The media embraces 'bothsidesism' while covering Israel-Hamas war
fter years of rejecting the concept of "bothsidesism," the legacy media quickly embraced the equivocation of Israel and Hamas after the terrorist group slaughtered over 1,300 people in the Jewish State.
For decades, it was common practice for journalists to provide fair coverage towards the biggest issues of the day by presenting both sides of the argument equally, which in the U.S. often involves laying out the positions of Democrats and Republicans.
But in the post-Trump era, offering balance is now widely seen in the legacy media as providing false equivalency where perceived wrongdoing on the Democratic side that Republicans point to is incomparable to the alleged wrongdoing on the Republican side. This has been dubbed "bothsidesism."
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman was an early pioneer in decrying "bothsidesism" when he complained in July 2016 that voters didn't "fully appreciate" the "awfulness" that is Donald Trump, saying that the media providing any balance for such a historic presidential candidate was "an act of mind-boggling irresponsibility."
It didn't take long before such an ideology became mainstream. In 2019, NBC News' Chuck Todd defended his decision not to invite any climate change skeptics for a "Meet the Press" special dedicated to the topic.
"NBC Nightly News" anchor Lester Holt said the notion of giving two sides "equal weight" was outdated. (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)
"We’re not going to debate climate change, the existence of it. The Earth is getting hotter and human activity is a major cause, period," Todd told viewers at the time. "We’re not going to give time to climate deniers. The science is settled, even if political opinion is not."
ABC News' George Stephanopoulos expressed a similar attitude towards those questioning the results of the 2020 presidential election, telling Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., "There are not two sides to this story" during a heated exchange in January 2021.
Lester Holt, the face of "NBC Nightly News," declared in March 2021 that "fairness is overrated," adding that "the idea that we should always give two sides equal weight and merit does not reflect the world we find ourselves in."
"That the sun sets in the West is a fact. Any contrary view does not deserve our time or attention," Holt said while accepting a journalism award. "Decisions to not give unsupported arguments equal time are not a dereliction of journalistic responsibility or some kind of agenda. In fact, it’s just the opposite. Providing an open platform for misinformation, for anyone to come say whatever they want, especially when issues of public health and safety are at stake, can be quite dangerous. Our duty is to be fair to the truth."
In May of this year, CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour urged Columbia journalism graduates to "be truthful, but not neutral" when they enter the workforce, telling them, "Both-sideism—on the one hand, on the other hand — is not always objectivity. It does not get you to the truth. Drawing false, moral or factual equivalence is neither objective nor truthful. Objectivity is our golden rule. And it is in weighing all the sides and all the evidence hearing everyone reporting everything, but not rushing to equate them when there is no equating."
Except there was plenty of equating over the past several days following the horrific attacks committed against Israel by the terrorist group Hamas.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour embraced the mantra "be truthful, but not neutral," arguing no one should rush to equate all sides "when there is no equating." (Mike Marsland/Getty Images for SeriousFun)
The death toll has risen to over 1,300 Israelis as of Oct. 7 brutal assault on the Jewish State marked the biggest mass killing of Jews since the Holocaust. Reports of decapitated babies, the raping of young women, the kidnapping of children and Holocaust survivors, the gunning down of unarmed civilians, the burning alive of families in their homes have not only captured the brutalization of Hamas, many of these heinous acts were broadcasted on social media by the terrorists themselves.
But that didn't stop The Washington Post from suddenly embracing bothsidesism, running the headline, "Israel formally declares war against Hamas as more than 1,000 killed on both sides." The article repeatedly referred to Hamas as "militants," burying its one and only use of the term "terrorist" to the eighth paragraph when quoting the White House.
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In a separate report attempting to explain why Hamas attacked when it did, the Post blamed in part the "once-fringe Jewish supremacists" in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "hard-right government" for "further inflaming tensions."
Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah urged readers "We cannot stand by and watch Israel commit atrocities" as Israel carries out its response.
"As Israelis and Jewish people express their terror, shock and grief, Palestinians are (rightfully) pointing out that their own pain and deaths under the actions of the Israeli state have been ignored for years," Attiah wrote Friday. "The last time millions of people were targeted and trapped based on their identity, the world said 'never again.' … If Israel proceeds to make good on its threats to turn Gaza into flattened pavement, it’s all the more clear that ‘never again’ does not apply to Arab or Muslim lives."
Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah penned a piece Friday calling out Israel's "atrocities" against Gaza. (FOX News Digital)
On the same day as the attacks, The New York Times quickly shifted the victimhood with a story titled, "Gaza Has Suffered Under 16-Year Blockade," telling readers in its opening paragraph "For some Gazans, Saturday morning’s surprise Palestinian attack into southern Israel seemed a justified response to a 16-year Israeli blockade," despite the fact that Israel withdrew its presence from Gaza in 2005 and Hamas began controlling its government two years later.
The Times further portrayed Israel as the aggressor, running Tuesday's headline "Nowhere to Hide in Gaza as Israeli Onslaught Continues."
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"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin fretted how there was "so much anger on the Israeli side" that the "2.2 million innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip… half of which are children," will become victims as the result of Israel's response.
"There are losers on both sides of this, and they're civilians," Hostin said on the ABC News program.
On Friday, Hostin compared Hamas to the Proud Boys and went on to accuse Israel of committing "terror" and violating war crimes by retaliating against "innocent civilians collectively."
"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin accused Israel of committing "terror" against Palestinians following Hamas' attacks on the Jewish State. (Arturo Holmes / Staff)
CBS News correspondent Imtiaz Tyab portrayed Hamas as being an underdog in its war against Israel.
"Over the years I’ve made frequent trips to Gaza and have spoken with several Hamas leaders and, you know, they know their military capabilities are no match for Israel’s enormous firepower. But what they lack in firepower, they make up for in ideology and sheer determination. That resolve despite the odds may be what caught Israel so off guard," Tyab said on Tuesday.
While showing images of injured children in Gaza, Tyab told viewers on Thursday, "Israel says it's targeting Hamas' leaders, but at what cost?" Hamas notoriously uses civilians as human shields and has been known to keep weapons beneath schools and hospitals.
Prior to joining CBS, Tyab worked for Al Jazeera, the Qatar-run news organization known for its hostile coverage of Israel.
CBS News correspondent Imtiaz Tyab, a former reporter for Al Jazeera, praised Hamas' "sheer determination" as it wages its war against Israel. (Screenshot/CBS News)
CNN's Amanpour claimed on Wednesday that third-party negotiators were trying to implement a "hostage release on both sides," implying Israel is, too, keeping civilian hostages instead of Hamas terrorists.
But perhaps no liberal outlet has done more equating of Israel and Hamas than MSNBC.
MSNBC's animosity towards Israel was made apparent right out of the gate when weekend host Ali Velshi complained there had been "no nuance or recognition" of Israel's treatment of Palestinians. Mehdi Hasan attempted to garner sympathy for residents of Gaza who live in "horrific conditions" without mentioning Hamas' role in creating them while fellow host Ayman Mohyeldin concluded the bloodshed in Israel was the "deadly consequence of failed policies" by Israel.
Notably, all three of them previously worked for Al Jazeera as well.
Last Monday, an Israeli mother of two children who were kidnapped by Hamas pushed back when MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell asked her what she thought about the "attacks against Gaza," alluding to civilian casualties in the Hamas-controlled territory.
"You’re looking for a symmetrical situation," the mother told Mitchell. "I can’t be sympathetic to animal human beings — well, they’re not really human beings — who came into my house, broke everything, stole everything, took my children from their bedrooms and took them to the Gaza Strip. Israel has never done that, and it will never do [it]. So there is no symmetry."
MSNBC's coverage was so over the top that Anti-Defamation League CEO and self-admitted MSNBC fan Jonathan Greenblatt called out the network's coverage on its own airwaves, posing the question, "Who's writing the script? Hamas?"
MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell, Ayman Mohyeldin, Ali Velshi and Mehdi Hasan were called out by the New York Post editorial board for their biased coverage against Israel. (Getty Images)
The legacy media's jarring embrace of "bothsidesism" when it comes to Israel and Hamas is more aligned with members of the Democratic Squad like Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who responded to the horrific terrorist attacks by denouncing Israel and refraining from calling out Hamas by name, a position completely out of step with the Biden White House.
"Our condemnation belongs squarely with terrorists who have brutally murdered, raped, kidnapped hundreds — hundreds of Israelis," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday in response to the progressive lawmakers. "There can be no equivocation about that. There are not two sides here. There are not two sides."
Liberal comedian Bill Maher rejected the media's depiction of the conflict as Israel and Hamas being "both guilty equally."
"I think the Israelis have always had the moral high ground - I think they still do," Maher said.
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