{"id":972112,"date":"2023-01-27T21:29:59","date_gmt":"2023-01-27T21:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fair.org\/?p=9031975"},"modified":"2023-01-27T21:29:59","modified_gmt":"2023-01-27T21:29:59","slug":"to-us-papers-iranian-weapons-far-more-newsworthy-than-those-made-in-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/01\/27\/to-us-papers-iranian-weapons-far-more-newsworthy-than-those-made-in-usa\/","title":{"rendered":"To US Papers, Iranian Weapons Far More Newsworthy Than Those Made in USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"NYT:

One official enemy’s arms sales to another official enemy are frequently highlighted in headlines (New York Times<\/b>, 9\/25\/22<\/a>).<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Russia\u2019s use of Iranian-made drones in the Ukraine war has garnered substantial attention in flagship US news outlets like the New York Times<\/b>, Wall Street Journal<\/b> and Washington Post<\/b>. These papers\u2019 first<\/a> references<\/a> to the matter<\/a> came on July 11. Between then and the time of writing (January 24), the publications have run 215 pieces that mention Ukraine and the words \u201cIranian drones,\u201d \u201cIranian-made drones,\u201d \u201cdrones made in Iran\u201d or minor variations on these phrases. That\u2019s more than one mention per day over six-and-a-half months.<\/p>\n

The fact that some of Russia’s drones are made in Iran is not only frequently mentioned, but is often featured in headlines like “Iran to Send Hundreds of Drones to Russia for Use in Ukraine, US Says” (Washington Post<\/b>, 7\/11\/22<\/a>), “Ukraine Warns of Growing Attacks by Drones Iran Has Supplied to Russia” (New York Times<\/b>, 9\/25\/22<\/a>) and “Russia\u2019s Iranian Drones Pose Growing Threat to Ukraine” (Wall Street Journal<\/b>, 10\/18\/22<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Drones are, of course, just one type of weapons export among many, and US-made armaments have not received similar coverage when they are implicated in the slaughter of innocents.<\/p>\n

US-made bombs in Gaza<\/b><\/h3>\n
\"Middle

Middle East Eye<\/strong> (5\/18\/21<\/a>): “The US has agreed…to give Israel $3.8bn annually in foreign military financing, most of which it has to spend on US-made weapons.”<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

One example is Israel\u2019s May 10\u201321, 2021, bombing of Gaza. According to<\/a> the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Israeli military killed approximately 245 Palestinians, including 63 children, and \u201ctotally destroyed or severely damaged\u201d more than 2,000 housing units:<\/p>\n

An estimated 15,000 housing units sustained some degree of damage, as did multiple water and sanitation facilities and infrastructure, 58 education facilities, nine hospitals and 19 primary healthcare centers. The damage to infrastructure has exacerbated Gaza\u2019s chronic infrastructure and power deficits, resulting in a decrease of clean water and sewage treatment, and daily power cuts of 18\u201320 hours, affecting hundreds of thousands.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Israel\u2019s attack was carried out with an arsenal replete with US weaponry. From 2009\u201320, more than 70% of Israel’s major conventional arms purchases came from the US; according to Andrew Smith of the Campaign Against the Arms Trade, Israel\u2019s “major combat aircraft come from the US,\u201d notably including the F-16 fighter jets that were bombarding Gaza at the time (Middle East Eye<\/b>, 5\/18\/21<\/a>). As the Congressional Research Service (11\/16\/20<\/a>) noted six months before the attack on Gaza, Israel has received more cumulative US foreign assistance than any other country since World War II:<\/p>\n

To date, the United States has provided Israel $146 billion (current, or non-inflation-adjusted, dollars) in bilateral assistance and missile defense funding. At present, almost all US bilateral aid to Israel is in the form of military assistance.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I searched the databases of the Times<\/b>, Journal<\/b> and Post<\/b> for the equivalent terms I used for the Iranian drones used in Ukraine, and added analogous terms. In the one-month period beginning May 10, just 15 articles in these papers mentioned Israel\u2019s use of US weapons, approximately half as many stories as have been published on the Russian use of Iranian-made drones each month.<\/p>\n

‘Strongly backing’ attacks on Yemen<\/b><\/h3>\n
\"NYT:

Rather than making a top journalistic priority of the question of whether their readers’ own government contributed to the slaughter being reported on, the New York Times<\/strong> (1\/21\/22<\/a>) waits until the 23rd paragraph to bring it up.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

A grisly case from the ongoing Yemen war is another worthwhile comparison for how Iranian weapons exports and their US counterparts are covered. On January 21, 2022, the US\/Saudi\/Emirati\/British\/Canadian coalition in Yemen bombed a prison in Sa\u2019adah, killing at least 80 people and injuring more than 200. The US weapons-maker Raytheon manufactured<\/a> the bomb used in the atrocity.<\/p>\n

In coverage from the month following the attack, I find evidence of only two articles in the three papers that link the slaughter and US weapons. A New York Times<\/b> story (1\/21\/22<\/a>) raised the possibility that US-made bombs killed people in Sa\u2019adah:<\/p>\n

It was unclear whether the weapons used in the airstrikes had been provided by the United States, which in recent years has been by far the largest arms seller to Saudi Arabia and the [United Arab] Emirates, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which monitors weapons transfers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The one piece that explicitly pointed to US culpability in the Sa\u2019adah massacre was an op-ed in the Washington Post<\/b> (1\/26\/22<\/a>) that referred to \u201cample evidence showing US weapons used in the attack.\u201d Thus the Wall Street Journal<\/strong> didn\u2019t consider US\u00a0 participation in a mass murder that killed 80 people to be newsworthy, and the Times<\/strong> and Post<\/strong> evidently concluded that US involvement merited minimal attention.\u00a0The Post<\/b> (1\/21\/22<\/a>) even ran an article that misleadingly suggested the US had ceased to be a major factor in the war:<\/p>\n

