As the so-called Greatest Generation passes from this Earth, the millions who personally experienced World War II and the Holocaust are fewer and fewer in number. But for those of us from the generation that followed, awareness of the horrors of that war, and its concomitant atrocities, although second hand, is almost as great. Those who grew up in the Fifties and early Sixties were bombarded with stories and images of the war -- on television, film, and in books. To them, those who fought in the war, or more accurately those who survived it, were not abstract figures embodied, as they are today, by frail old men and women honored at holidays or at sporting events for deeds performed almost a century ago. They were still young men and women -- fathers and uncles, mothers and aunts – for whom memories of the war were agonizingly strong and for whom the scars, both physical and emotional, remained fresh.
Excellent piece--and you can never be reminded enough about Walter Duranty. Here's somethine Matti Friedman wrote years ago in the Tablet about the corruption among those who cover Hamas: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/israel-insider-guide. I suppose one difference between Duranty and these reporters is that no one ever put a gun to Duranty's head.
The charge that major newspapers had stringers who had advance warning of Hamas' terror attack on Oct. 7 is unproven. Unless you have proof, you shouldn't repeat it in your essays. I agree with you that much media coverage has been bad, uncritical, and ahistoric. But the charge that they knew in advance of the attack is far too serious to advance without ironclad proof, in my opinion.
That is not proven. If you have proof, please share. I have seen no evidence that any journalists accompanied Hamas or knew about the attack. In fact, all accounts I've seen say Hamas kept even its allies in the dark. Spreading rumors about such things doesn't help Israel's cause or anyone else's.
Excellent piece--and you can never be reminded enough about Walter Duranty. Here's somethine Matti Friedman wrote years ago in the Tablet about the corruption among those who cover Hamas: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/israel-insider-guide. I suppose one difference between Duranty and these reporters is that no one ever put a gun to Duranty's head.
The charge that major newspapers had stringers who had advance warning of Hamas' terror attack on Oct. 7 is unproven. Unless you have proof, you shouldn't repeat it in your essays. I agree with you that much media coverage has been bad, uncritical, and ahistoric. But the charge that they knew in advance of the attack is far too serious to advance without ironclad proof, in my opinion.
They knew far enough in advance to accompany Hamas on the attack.
That is not proven. If you have proof, please share. I have seen no evidence that any journalists accompanied Hamas or knew about the attack. In fact, all accounts I've seen say Hamas kept even its allies in the dark. Spreading rumors about such things doesn't help Israel's cause or anyone else's.
https://www.voanews.com/a/news-outlets-press-freedom-groups-reject-claims-journalists-knew-of-hamas-attack/7348973.html
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-11-10/ty-article/.premium/israeli-media-watchdog-says-it-was-just-raising-questions-on-photographers-hamas-link/0000018b-b88c-dedf-adab-fd9cfae90000
https://fair.org/home/smearing-photojournalists-as-hamas-collaborators-gets-them-added-to-a-hit-list/