In The LA Times, the Picture Tells the Story
On Thursday, August 30, 2012 in the print edition, and August 29 online, The Los Angeles Times ran an article about “SuperPacs” and political groups raising funds at the Republican National Convention. In the print edition, the article ran on the front page with the headline, “Money on the unofficial agenda for groups, donors” and was accompanied by a photo of two bearded men wearing kippot. Page one:
The jump page featured a second picture from the same meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition. Ask yourself why editors didn’t feature this photograph or a photo from another event on page one. Jump page:
Professors Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, in their controversial book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, charge that the “Israel lobby” has distorted the foreign policy of the United States in favor of Israel to the point of serious damage to U.S. interests. CAMERA research shows this book to contain fraudulent scholarship but the thesis that Jews manipulate U.S. policy for the benefit of Israel appears in the media in various forms, whether that be New York Times opinion columns or National Public Radio broadcasts.
While The Los Angeles Times article mentioned other interest groups, the Republican Jewish Coalition is the only religious group mentioned, though others held events including Christian groups like Patriot Voices and the Faith and Freedom Coalition. Even an atheist group called the Secular Coalition for America was represented at the convention, though not mentioned by The Times.
Does the fact that only a Jewish group was mentioned coupled with the page one photo — the only photo to accompany the article’s online version — play into the stereotype of rich Jews working behind the scenes to control the political system?
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