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Why Israel Is Losing the Media War
(Jewish News Weekly of Northern California) Alexandra J. Wall - "Don't they just shoot children?" Questions like that one, asked by people who believe that Israeli soldiers fire indiscriminately upon Palestinian children, prompted Stephanie Gutmann to write The Other War: Israelis, Palestinians and the Struggle for Media Supremacy. "I still find people who say 'it must be true because I saw it on CNN.' If people think that's the absolute truth, there's still a place to remind them that news is manufactured by people," Gutmann said. Israel is a magnet of sorts, where journalists can live comfortably and yet cover a war zone. "It's one of the few places in the world where you can leave Jerusalem in your car, get quotes for the day in a combat zone, and be home in time for dinner." Jerusalem has as many, if not more, journalists as London. The fact that almost all journalists covering the region are based in Israel and not in the Palestinian areas adds to the problem, as it leaves the Israelis exposed to a kind of scrutiny that the Palestinians largely avoid. "Anyone covered that closely is not going to look good," she said. Also, most journalists covering the conflict do not speak Arabic and rely on "fixers" in the Palestinian areas, who are appointed by the Palestinian Authority.