Downplaying the slaughter in Gaza

NYT headline on Gaza killings hits new low

By Jonathan Cook

Source: Jonathan Cook - the blog from Nazareth

NYT  clearly crafted the headline to avoid highlighting the embarrassing  fact that Israel slaughtered four boys yesterday who were playing  football in clear view on the beach

Remember the appalling New York Times  headline of July 10 over a story about a family of nine Palestinians  killed by an Israeli strike as they watched the World Cup on the beach:  “Missile at beachside Gaza cafe finds patrons poised for World Cup.”  Could you imagine a more obfuscatory and misleading headline? Like the  missile made the decision about where to strike on its own. I thought  that was about as low as the NYT would sink.

But I was wrong. They have come up with  an even more dissembling headline, one clearly crafted to avoid  highlighting the embarrassing fact that Israel slaughtered four boys  yesterday who were playing football in clear view on the beach.

The first subeditor does a reasonable  job: “Four young boys killed playing on a Gaza beach”. It’s not exactly  clear who did the killing, but at least it gives an idea of the story.

But then, it seems, the senior editors  stepped in and demanded the headline be rewritten. Not to make the  headline better or clearer, mind you. Simply to strip it of any  relevance to the story; in fact, to strip it of any obvious meaning at  all. Here it is: “Boys Drawn to Gaza Beach, and Into Center of Mideast  Strife.”
No missile strike, no blast, no deaths  and injuries, no Israeli responsibility to be found in the headline. All  of it whitewashed by that weasel word “strife”.

Read the complete story at the above link in Jonathan Cook's blog.

Image from: Intifada Palestine.