Posted on 10/19/2011 5:25:36 AM PDT by Eleutheria5
Muckraking journalist Raviv Drucker said Wednesday the conduct of Israel's media in terms of Gilad Shalit was a model of surrender to emotions – which has caused tangible damage to the nation.
Drucker told Israel's Hebrew-language Marker, "The media went bankrupt. It behaved emotionally, crazily and irrationally. This included Channel 10. It was psychosis. One program closed every day with a song about Gilad – and another program made a point of counting the days [he was in captivity]."
"It's not that they silenced critics," Drucker said. "Nobody stopped me when I spoke out against the deal. But there was something childish in how it was handled. The attitude was, 'just bring Gilad home at any cost - we do not care to hear at what price.'"
Drucker said the root of all evil is the surrender to emotion, adding, "There were very strong feelings evoked on the issue. You talk about Hamas cellars, it sounds scary. It was also hyped for ratings. It fed off of and at once fueled the public obsession over the issue.”
"They built up the image of a confused, introverted, 19-year old soldier who had not begun his life and was experiencing the most difficult trial. It wasn't the picture of a tough fighter,” he explained, referring to the damage to the image of IDF fighters.
Drucker's said he believed Israel was damaged by the media onslaught, which raised the price Israel had to pay by bringing undue pressure on officials to bring results no matter what.
"Of course it raised the price," Drucker said. "Some days I read the paper and it is really hard for me, physically even. We released the Ramallah lynch murderer. No country in the world does something like that!"
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(Excerpt) Read more at israelnationalnews.com ...
I have the utmost respect and admiration for Netanyanu. There has to be a reason why he went along with this.
I wish I could say the same, but this isn’t the first time that the human accordian has folded when squeezed.
Deals like this are made by 10 year olds, not mature adults.
Your average 10-year-old has more sense. My nine-year-old son yesterday saw a man have an epileptic fit at a train station. He was so frightened, he couldn’t sleep last night ‘til late. Show a 10-year-old the Ramallah lynching, the aftermath of a suicide bombing, and he would never in a million years let the perpetrators free. Our problem is that the media does NOT show any of that, for fear of upsetting the public. Instead, they showed endless pictures of Gilad Shalit, his family, how they miss him, blah blah blah. The carnage that has been tacitly licensed by this deal will be impossible to hide, however. It will happen in front of everyone, not just on TV.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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