this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2024
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The New York Times instructed journalists covering Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip to restrict the use of the terms “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” and to “avoid” using the phrase “occupied territory” when describing Palestinian land, according to a copy of an internal memo obtained by The Intercept.

The memo also instructs reporters not to use the word Palestine “except in very rare cases” and to steer clear of the term “refugee camps” to describe areas of Gaza historically settled by internally displaced Palestinians, who fled from other parts of Palestine during previous Israeli–Arab wars. The areas are recognized by the United Nations as refugee camps and house hundreds of thousands of registered refugees.

While the document is presented as an outline for maintaining objective journalistic principles in reporting on the Gaza war, several Times staffers told The Intercept that some of its contents show evidence of the paper’s deference to Israeli narratives.

Almost immediately after the October 7 attacks and the launch of Israel’s scorched-earth war against Gaza, tensions began to boil within the newsroom over the Times coverage. Some staffers said they believed the paper was going out of its way to defer to Israel’s narrative on the events and was not applying even standards in its coverage. Arguments began fomenting on internal Slack and other chat groups.

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[–] taiyang@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Oof, not a good look for NYT, although I can kind of get it if you see the genecide term as too left leaning. And in some sense it is, but indiscriminately killing civilians is bad no matter what you call it.

That said, I don't get the sense they're trying to hide the atrocities there. If you're talking straight facts about the number of civilians, including children, getting killed, they're not hiding that at NYT.

Maybe calling the invasion a genecide or ethnic cleansing also implies motive, which could also just be a bridge too far an accusation. It feels like it, but that's only becoming more clear as more facts about the invasion come to light.

[–] aleph@lemm.ee 23 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The term 'genocide' might be contentious, but 'ethnic cleansing' and 'occupation' shouldn't be. They literally describe Palestine since the creation of the state of Israel itself.

[–] sik0fewl@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 year ago

Just throw "apparent" in front of it: "Israel's apparent genocide of Palestinians", etc.

[–] FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 19 points 1 year ago

On the other hand, the fact that it's getting leaked by NYT staff who also gave written or verbal accounts to The Intercept is a pretty good sign that not everybody is complicit.

[–] MadBigote@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In this comment: calling out mass killings is too left.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

"Moderate liberals" never change.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Genocide is left leaning? I didn't realize war crimes were politically aligned.

[–] masquenox@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I didn’t realize war crimes were politically aligned.

They usually are - right-wingers love war crimes.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you go far enough left they get celebrated too. But you know what the biggest driver of war crimes is? Convenience. It's easier to not check the protected target list. It's easier to just handwaive accusations away. It's easier to just shoot anyone you want. It's easier to ignore civil considerations.

[–] masquenox@lemmy.world -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you go far enough left they get celebrated too

No, they don't. The Makhnovists certainly did commit war crimes - so did the Spanish anarchists (though quite microscopic in comparison to the atrocities perpetrated by their opponents). Anarchists themselves see those as failures - not something to be celebrated.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are you going to tell me that Stalin wasn't far left?

[–] masquenox@lemmy.world -3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nope. Stalin was a right-winger. "Left" and "right" are not aesthetic classifications - they describe your stance towards the status quo, ie, to your relationship with institutionalized power.

If you wish to call Stalin a leftist, you have to prove that Stalin (somehow) had no instututionalized power in the USSR. Are you willing to try?

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh only anarchy is leftist? That's uhhh... An interesting position.

[–] masquenox@lemmy.world -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh only anarchy is leftist?

That's not what I said.

However, it is true that there's a lot of (alleged) "leftism" out there that aren't leftist at all.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How do you have institutions without institutional power?

[–] masquenox@lemmy.world -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Do institutions need to have power over you? If they do, will that power serve you or the institution?

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If they don't then you have anarchy. Well you won't have it for long but you will at that point in time.

[–] masquenox@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If they don’t then you have anarchy.

When power is invested in people and not institutions what you actually have is democracy - but yes... some of us also call that anarchy. And we don't find that term scary at all.

Well you won’t have it for long but you will at that point in time.

Institutions do love their power, don't they?

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Generally it's some asshole who cares more about power than helping people who ends anarchy. And a democracy still requires institutional power. Or else how are you going to vote?

[–] Aceticon@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's related to Humanism or in more general terms a concern for the well-being of others and not just of oneself, which is a core, anchoring principle of the Left.

That's not to say that rightwingers are all mean or that leftwingers are all nice to other people, it's more saying that anybody whose political position is derived from their own personal principles (rather than tribalism or wholesale mindless acceptance of pre-packaged ideologies) if they have higher empathy will tend to favour the side that at the very least tries to balance the common good with personal greed, not the side that sells only personal upside maximization.

On the Left you can still end up with ideologies that are ideologically layered so thickly, so heavilly and so inflexibly on that foundation of the greater good principle, that de facto they do harm to the many whilst claiming they're doing it for the greater good (Soviet Style Communist being a good example).

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Don't mix up America's Me First conservatism with all right wing ideology. There's plenty of authoritarian states that have used the idea of a communal good to rally support. There's even some delivery on that, as long as you're in the good group. The only real differences I've ever been able to find are in the form of government (elections vs shredders), inclusivity vs exclusivity, and the details of the social safety net. (Don't become unproductive in a far right country unless you're rich)

For example if we took all the videos of "good" Germans doing fun stuff from 1935 to 1942 out of context it would look like a pretty nice place to live. Hitler did try to make his base happy. That is of course the most extreme example, but it's repeated over and over again at lower levels.

[–] Aceticon@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That's a good point.

The difference between the Left and the Right in the old days tended to be more about the means to make your country a better place (and who you were willing to sacrifice for it), so as a leftie you could actually respect some rightwingers even whilst disagreeing with them because the goals were mostly the same and the big differences were in the path to get there.

Now, in the day and age of Neoliberal Capitalism (which is far from only an American thing) the difference between Left and Right is the difference between the goal being maximization of the common good or individual upside maximization.

[–] masquenox@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

although I can kind of get it if you see the genecide term as too ~~left leaning~~ on the nose.

FTFY.

That said, I don’t get the sense they’re trying to hide the atrocities there.

No, they just dress them up in neutral language so that liberals like you can camoflage your approval of this genocide without breaking cover.

[–] MonkderDritte@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

if you see the genecide term as too left leaning

How? Pretty sure the Nazis in WW2 (wests closest memory to genocide) were right leaning.

[–] taiyang@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Isreals current government is right wing, so accusations of genocide are therefore left wing. Context matters, lol

[–] MonkderDritte@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] taiyang@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

That's ok! You didn't come across as trying to pick a fight, so I don't mind clarifying!