Propoganda

Summary

Historian Dr. Assal Rad, discussing her book "Don't Say Palestine," tells The Thinking Muslim that Western outlets manufactured consent for Israel's Gaza campaign through selective language, omission of agency and a leaked New York Times memo barring key terms.

What it argues

1. Media as propaganda wingPolitics

   Rad says the press corps acts like the propaganda wing of states and elite interests, manufacturing consent for what she calls Israel's genocide in Gaza. She says propaganda works only when the public doesn't know it's being lied to; known propaganda is ineffective. Rad frames mainstream coverage itself as a tool that enabled the war rather than a check on it.

2. Compared to Iraq war coveragePolitics

   Rad likens the coverage to 2003 reporting on Iraq, when most Americans wrongly believed Iraq had ties to 9/11 and held weapons of mass destruction. She says media then regurgitated government claims while dissenting voices went unplatformed. Rad sees a historical pattern of media manufacturing public consent for US-backed wars.

3. Shift in US opinionPolitics

   Rad says a majority of Americans opposed the US war in Iran from its outset, unlike Iraq in 2003. She says the American right is moving in an "anti-Israel direction" and that "cracks within the system" have shattered. Rad argues the old media consensus is losing its grip on public opinion.

4. Omitting agency for IsraelLaw & rulings

   Rad says reports on starvation and destruction in Gaza often omit Israel as the actor, describing them as if natural rather than deliberate policy. She cites Adam Johnson's quantitative research as data showing the volume of this pattern, avoiding the term genocide. Rad says removing the actor from coverage is what lets outlets avoid calling events genocide.

5. Memo barred key termsLaw & rulings

   Rad cites a leaked spring-2024 New York Times memo instructing reporters to avoid words including "genocide," "ethnic cleansing," "refugee camp," "war crimes" and "Palestine," which she calls censorship, not editing. She singles out the New York Times as most responsible among outlets, citing its name recognition, self-presented authority and underreporting of human rights findings. Rad says the memo is evidence the paper went beyond editorial style into deliberate suppression.

6. Territories under international lawLaw & rulings

   Rad says Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem are all Palestinian territory under international law, but coverage treats them as separate issues. She says this compartmentalization obscures Palestinian liberation and the right of return for those expelled in 1948 or 1967. Rad argues fragmented coverage hides that Palestine is a single, recognized territorial claim.

7. Unequal language for casualtiesSociety

   Rad says outlets describe Palestinian deaths as "dying" while Israeli deaths are "killed." She says Palestinian detainees, including children held without charge, are called "prisoners" while Israelis taken are called "hostages." Rad says word choice systematically softens Palestinian suffering and hardens Israeli suffering.

8. Journalists killed and dissentSociety

   Rad credits Palestinian journalists Hossam Shabat and Anas al-Sharif, who wrote final messages expecting their own deaths, with shifting global opinion. She notes journalists resigned from the BBC, CNN and Reuters, saying their ability to report honestly on Gaza was suppressed. Rad says Palestinian reporting and insider resignations, not Western media, drove the shift in opinion.

Open questions

• The interview text is cut off before Rad fully answers what allows liberal outlets to "consent" to the events she describes.
• Which outlets besides the New York Times, BBC, CNN and Reuters are covered is not detailed in the available material.