertising is progress even if seasoned with propaganda and ideology.
With all due respect to the truth because as George Orwell wrote about Truth and Lies: “In the time of universal deception, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” Therefore, in the time of universal deception, the major television networks, for example the American ones CBS News, NBC news And Fox News Channeljust to name a few examples, or the BBC British or the Antennas 2 French, or, to stay in Italy, in some news programs of the Mediaset networks (private) or in almost all of those of the Rai, which should be state owned but which instead belongs only to someone, when they provide information, it is there for all to see but only a few seem to realize it, they have many editorial linespolitical interests, shop motives.
This is because, as mentioned before, advertising is progress and brings money which is needed for the survival of the networks themselves and to increase the already fat salaries of the various managers who do the work for which they are paid. That is, like good Yesmans, align yourself and say and make them say only what is good for the master on duty. With many regards to the watchdogs of democracy who are now all retired or in kennels. Those few still at large are just flea-infested strays who only annoy the neighborhood when they bark.
Returning to the large international networks, especially when the topic is the Middle East and Israel in particular, we have a wide range of journalistic deviations which, at least for the sake of the news, needs to be reported. To paraphrase Orwell, in the time of universal deception, a journalist who highlights the distortions of journalism performs “a revolutionary act.” Let’s take the two most striking examples: there CNN And Al Jazeera. These two television networks enjoy the reputation of being among the quickest and most punctual in disseminating news, but being quick and punctual is not enough to provide quality information. It is no coincidence that these two networks have received attention several times and silenced by the Israeli authorities both for having disseminated censored news from Israel and for having disseminated false news.
To Al Jazeeranew a few days ago, has been renewed Ban on broadcasting from Israel for the next 45 days. In order to nip controversies in the bud, I would like to point out to readers that no Israeli network has the possibility of working from Qatar. There were limited and temporary permits granted only during the World Cup period. Managers of CNN several times they found themselves in the embarrassing situation of having to fly to Israel to avoid the closure of their offices in Jerusalem, of cases in which their journalists got up to all sorts of things, and always in one sense, there were many and the belated apologies from the various signatures, even important ones, did not serve to settle relations between the parties.
To make sense of my criticism of the way journalism is done CNN I would like to use two examples: the first concerns Sara Sindercorresponding CNNwhich on October 14th apologized to Hamas for reporting the story according to which Hamas members had barbarically killed children in the offensive in Israel a week earlier. She apologized for reporting the news of “babies and children with decapitated heads.” I would like to remind you that on October 14 photographs and videos of the massacres had already been seen all over the world and journalists accredited in Israel had been invited by the army spokesperson to visit the houses attacked and destroyed by Hamas terrorists. In those days there were still many bodies on the ground and anyone who saw those bodies firsthand will tell you. And Sara Sinder apologized to the terrorists.
If this is the level of journalists responsible for the information that is disclosed, there is real cause for concern. These days there is the alleged scoop that is always there CNN he says he did with his war reporter Ben Wedeman. Benjamin C. Wedemanto his friends Ben is an international journalist and senior war correspondent for the CNN based in Rome. He has been with the network since 1994 and has won numerous Emmy Awards and Edward Murrow Awards. He himself flew to Beirut to interview Osama Hamdan which is one of many leaders of Hamas abroad and as such, together with Isma’il Haniyeh, Khaled Meshaal and the whole merry band, it counts for absolutely nothing. And if I know this in Atlanta they can’t fail to know it. Ben flew to Beirut and, at the end of the fair, he basically limited himself to asking the most useless question in the world: why Hamas did not accept the ceasefire proposal supported by the United States. Everyone knows the answer, it wasn’t necessary to go to Beirut.
Hamas wants Israel to withdraw from the Strip to maintain power and Israel cannot allow Hamas to remain in power because it would be a perpetual sword of Damocles. Then passively accepting the idea that Hamas does not know where the hostages are and how many are still alive borders on the ridiculous. I listened to the interview and I didn’t find anything new in this pseudo scoop because the quips of Sinwar, the true father and master of Hamas, were repeated from memory. If Wedeman really wanted to make a scoop and, as a good war reporter, would have given meaning to the awards he received, perhaps earning another one, all he would have had to do was go down about eighty kilometers to the south to shoot a report and tell how Hetzbollah is preparing to face the Israeli army.
Instead he, an award-winning reporter, sat down in an air-conditioned office to talk about a stillborn peace plan while over two hundred bombs of all types were launched towards Israel. Another example of the quality of the information of certain large networks, someone said it but repetita iuvant, Abdallah Aljamalthe jailer of three of the four hostages freed by the Israeli army was a journalist from Al Jazeera. Freelance journalist in the morning and terrorist on permanent duty for the rest of the day. A few days after the historic rescue operation of the four hostages, the Israeli counter-terrorism operation dates back to Saturday 7 June, new details emerge.
But let’s start from the beginning. It has been said from the first moment that the four hostages were held by Hamas in private homes watched over by families from the Gaza Strip who collaborated as jailers. Almog Meir Jan, Andrey KozlovAnd Shlomi Ziv, who had been kidnapped during the Nova Festival, were detained by the journalist and photojournalist Abdallah Aljamal who had transformed the house of his father, Dr. Ahmed Aljamal, a doctor, into a prison. So a journalist who worked for Al Jazeera and for the Palestine Chronicle and a doctor, a person who at least in theory should have taken care of others, kept the three forcibly kidnapped boys under lock and key. We find ourselves faced with a situation that until a few years ago we would have considered political fiction, in our case fantasy journalism.
Journalism that becomes terrorism and it goes beyond all limits, all ethics, all boundaries. And what he did Al Jazeera? When she was caught red-handed, she denied having had any professional ties with Abdallah Aljamal and tried to delete the articles and photographs signed by him from her websites. But one thing is certain, let it be there CNN is Al Jazeera they will continue to be cited as sources of indisputable truth about which no doubt is admissible and less attentive people will continue to be poorly and poorly informed.
What about flea-infested dogs? Don’t worry, as long as we have a piece of paper and a pencil we will continue to write and as long as we have breath in our throat we will continue to bark. Yes, we will continue to piss off the dead and the living, we will continue to be the thorns in the side of those who have never understood, or have never wanted to understand, that journalism is not a profession but a mission.
Michael Sfaradi, June 16, 2024
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