THE TRUTH COMES OUT –AT 9:24 A.M. ET:   As we watched the Israel/Hamas war unfold, some of us began to get an uneasy feeling.  We never saw Hamas fighters, but we saw Israeli soldiers every day.  We never saw a Hamas rocket launched, or even a launch site near a hospital or school.  We never saw stockpiles of Hamas weapons kept among civilians.   We saw child casualties in Gaza, but never male casualties of fighting age.

Something wasn't right.  Many attributed the odd absences to the usual left-wing, anti-American, anti-Israeli biases of the press, and there was certainly plenty of that.

But once the fighting ended, journalists coming out of Gaza told a different story – a story of intimidation and fear.  Most of these courageous journalists worked for small, foreign news organizations.  We owe them a debt.  They exposed the corruption and fear that produced distorted reporting.  From London's Telegraph:

The Foreign Press Association (FPA) issued an astonishing protest yesterday about "blatant, incessant, forceful and unorthodox" intimidation of journalists in the Gaza Strip by Hamas. "In several cases," they complained, "foreign reporters working in Gaza have been harassed, threatened or questioned over stories." The FPA said this amounted to "denying readers and viewers an objective picture from the ground," adding "we are also aware that Hamas is trying to put in place a 'vetting' procedure that would, in effect, allow for the blacklisting of specific journalists. Such a procedure is vehemently opposed by the FPA." The statement raises a lot of questions. Here is one: why have British broadcasters not mentioned any of this to their viewers?

Let's review what we know.

Indian television station NDTV broadcast and posted on its internet site on 5 August a report by Sreenivasan Jain showing rockets fired from a tent next to his hotel. In the accompanying text on NDTV’s website, Jain wrote that it was published "after our team left the Gaza Strip – Hamas has not taken very kindly to any reporting of its rockets being fired. But just as we reported the devastating consequences of Israel’s offensive on Gaza’s civilians, it is equally important to report on how Hamas places those very civilians at risk by firing rockets deep from the heart of civilian zones." In an article published subsequently, Jain wrote of "the fear which hobbles the reporting such material: fear of reprisals from Hamas against us", asking "how long do we self-censor because of the fear of personal safety in return for not telling a story that exposes how those launching rockets are putting so many more lives at risk, while the rocket-makers themselves are at a safe distance?"

More and more examples of intimidation of journalists by Hamas are seeping out of Gaza:

Israeli filmmaker Michael Grynszpan described on Facebook an exchange he had had with a Spanish journalist who had just left Gaza. "We talked about the situation there. He was very friendly. I asked him how come we never see on television channels reporting from Gaza any Hamas people, no gunmen, no rocket launcher, no policemen. We only see civilians on these reports, mostly women and children. He answered me frankly: 'It's very simple, we did see Hamas people there launching rockets, they were close to our hotel, but if ever we dare pointing our camera on them they would simply shoot at us and kill us.'"

COMMENT:  Read the whole thing.  It's well worth it.  And then maybe wonder when CNN will come clean about its reporting, and admit that it never gave us the whole story.  CNN is trying to rebuild its ratings, but will never succeed if the lingering doubts about its credibility continue to fester.  It is still seen by many as a left-wing network founded by left-leaning Ted Turner, who went on to marry Jane Fonda, about whom nothing need be said.  When CNN goes on the air, it has already lost half its audience.  It owes viewers an explanation of its slanted Gaza reporting, and a description of what it's doing to improve its credibility.

And just today, Hamas admitted that it expels reporters who don't please it.  That story, in the Jerusalem Post, is here.  The mask is off.

August 15, 2014