The Palestinians’ World Cup Propaganda Victory (With An Important Lesson for PR People)
Over the years, regular readers of the New York Times have seen countless articles whose reporting tells about the plight of the Palestinians under the what the Times calls “the occupation of the Israelis.”
But in its Dec. 8, 2022 issue, “the self-proclaimed paper of record” shed its so-called factual reporting with a story about the World Cup. It wasn’t about the great play of the teams; nor was it about the lack of freedom in autocratic Qatar, the country that played host to the games. It was a more than half-page long article headlined “Their Team Is Absent, But Palestinians’ Flag Is All Over the Place.” The on-line headline of the story was even more pro Palestinian, reading “Waving the Flag of the World Cup’s Unofficial Team.” Other Times articles detailed how anti-Israeli fans shunned reporters covering the tournament from Israeli media outlets. (At times I thought I was reading Al Jazeera coverage instead of the New York Times.)
The fact that a so-called politicized sports article appeared on the sports pages isn’t new for the New York Times. The Times and other major publications have long ditched the “if it doesn’t happen on the playing field it’s not a sports story.” That’s good journalism because sports and politics have long been bed mates, both on the national and international level.
But the Times Dec. 8 article is clearly another in the long history of the Times pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli articles. It had nothing to do with the World Cup. It has as much to do with sports as Donald Trump has with telling the the truth. It is just the most recent anti-Israeli article that the Times has published over the years.
Any unbiased reader of the Times Palestinian-Israeli coverage would have to admit that the articles always come down on the side of the Palestinians.
Stories always give multiple quotes to the long-suffering Palestinians. Israelis are most often limited to a few small quotes, if any. And photographs always show the anguish of Palestinians. Photos of Israeli’s killed by Palestinian terrorists are limited and most often do not accompany articles about terrorists actions. (A definition of biased reporting could read, “see the Times Palestinian-Israeli coverage.”)
I’ve collected dozens of articles in the Times that corroborate my findings listed above. Space doesn’t permit me to list them all. But below are some examples:
On June 10, 2021, a Times article was headlined, “In Gaza, a Family’s Success Story Is Reduced to Rubble.”
On August 10, 2021, an Inside The Times article was titled, “Inside Gaza, the Toll of War.”
On Nov. 7, 2021, a Times opinion article titled, “Israel Is Silencing Us,” included a subhead saying, “Palestinian human rights activists and civil society groups are not terrorists.”
On Feb. 13, 2022, a Times article was headlined, “Attacks by Settlers Raise Alarm in an More Violent West Bank.”
On June 5, 2022, a Times article was titled, “Who Killed the Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh?” While it’s a tragedy, it’s not uncommon for journalists in war zones to be killed. But this Times editorial included the following: “Even if she was not singled out, Israel still has to grapple with how this happened and what can be done to avoid similar tragedies.” (Again: It’s always Israeli’s fault.)
On Dec. 14, 2022, an opinion essay was titled, “Palestinians Will Surely Pay the Price for Netanyahu’s Return.” It was written by Diana Buttu, “a lawyer and former adviser to the negotiating team of the Palestine Liberation Organization.” Hers was only the latest in a stream of Palestinian sympathizer’s anti-Israeli articles that the Times has welcomed over the years.
On Dec. 18, 2022, A Times Editorial Board editorial was titled, “THE IDEAL OF DEMOCRACY IN ISRAEL IS IN JEOPARDY.” An insert in bold font said, “Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is a threat to the democratic future of the Jewish state.” This before
Netanyahu took office to head the Israeli government and hence didn’t even demonstrate how he will lead. The fact that Netanyahu was democratically elected to again direct the government seems not to be important to the Times.
Readers of the Times news coverage can also easily spot anti-Israeli sentiment in supposedly impartial news stories. A full page article on Dec. 14, 2022, was headlined, “In a Rare Letter, Israel Warns Soldiers to Stay Out of Politics,” written by Patrick Kingsley.
The article told of Israeli solders voting for right wing politicians. Reporting on the situation was valid journalism. But in one paragraph about the situation the article stated that “many former generalsstrongly disagree, an unnecessary adverb that emphasized the disagreement among ranking military officials about the policy aimed at the small percentage of Israeli soldiers, estimated at about 15 percent, that voted for conservative politicians. This is just one example among many hundreds – if not thousands – of how anti-Israeli sentiment is disguised as straight news reporting in the Times Israeli converge.
Whether it’s in its news coverage, photo selection, headlines, opinion articles or editorials one thing is constant in the New York Times Palestinians-Israeli coverage: Israel is always the problem.
I’ve put off writing this article for many months waiting for a happening that would give me a new slant. The Times Dec. 8 World Cup article (see second paragraph) and a World Cup wrap-up article on December 18 by Tariq Panja convinced me that now was the right time to write this article showing the anti-Israeli coverage that is so prevalent in the Times as well as theincestuous relationship between sports and politics..
Mr. Panja wrote, in part, “On the tournament’s second day, FIFA crushed a campaign by a group of European teams to wear an armband to promote inclusivity, part of efforts promised to campaign groups and critics in their home countries, and then Qatar quashed efforts by Iranian fans to highlight ongoing protests in their country…”
“Those results sparked celebration across the Arab world and in a handful of major European capitals, while also providing a platform for fans in Qatar to promote the Palestinian cause, the one intrusion of politics that Qatari officials did nothing to discourage.”
Soccer has been called “the beautiful game,” but in Qatar, an autocratic country, it was not so beautiful for the migrant workers who built the stadiums under conditions that cost many their lives.
When I was a novice sports writer, the rule was “only write what happens on the playing field. Politics has no place in a sports article.” That flawed journalistic credo is long gone, thankfully.
In Qatar, before and during the World Cup, it was impossible to separate politics from sports, making “the beautiful game” ugly. And the Times coverage of the World Cup again demonstrated the anti-Israeli coverage of the Times.
The Important Lesson for PR People
The coverage of sports by sports writers have changed dramatically over the decades. Before suggesting a sports tie-in to a client, PR people should advise the client that mega-sporting events are magnets for demonstrations and programs must be crafted with that in mind.
