Quote:
Originally Posted by Bagor
Uhhhh, So what?
As things stand, the lack of transparency IMO makes me more suspicious of Israel's activities than if they had allowed the media in. The media know the risk, why can't they decide for themselves?
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I most certainaly agree that teh media should be let in, but I think Israel's reasoning has a lot to do with previous cases involving dead journalists.
Most reacently this one:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7559742.stm
In the middle of a battle, an Israeli tank crew fired on a man in a bullet proof vest putting an object over his shoulder that appeared to be a rocket launcher. It turned out to be a camera. How the soldiers were supposed to differentiate between the two in the middle of a battle is beyond me.
The reaction by the media was to have a disporportionately large amount of coverage on the story and demand all sorts of inquiries and make heavy handed accusation to Israel.
Although the media seem to "know the risk", they seem unwilling to deal with the consquences.
Another reason may be to balance the situation. Hamas controls media very tightly. Therefore if Israel were to allow full media access you would most certainly see the Palestinian casualties but you would not see any of the rhetoric or actions by Hamas.