So they had a gunbattle and a bunch of palesitnians are dead. Love the way the AP spins the headline:
Hamas Militia, Abbas Loyalists Clash
Mind you, this is the headline on the story about violence in which seven people were killed. This is how the AP describes the situation in the middle of the article:
The most serious clash between them on Sunday took place near the parliament building in Gaza City. After the crowd of protesters there swelled to include hundreds of police and civilians, Hamas militiamen rushed in, firing guns and anti-tank launchers, and lobbing grenades.
Two people were killed, including a 15-year-old boy, and at least 75 were wounded, hospital officials said.
Militiamen and security personnel – including bodyguards for Abbas – exchanged fire on two of the main streets of Gaza City near parliament, and gunmen from both sides took positions on nearby rooftops.
Protesters scattered, and schoolchildren sought protection by covering their heads with their schoolbags.
Now let’s imagine the headline and story if Israel were doing the killing. Oh, wait. We don’t have to imagine. Because this story came out on the same day:
Palestinians: Israeli airstrike kills 2
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — An Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip killed two Palestinian militants and wounded three people, medical officials said.
The airstrike took place in Rafah, which borders Egypt. Medical officials said two members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades _ a violent group linked to President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah Party _ were killed. Two people were seriously wounded, and a 6-year-old boy was wounded in the legs.
That’s the lead. What’s the lead to the story above?
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) – Militiamen from the ruling Hamas opened fire on government workers protesting their unpaid salaries on Sunday, touching off gunbattles with security forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas. Seven people were killed in the violence.
After the deadly protest in Gaza City, dozens of supporters from Abbas’ Fatah Party retaliated by ransacking and torching the empty Cabinet building in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The Fatah supporters had earlier marched through the city, the seat of the Palestinian government, burning tires and shouting, “Hamas, out, out.”
Again, notice how the details were buried midway through the story, the headline does not contain the words “dead” or “killed,” and you don’t discover that 75 people were wounded, or that children and civilians were killed and at risk, until most people have already stopped reading the story.
What media bias? Oh, that media biase.