Soccer Dad

How terrorists die

Simply Jews recently took apart the Guardian's report on a Palestinian man who stole a guard's gun and started shooting in the Old City of Jerusalem.

He starts with the impression one might get initially looking at the story

Stage one: the headline: Man killed in Jerusalem after grabbing gun. What would a reader in a hurry think? Just that a person got himself killed by the simple act of grabbing a gun. Maybe he grabbed his own gun somewhat awkwardly and it went off - happens all the time.

Then he goes off and deconstructs the story quite effectively.

Similarly, last week I got the following screenshot from Bloglines.

The "militants" in Lebanon were killed. Apparently passively. But in the second story, "Israel Kills." I realize that these reports are from two different news agencies. Yet it seems pretty consistent. When Israelis kill enemies (engaged in firefights) the news agencies report it straightforwardly. But when other countries take actions against enemies, well, it just kinda happens.

media bias