And pyongyang, the rebrand. Our web video of the week. When a news story as big, as devices over gaza erupts, the war is fought on the ground and through the media in the battle for hearts, minds, and political support. On july the 8th, when israel began launching strikes alongside that military offensive came the customarily slick pr campaign, selling the idea of a country under existential threat with the right to defend itself with attacks by a hammats government that uses civilians as human shields. Many accuse International Outlets of buying into media myths supplied by israels Propaganda Machine instead of Holding Things up to scrutiny. For their part, proceed israelis have talked to a displaced david and goliath. Under reporting hamass missile launches aimed at civilians. Mainstream news outlets are having their versions of the story challenged online. There was social media in 2008 when the last gaza war started but nothing on this scale. The palestinians tweeting from inside the war zone are having an effect on the way this that this story is being reported around the world. Our starting point this week is gaza. Most of the faces the world has seen in the coverage of the gaza war have been palestinians the israel story is mark regan who speaks for the netanyahu government. He has done dozens of interviews giving the israeli position. Unprovoked attack. He is skilled, better on this evidence than many of the journalists who question him. Usually, it starts with two. Its not clear to us expected what happened. A series of dodges and steps that are taken to either deny something that has very clearly happened or create ambiguity where none really exists about the events. You are making presumptions based upon information that you have or have not or what you are suggesting that information you fact. We saw that with the indicates of the u. N. School, the first answer from theisi spokes people was . We dont target u. N. Schools. The next answer was, well, it could have been a palestinian shell that hit the skill. I dont know if it was palestinian ordnance. The next answer was there might have been palestinan militants in the area. U. N. Schools in gaza, they rockets. Then it becomes, well, our shell hit the school, but we are not responsible for the injuries that are there. Because we dont target u. N. Facilities. Its a strategy that unfortunately is accepted by many news anchors and interviews who failed to truly press the must. You are not answering the question but i will accept that you are not going to answer it. They are given a free pass on these issues. The best i have seen was on an English Channel where john pano interviewed regev and pressured him. You have factored in you will kill children and women. I think its watched by millions of people. There is a reason for that. Whether you are, in fact, targeting people and committing a war crime thereby. This is something. This is an interview that we will never see in america. On the one hand, i think israel is getting its point across better than ever before. But on the other hand, the world loves an underdog. Hamas seems to know that and is playing up the weak people of gaza, the people being oppressed by hamas and also are being struck by israeli airstrikes in gaza because hamas is shooting at civilian populations. Last bit is israels message. The middle east is rich in religious history. Its contemporary story riven by mythology. Modern day myth did are propagated through the news media. The myth makers have been hard at work over gaza and the journalists they tell their fables to can be unwitting acomplaces to the twisting of the truth. My favorite is the tunnels myth. We never heard about these tunnels from gaza into israel before this conflict and now, we are hearing that its absolutely necessary to destroy these tunnels. These tunnels are aimed at kinder ibutzes. Close to the kibutz. It may be that thers aimed at kibutzses and kinder gardens but hamas has used these tunnels to attack Israeli Soldiers in is reel. Its a red herring. Its just a red herring but the American Media have treated it as this sort of primary cause of the israeli onslaught. There is one huge misconception about the rockets that hamas is shooting into israel. I have seen, i believe it was in the guardian reported they are like fire crackers. They are can kill people. They have killed people in the past. Israel has a Missile Defense system, but schrapnel falls and it isnt splinters. It could be the size of my head. When that falls from the sky, it could really hurt someone. I think that people are completely disregarding the fact that hamas is shooting deadly population. The israelis are using a definition of human shields which is a largely unheard of in the rest of the world. Hamas is using women and children as human shields. Where militants simplicity separating in civilian areas are using human shields just by virtue of operating there. Thats not what human shields are. In fact, under international law, human shields are compelling civilians or civilian targets to forcibly colocate with military target did, but this is not whats going on. Journalists, unfortunately, in the discourse on this issue have adopted this israeli version of the term without any critical assessment. In the age of social media, citizenship journalists supplement mainstream News Coverage of major stories and challenge dominant narratives. The images and reports, gazans have filed often belie the official line from israel that is so often adopted in other capitols, including washington. And they expose journalistic shortfallings or bias in the case of nbc news in the blogosphere besieged et network over who was assigned to cover gaza. On july 16th, aman filed hard hitting reports on the killings of four palestinian boys on a beach. He was pulled off of the story. Nbc said it made the move for security reasons. An explanation that would have been easier to defend had the network not immediately replaced him with another correspondent background. Richard, good morning to you. One of the great interior narratives of this