Updated: Headline Shows NY Times Predilection for Downplaying Palestinian Violence

By Published On: April 30, 2013

The opening paragraph of today’s New York Times story about recent violence in the Middle East explains,

A Palestinian man was killed in an Israeli missile strike in Gaza on Tuesday hours after an Israeli civilian was stabbed to death by a Palestinian in the West Bank. The two attacks, coming against a backdrop of growing tensions, were the first such killings in months and raised the specter of further confrontation.

Imagine you are an experienced and impartial headline writer at one of the most prominent newspapers in the world. What’s your headline?

Surely something more impartial than the one the Times is currently going with: “Israeli Airstrike Kills Palestinian in Gaza.”

nyt headline bias israeli airstrike kills palestinian in gaza sm.jpg

In our monograph about New York Times bias in coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we point out that, during a 6-month study period, “the newspaper’s coverage of violence was marked by a double standard that highlighted Israeli attacks and de-emphasized Palestinian ones.” Today’s choice of headline language is case in point.

Update: The Times has updated its online headline so that it fairly reflects the content of the story. It now reads, “Gazan Killed After Israeli Is Stabbed to Death in the West Bank.”

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