What If The Journalists Left And Nobody Cared?

It looks like that is what is happening:

Simon McGregor-Wood, coordinator and bureau chief of ABC News in Jerusalem, noted that many foreign press offices, including major United States television networks, have retained their bureaus but cut their staff by half.

The cuts, he says, are due to the decrease in "spectacular" violence in the area, coupled with the rise to the fore of issues such as the Iraq war, the Iranian threat and the upcoming US presidential election.

Spectacular violence? Apparently there is not enough terrorism--and Sderot? So last year. It seems that the newest outbreak of civil war between Hamas and Fatah does not count for much either.

Then again, how has the Iraq War "risen to the fore"? "Spectacular" violence is down there. Now seems an awfully odd time to be getting interested in Iraq. And Iran? It's just the same old story: threats of sanctions, never carried out. Even the upcoming election--are that many additional journalists needed?

Further in the article McGregor-Wood clarifies:

"The principle is that there is less to report here than there was several years ago," he said. "There are less momentous events. There's a decrease in the violence, and the position changes [in local politics] are not presentable. The daily conflict between Israel and the Palestinians doesn't change much and becomes repetitive and boring. It's been over-covered."

Maybe the answer has more to do with recognized failure of the media to cover the Iraqi War in an honest and balanced way--and how the latest Palestinian vs. Palestinian violence may indicate to the viewers that the media was not exactly accurate on how they were presenting the Israel-Palestinian conflict either.

One can hope.

[Hat tip: Israel Situation]

Technorati Tag: Israel and Media Bias.