The media's racist, biased famine coverage
The Palestinian government, reported 66 total deaths from hunger throughout the war.
When you look at what’s going on all over the world, you can immediately see how repugnant and racist it is that the mainstream media have decided now is the time to try to make famine the world’s top story.
It’s not just that big news outlets are using doctored photos to fuel Hamas’ narrative that blames Israel — even though Hamas steals the food, and the massively corrupt U.N. isn’t delivering the aid it’s supposed to deliver.
It’s that this coverage ignores both basics of truth: facts plus context.
As I’ve explained on They Stand Corrected, good journalism requires thinking like a rational alien. If you came to Earth and looked at what humanity was up to, here’s what you’d see: Deadly famines have been raging, and the big mainstream media has given them scant attention.
It’s heart wrenching, and should be a top story year-round. Here’s a good video from CBN:
Here are just some of the many facts you won’t learn from the mainstream media:
Hunger kills an estimated 9 million people a year, and is linked to half of all child deaths, according to concerusa.org.
The Palestinian government said a total of 66 people have died from hunger throughout the entire war — 21 months at that point. (h/t the awesome Salo Aizenberg).
In the United States, more than 20,000 people died from malnutrition in the latest year with figures available (2022), according to the CDC:
But now that they feel they can blame Israel, the mainstream media is suddenly super interested in making a potential famine the lead story. The sadly accurate adage “no Jews, no news” takes on a whole new dimension.
If the media had any interest in covering the world as it is, they’d look at the Global Hunger Index:
Media failure, by the numbers
Big news agencies can point to a few stories to say, “See, we covered it elsewhere.” But the numbers show the reality.
Using a tool called ProQuest, I searched stories. For starters, I looked at the New York Times, which last week put an image of a child with a horrible medical condition in Gaza on its front page — an image that blocked out his well fed brother (as did a popular influencer for children, who has used her platform to spread Hamas propaganda).
I focused a search on the Times physical paper, looking at stories about famine, malnutrition, or starvation since October 2023. A total of 860 stories popped up. When I limited the results to those not about Gaza, the total dropped by more than half, to 401.
It gets worse. Far more people see the front page of the Times than actually read the Times. So I searched front page stories. With Gaza included, 111 stories. Without Gaza, a whopping total of 27.
So, to recap: Hunger has been killing millions, particularly in African and Asian nations, but not in Gaza. Yet the Times appears to have put the majority of its focus on this issue into Gaza-related coverage — all while letting Hamas off the hook.
The Times is far from alone. In a tool called NewsBank, I searched Associated Press stories on these topics. The total, during that same time frame: 297. Without Gaza: 147.
It’s a world gone mad. Since there’s no ethical or journalistic argument for this, people try to use a financial argument, citing U.S. support for Israel. As always, these folks have no clue what they’re talking about. Another top recipient of U.S. aid is Ethiopia, where starvation remains the leading cause of death.
Want to contact the media?
Of course hunger is awful, tragic, and a reality that should never exist in a world of plenty. Of course everyone should call for an end to hunger everywhere.
And to have no, or relatively little, interest in famine until you think you can blame the tiny Jewish state? That’s not ethical. It is, by definition, bigotry.
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ICYMI: Learn about the man from Gaza fighting against the pro-terror media, at sponsor Waging Peace.
P.S. Note! I originally thought the 66 figure was from May, but it was from July. I have updated this post.