Journalists' microphones turned off when Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni challenged in Washington.
More at http://therealnews.com
Just as Israel has bombed a hospital and a UN compound in Gaza, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni came to Washington, in the dying days of the Bush administration, to sign a new US-Israel agreement barring Hamas from rearming. Meeting with journalists, she had the right to say whatever she wanted about Israel's "war on terror", while paying lip service to civilian Palestinian victims. Journalists for their part were systematically prevented from asking legitimate questions. Pepe Escobar argues that when it comes to media supremacy, at least inside the US, Israel will accept nothing but the upper hand.
Good to see a journalist at least attempting to ask a question that challenges power. It would be good if we could see how these press conferences are structured more often. I'm sometimes inclined to blame the journalists for their poor reporting, but they are very constrained in their work.
Ultimately this shows but one way the news is filtered. Other filters are outlined in Noam Chomsky's timeless book Manufacturing Consent. They include:
* 2.1 Ownership
* 2.2 Funding
* 2.3 Sourcing
* 2.4 Flak
* 2.5 Anti-Ideologies; substitutes for anti-communism
Check the wikipedia post:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...