story was the fact that moyadin, an egyptian american, a person for whom palestinians are not foreigners. He understands them as people. He was ripped out of gaza by nbc, and there was an uproar against it. He was pulled out of gaza because he was viewed as showing palestinians. Was a turning point in the media where social media protested, msnbc was forced to bring him back. Shows awe fragment of how National Media is dealing with this issue. Its just a wonderful story because he was put back in gaza after this protest. Four americans who sympathize with palestinians, the return to gaza was a small victory. But what happened the next day was a clear setback, a paid contributor on nbcs 24 hour outlet, msnbc, which is considered liberal in the u. S. , he dared to criticize the channel and other u. S. Media for a proisraeli bias. Ridiculous. We are disgustingly biased when it comes to this issue. Rula jebreal says she is no longer welcome on msnbc. The question should asked of her bosses on the way out the door go beyond just one network, just one market. The same questions can be put in varying degrees to Media Outlets the world over. One of them was if we liberal media are not willing to challenge the israeli narrative, then who . And if its not this moment in history, where there are thousands of people being killed, injured n gaza with this huge Human Capacity in gaza, then when . Our Global Village voices now on the coverage of the war in gaza. Media coverage of the assault on gaza continues to perpetrate the myth that this is a war between two equal sides. The conflict or casualties mounting on both sides or cycle of violence give the misleading impression this is two sides with equal power. The media continues to promote the myth that the recent kidnappings of three israeli teens in june and the occupation and years of siege in gaza and the west bank. It has been an invaluable source getting information on gaza. The myth did are still prevalent around discourse that i dont believe 140 coacts come out to dispel that hamas started it and hamas is using human shields and for mainstream news outlets we need to confront the reality of israeli occupation. Saturday on tech know. I cannot imagine being trapped in ruble like this. A miraculous new invention. This if finder. Its a victim detection radar. That could save your life. As long as your heart is beating, we can detect you. Tech know. Every saturday, go where science meets humanity. This is some of the best driving ive ever done. Even though i cant see tech know. Were here in the vortex. Saturday, 7 30 eastern. Only on Al Jazeera America. Now available, the new al jazeea america mobile news app. Get our exclusive in depth, reporting when you want it. A global perspective wherever you are. The major headlines in context. Mashable says. Youll never miss the latest news they will continue looking for survivors. The potential for Energy Production is huge. No noise, no clutter, just real reporting. The new Al Jazeera America mobile app, available for your apple and android mobile device. Download it now. Staying with gaza, the u. K. s guardian paper has been criticized saying hamas uses children as human shields. The august 11th edition of the numb featured an advert paid for by the jewish group, the values network, written by elis intchlt is says juice rejected. Now its hamass turn. The advertisement goes on to call for David Cameron to condemn hamas. The ad had run in various newspapers in the United States but was rejected by another british paper the times. The groups slamming the guardyn was stop the War Coalition which called it a wildly inaccurate advert branding as child killers the guardian said the acceptance does not equate to endorsement for the views expressed in that advert. Our coverage will be independent and robust. The alarm bells are going off over the new governments approach to immediate yaw oversight, signing off on what is called the National Broadcast policy. The policy is vaguely worded and any broadcast that may taint the imam of the countrys law keepers and the armed forces or undermine the people, unity and solidarity of bangladesh, unquote. The government says policy is designed to ensure transparency and accountability within the media sector. An independent commission will be set up to implement the guidelines, however, comment its aors are tudubious about h independent it will prove to be. And media watchers call it further decline of the press freedom which has suffered after clashes between religious groups and secularists last year. Since that time, authorities have cut off the broadcast signal of two opposition channels, the ghanta and its lammic t. V. On charges of stirring up social unrest. Here is one from the what took you so long file . The New York Times is calling the torturing of prisoners what it was, towrture. The times had steered clear of the word going with euphemism liken hansed interrogation itemniques. Critics pounded the times shaming the newspaper of record for adopting the bush administrations terminology rather than doing its job. On august 7th, the papers new executive editor said the issue had been and revisited intern internally. He wrote the times described what we knew of the program but avoid the label that was still in dispute. Over time, the landscape has shifted. Reporters urged that the titimes recab brate language. I agreed. From now on the time s will use torture. He moved back into the top job three months ago. The gulf that exists in the coverage of this story inside and outside israel. Usually, israeli journalism is what Good Journalism should be however the military sensors wield considerable power. When they step in, the journalism suffers. Like allisitsi citizens, israeli journalists are banned by law from going to gaza. The only way they have made it in on this story is when they are embedded when israeli and i am mbeds get a narrow view. Consumers have access to satellite or video distribution. Most people dont bother. They use media produced at home which makes the work of the one palestinan journalist in gaza