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tovejtoday at 2:48 PM6 repliesview on HN

I think the parent was pointing out that Israel's or USA's claims are usually stated without quotes, such as:

Israel invades Lebanon due to risk of Hezbollah attacks

rather than:

Israel says "risk of Hezbollah attacks" reason for invasion


Replies

sanderjdtoday at 2:58 PM

I'm unconvinced that this is a pattern that is distinguished by the nation being reported on. Headlines vary. Both of your example headlines might appear at different times in the outlets I read.

I think this was just a stylistic choice and that this whole thread is a weird tangent.

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Cyph0ntoday at 3:10 PM

A few more examples:

“40 beheaded babies” and mass/systematic rape propaganda accepted with zero verification (journalism 101) and, once debunked, zero retractions were made

Hamas-run, but not Likud-run

Condemnation of atrocities by Israel and the US that comes from Israeli and Western voices is given significantly more weight than the same claims coming from Palestinian or Arab voices. After all, the native lacks the capacity to be objective.

Israeli gov statements are taken as undeniable fact, while Palestinian (Gaza or West Bank) gov spokespeople or even Palestinian people in general are barely even platformed

Over-representation of Zionists in editorial teams of every major newspaper and news channel across all Western countries, which (naturally) led to coordinated suppression of any Palestinian voice internally and externally (started to change only relatively recently).

And the list goes on.

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jimbokuntoday at 3:42 PM

I don't think that's true and would be curious to see evidence otherwise.

I believe BBC and other outlets with journalistic standards use quotes when reporting what officials say and only drop the quotes when they have independent verification, like eyewitness reports from one of their own journalists.

frereubutoday at 2:58 PM

Are there good examples of this from the BBC? Genuine question - no snark intended.

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meowfacetoday at 2:59 PM

I am not saying this is necessarily incorrect but is it empirically actually true. Have people compared lots of different articles.

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omnicognatetoday at 3:17 PM

I don't see anything stated as fact (without quote marks) here solely on the basis of Trump having said it, and I see use of quote marks for things he has said, eg. 'Trump says Iran war will end "immediately" after US midterm elections': https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cp7r8vgl2lgt

The BBC's main sin in relation to Trump is sane-washing, treating his bizarre outbursts as if they were reasonable things for a US president to say. Eg. were he to say "I have a solid gold prostate!" they'd have an Anthony Zurcher piece entitled "Is Trump's prostate really made of gold?" with a quote from a doctor saying "while it seems unlikely and would probably be uncomfortable, having a gold prostate would be unlikely to cause any noticeable side effects as the metal is inert" and a discussion of the benefits of replacing a cancer-prone organ with a noble metal.

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