01/09/09
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White Phosphorus Finally Confirmed By Canadian Media
By Paul D. Boin (Jan. 9, 2009) A Blog for Media Justice
Jointly sponsored by the Media Justice Project & Rabble)
Despite numerous UK new reports over 5 days ago (e.g., Evening Standard, The Times) regarding the Israeli government’s use of the chemical white phosphorus in Gaza, (along with stories of Israeli official denials e.g., Financial Times) Canadian mainstream media outlets have completely ignored the story up to this point. Yesterday, there were further UK news reports confirming the use of white phosphorus in Gaza (e.g., The Times). Finally today (p. B1 Jan. 9-09) the Ontario based London Free Press ran a story entitled “UN Suspends Aid” that, in the print/hard copy edition, included an Associated Press bombing photo with a photo caption that read: “Phosphorous bombs from Israeli military operations in Gaza City explode yesterday…” It is not clear whether the text of this caption were the words of the Associated Press or the London Free Press (although the misspelling of phosphorus as “phosphorous” likely points to the London Free Press). However, the AP photo and the caption is not included in the electronic version. Regardless, it’s the first time that the Canadian mainstream news media have touched the issue of the Israeli government using white phosphorus. It remains to be seen if other Canadian media outlets will follow-up on this important story.
Dr. Paul Boin (pboin@uwindsor.ca) is an assistant professor of communication studies at the University of Windsor, founder of the Media Justice Project and a member of the Campaign for Democratic Media
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