for an israeli newspaper worth looking at. The listening posts will young now on the domestic coverage of the gaza war in israel and how journalists in gaza try to get their story to the rest of the world. Not several journalist has to travel far from home to cover the biggest news stories in the world. Sometimes, the news comes to them. A palestinian whose home is gaza, her job is to report on life and death there to her readers on the other side of the border in israel. If has been a conflict job. I was seeing whats going on t. V. , newspapers and radio. So i was inspired by whats happening in my home land. So, i decided to be a journalist and the israeli media outlet. Its my mission to tell people in israel what is going on gaza because people there are misled by what they see on their media. They know only what will is said from israel. Israels media influenced by voice from the political right have little air time or column space for opposition to the gaza war which israelis, according to polls, support in overwhelming numbers. The hyratz daily is rare among israeli Media Outlets in that it gives room to the counter narrative. Thats hard to find in papers, none of which have correspondence in gaza. We are a zinist newspaper. So we are report from that angle whats happening, how this war is affecting israel. I dont think we need to apologize for that. Its a complicated situation because we are not allowed into gaza. We have reporters on the border in gaza. We had a reporter go into gaza to see one of the tunnels that hamas has built. We have reporters that, you know, chase pretty much every code red siren that goes off within the country. I ambedding with Israeli Soldiers, trailing tanks heading into the war zone. These are the only legal ways under israeli law for an israeli journal devotee enter gaza. However, the army does not take imbedded journalists into the schools, hospitals and homes levelled by israels airstrikes and artillery. If those journalists cant see that side of the story, neither will their saturdayiences. The israeli media focus almost entirely on a is country at war and everything is dominated by the military. Hamas is described as a terrorist organization against a background of rocket attacks from the gaza strip into israel. There is an atmosphere of war in which israel is engaged and thats how it sees the story. The Israeli Government has a media, journalists that are not free to write whatever they want because of the security concern very important. So, i think its very important to be a part of the conflict and, also, reporting about the conflict. Another gazan is a correspondant for al jazeera arabic. Prior to this interview, his home was hit by an israeli missile. Argues office in gas where he was based was also fired upon. He and his team reached one of the most Populated Areas when it came under assault in the early days of the fighting. Ours was the only thing that team that managed to get on air despite difficulties and danger. While we were reporting, the shelling seemed to follow and two rockets hit the house in front of us. We were targeted three times nearby, by airstrikes and tank shelling. We were the only reporters there, and we have to work through continuous shelling. Haifa director. The moment when i heard the question when my colleague asked me my impressions, what i have seen and how i left the district, i told her what we saw as we left piles of bodies, women, too. I couldnt control myself and began to cry. We have witnessed two wars before this. There was a lot of blood violen violence, but this destruction, these horrific images of injuries and martyrs, this blood, this, we had not seen before. Journalists like to maintain a facade that presents them as i am mun to the story. There is seg about this gaza war. Well. John snow anchors the news for britains channel for, a ter est recall broadcaster in late july after returning from gaza, he trade from the normal dispassionate script and the viral. What i saw is stillevered in my mind. Its a powerful piece of television. He was utterly in control of his emotions. He was very cool. We share some responsibilities. I have seen some interviews that john snow has conducted with representatives. He is totally unprofessional and takes a side. Grave uncertainties about whether you are acting within the law. Yes. There is a side to the foreign media which sees palestinians as the under dog, giving these reports without mentioning why israel is bomb d bombarding gaza and how this is undertaking. For anyone watching the global media, its impossible to ignore the facts, the numbers, the 358 stenian civilian casualties, children dying in the hundreds. Israeli government may be losing control of the media and narrative beyond its borders. But by banning all israelis including journalists from going to gaza, it effectively controls much of what israelis see and read in their own media about the number of tirrists killed and tunnels uncovered. The same army they have served in, israeli audiences, are not well served. Palestinians and the journalists in gaza live in another world. Theirs is a different story. The fact that we are palestinians covering usually palestine and that we have family, relatives and neighbors here is a double edged sword. It motivates us because our coverage is related to our families and neighbors when they are targeted other their homes are hit with misfires. I want to say the palestinian journalists can combine being a palestinian and working in the media. I am covering the conflict. I am telling you i am trying to be professional as much as i can. We palestinians here should learn the language and work ourselves to the interNational Media because we are part of the story. We know whats going on. We have been living here for decades, and its very important to have the palestinian voice in the international l jazeera. Only on Al Jazeera America. Oh my scomplrn finally, a sanitized brighter rebranded version of it, most images we see from the capitol of what they call the hermit kingdom tend to be murky like the news reports we