Press Action ::: CNN: At Least 9 Dead Palestinians = 1 Dead Palestinian

Thursday, January 01, 2009

CNN: At Least 9 Dead Palestinians = 1 Dead Palestinian

Check out the accompanying screenshot, an incredibly deceptive headline that appeared on CNN.com’s home page at 6:12 p.m. Eastern time on Jan. 1, 2009.

Of course, a reader who already knows the back story to the massacre will understand that CNN’s intention with this headline, beyond deceiving its readers into thinking Israel is not killing scores of civilians, was to convey that Israel killed only “one” Hamas leader, that person being Nizar Rayan. On the same day, Thursday morning, Israel reportedly targeted another Hamas leader, Nabil Amrin, but that bombing apparently did not kill its target.

The family members and all of the other people killed in Israel’s two attacks don’t count in the minds of CNN.com’s headline writers. However, inside the story behind the headline, CNN reported “nine other people also died in the attack, Hamas and Palestinian medical sources said, some of whom were believed to be members of Rayan’s family.”

Several news sources had reported much earlier in the day that two of Rayan’s wives and several of his children were killed in Israel’s attack. But on its home page, at 6:12 p.m. Eastern time, CNN was still reporting “1 dead” in its headline and, inside the story, that some of Rayan’s family “were believed” to be killed in the attack.

This report, not from CNN, offered a more detailed picture of Rayan’s death: “The blast decapitated Mr Rayyan and killed at least two of his four wives, as well as several of his children, and hurled his body into the street in Jabaliya, a refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.”