The United States once strongly backed the Saudi-led coalition. But President Biden announced early last year that Washington would withdraw support for the coalition\u2019s offensive operations, which have been blamed for the deaths of thousands of civilians. The Trump administration had previously halted US refueling of Saudi jets operating against the Houthis. Some members of Congress had long expressed outrage over US involvement in the war, including weapons sales to Saudi Arabia.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yet mere weeks before Sa\u2019adah killings, Congress signed off on a Biden-approved $650 million weapons sale to Saudi Arabia (Al Jazeera<\/b>, 12\/8\/21<\/a>). That means Washington is still \u201cstrongly back[ing]\u201d the coalition, notwithstanding the hollow claims that such weapons are defensive (In These Times<\/b>, 11\/22\/21<\/a>).<\/p>\n

‘Expanding threat’<\/h3>\n
\"WaPo:

David Ignatius (Washington Post<\/b>, 8\/24\/22<\/a>) refers to drones that explode when they hit a target as “suicide drones.” Are missiles that explode when they hit a target committing suicide?<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

The coverage of Iran\u2019s weapons exports and the US\u2019s also diverges in terms of the analyses that the outlets offer.<\/p>\n

David Ignatius<\/a> told his Washington Post<\/b> (8\/24\/22<\/a>) readers to \u201cbeware the emerging Tehran\/Moscow alliance.\u201d In the periods I examined, there is a marked shortage of articles urging readers to \u201cbeware\u201d the Washington\/Tel Aviv or Washington\/Riyadh alliances, despise the bloodshed they facilitate.<\/p>\n

The Wall Street Journal<\/b> (10\/28\/22<\/a>) contended that<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s expanding use of Iranian drones in Ukraine poses an increasing threat for the US and its European allies as Tehran attempts to project military power beyond the Middle East.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The article went on to say that \u201cthe Western-made components that guide, power and steer the [Iranian] drones touch on a vexing problem world leaders face in trying to contain the expanding threat.\u201d The piece cited Norman Roule, formerly of the CIA,<\/p>\n

warn[ing] that the combination of drones and missiles one day might be used against Western powers. “This Ukraine conflict provides Iran with a unique and low-risk opportunity to test its weapons systems against modern Western defenses,” Mr. Roule said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The US weapons that helped lay waste to Gaza and snuff out dozens of prisoners in Sa\u2019adah are barely presented as having harmed their victims, and not at all as an \u201cincreasing\u201d or \u201cexpanding” threat to rival powers such as Russia or China, or to anyone else.<\/p>\n

‘Malign behavior’<\/b><\/h3>\n
\"WaPo:

A co-author from the “United States Institute for Peace” (Washington<\/strong> Post<\/b>, 12\/6\/22<\/a>) suggests sending “US military escorts” into an active war zone. What could go wrong?<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

In the New York<\/b> Times<\/b> (11\/1\/22<\/a>), Bret Stephens<\/a> contended that the Biden<\/p>\n

administration should warn Iran\u2019s leaders that their UAV factories will be targeted and destroyed if they continue to provide kamikaze drones to Russia, in flat violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231. If Tehran can get away with being an accessory to mass murder in Ukraine, it will never have any reason to fear the United States for any of its malign behavior. Every country should be put on notice that the price for helping Moscow in its slaughter will be steep.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course, the UN charter<\/a> does not give individual countries the right to attack other nations they perceive as violating UN Security Council resolutions. And needless to say, the Times<\/b>, Journal<\/b> and Post<\/b> do not say that US responsibility for mass murder in Palestine and Yemen means that weapons factories in the US should be \u201ctargeted and destroyed\u201d by a hostile power. Nor do they suggest that the US should be “put on notice” that there will be a “steep” “price for helping\u201d Tel Aviv or Riyadh in their \u201cslaughter.”<\/p>\n

William B. Taylor and David J. Kramer argue in the Post<\/b> (12\/6\/22<\/a>) that Iranian drones are among the few \u201cRussian weapons that work,” and that the US needs to \u201cprovid[e] Ukraine with missile defense, anti-drone and antiaircraft systems.\u201d None of the articles I examined said that anyone should give military hardware to the Palestinians or Yemenis for protection against US-made weapons.<\/p>\n

If these outlets\u2019 concern about Iranian arms exports to Russia were about the sanctity of human life, there wouldn\u2019t be such a gap between the volume and character of this coverage compared to that of US weapons piling up corpses in Palestine and Yemen. Instead, corporate media have focused on how official enemies enact violence, and downplayed that which their own country inflicts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The post To US Papers, Iranian Weapons Far More Newsworthy Than Those Made in USA<\/a> appeared first on FAIR<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on FAIR<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If newspapers were concerned about human life, there wouldn\u2019t be such a gap in coverage between Iranian and US-made weapons.<\/p>\n

The post To US Papers, Iranian Weapons Far More Newsworthy Than Those Made in USA<\/a> appeared first on FAIR<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2162,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1303,20195,259,25,221,1784,24,376,13856,261,4070,168,262,263],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/972112"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2162"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=972112"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/972112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":975308,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/972112\/revisions\/975308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=972112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=972112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=972112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}