Israel's reporting censorship

One notable abscence from Israel's disproportionate attacks in Gaza has been analysis from inside the strip, with journalists such as the BBC's Jeremy Bowen reporting "a mile or two from the wire" (note wire, implying fence, not wall. BBC editorial policy?). Robert Fisk expresses his anger in the Independent today on the denial of international journalists entry to Gaza. Fisk makes the point that these kind of restrictions has a negative outcome for both sides. For Gazans the true extent of civilian casualties is not known, with the UN's very likely conservative estimate the only perceived reliable figure of a third to go on. For the Israeli's, Fisk notes, this refusal has worked against them in the past:

"What is Israel afraid of? Using the old "enclosed military area" excuse to prevent coverage of its occupation of Palestinian land has been going on for years. But the last time Israel played this game – in Jenin in 2000 – it was a disaster. Prevented from seeing the truth with their own eyes, reporters quoted Palestinians who claimed there had been a massacre by Israeli soldiers – and Israel spent years denying it. In fact, there was a massacre, but not on the scale that it was originally reported....

"On the other hand, the Israelis are so ruthless that the reasons for the ban on journalism may be quite easily explained: that so many Israeli soldiers are going to kill so many innocents – more than three score by last night, and that's only the ones we know about – that images of the slaughter would be too much to tolerate."

Though he does make this point:

"But the result is that Palestinian voices – as opposed to those of Western reporters – are now dominating the airwaves. The men and women who are under air and artillery attack by the Israelis are now telling their own story on television and radio and in the papers as they have never been able to tell it before, without the artificial "balance", which so much television journalism imposes on live reporting. Perhaps this will become a new form of coverage – letting the participants tell their own story."

This reflects some issues of citizen reporting that I've been interested in recently. In the recent Mumbai terror attacks, as Western TV crews and journalists scrambled to get near to the action, new media platforms were allowing Indians to tell their own story through online instant messangers such as Twitter. Issues of reliablity obvisouly come into question, however these new platforms suggest a new age in reporting as opposed to the tired "artificial balance" of commercial news providers.

Fisk is pretty spot on as usual. Though it does make one wonder has he finally retired from the coal face?