Surprise! NY Times Doubles Up on Flawed Coverage of US Aid To Palestinians - by Ira Stoll

...I understand that news organizations often publish a first news story and a second follow-up story with reaction to the news. In this case, though, both Times articles included the news and reaction to it. I also understand that sometimes the content of news articles is driven by logistics of time zones or local holidays as much as by any editorial agenda. Even stipulating those points, however, this Times one-two punch seemed as if it could have used some better editing.

Ira Stoll..
Algemeiner.com..
28 August '18..

The New York Times is so worked up about what it describes as the Trump administration’s reduction in aid to the Palestinian Arabs that it covered the news not once, but twice.

The first article was in Saturday’s Times, under the print headline, “$200 Million in U.S. Aid To Palestinians Is Redirected.” It began, “The Trump administration announced on Friday that it would not spend more than $200 million set aside for Palestinian aid in the West Bank and Gaza, the latest in a series of measures that have infuriated the Palestinians.”

This first article was odd for several reasons. Despite the first sentence about having “infuriated the Palestinians,” not a single Palestinian is quoted in the Times article. Instead, for reaction, the Times finds “J Street, a liberal Jewish organization that advocates better relations between Israel and the Palestinians,” as well as “Josh Block of the Israel Project, a right-leaning advocacy group.” And “a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington.”

Then the article contradicts itself. “Mr. Trump has largely abandoned the role American presidents have for decades sought to play as a broker between Israel and the Palestinians,” the Times reports. Then it refers to “efforts by Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, to forge a wide-ranging Middle East peace deal.”

Also odd is the Times claim that in recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, President Trump was “reversing decades of American foreign policy.” In fact a US law, the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, states as “the policy of the United States” that “Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of the state of Israel.” That law also includes as a congressional “finding,” “Since 1950, the city of Jerusalem has been the capital of the State of Israel.”

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