The Washington Post's November coverage shows a negative obsession with Israel. Does that obsession prove bias against the Jewish state?

Eric Rozenman
CAMERA Media Analysis
03 December '10

The Washington Post is obsessed with Israel. Obsession, by its nature, distorts perception and behavior. So it was with The Post’s foreign, and to a lesser extent, national desk news coverage of Israel in November.

November’s negative tone and exaggerated emphasis was hardly new. It extended a pattern seen in October (see "The Washington Post: scary before Halloween" November 5 ) and continued years of one-sided, virtually one-dimensional attention to the Jewish state.

Does obsession indicate an anti-Israel bias? First, November examples:

High frequency

1) "Israeli air security is easy on most, intrusive for a few; Profiling leads to close scrutiny of Arabs and some foreign nationals," a November 27 dispatch by Post Jerusalem bureau chief Janine Zacharia. The headline and subhead accurately summarized passenger monitoring and airline security at Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport. The article, however, focused on a few instances in which law-abiding travelers — including an Israeli Arab and a prominent American — were severely questioned and/or searched.

Rather than report in detail on Israel’s targeted anti-terrorist profiling in contrast with America’s "everyone’s equally suspect" approach, "Israeli air security" inverted minor over major facts. This resulted in unwarrantedly negative "damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t" coverage.

(Read full report)


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