Tzipi Livni's Resignation Illustrates That You Can't Trust Media Reporting On Israel

Evelyn Gordon makes an excellent point--and backs it up: The Lesson of Livni’s Resignation: Don’t Believe Media Reporting on Israel.

The point is that Livni has now disappeared off the political stage of Israel, at least for the time being. This is the same Tzipi Livni that in March appeared on the list put together by Newsweek and The Daily Beast of 150 women who shake the world. Livni was described as "one of the most powerful women in the country."

How to explain this embarrassing miscalculation by Newsweek and The Daily Beast?

Was the list compiled while Livni was still influential and just come out after her influence had waned?

Gordon points to an Haaretz article and a poll that appeared in March as well, criticizing Livni as ineffective and listing her dead last among 16 political figures, behind Histadrut labor federation chairman Ofer Eini.

Perhaps then there is another answer to explain how Newsweek and The Daily Beast got Israeli politics so wrong?

Evelyn Gordon has an explanation:

That Livni was a has-been by March 2012 was obvious to anyone who had even cursory familiarity with Israel. Thus, either Newsweek and The Daily Beast were completely ignorant of the Israeli reality, or they deliberately disregarded the facts in order to promote their own agenda: Livni, after all, is a darling of the international media, because as Newsweek said in its profile, she is “a steadfast proponent of the peace process” who has led final-status talks with the Palestinians and supported the 2005 pullout from Gaza. Regardless of which explanation is true, the bottom line is the same: Their reporting on Israel can’t be trusted.

Of course, distorting the news out of Israel in order to further an agenda is something that the Media as a whole and not Newsweek alone is guilty of. Gordon notes that less than influential leaders such as Livni and ex-Prime Minister Olmert are seized upon by the Media and presented to an unsuspecting readership as influential politicians to push a specific view of Middle East peace. In the process, the Media attempts to marginalize the democratically elected Netanyahu as an extremist.

So much for Democracy.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Media+Bias and Tzipi Livni.