IndyFoto
City TV coverage
Protest for Lebanon and Gaza © Linda Dawn Hammond / IndyFoto July 29, 2006 protest in support of the Lebanese people caught up in the Israeli attack on their country. Demand for an immediate ceasefire. Toronto, in front of the American consulate. A smaller group this week. City TV interviewing the obvious Hezbollah supporters in the crowd. Hopefully not in exclusion of other groups.
The City TV guy ( a news station already suspect for its sensationalist, American style reporting) was at the rally interviewing the same young guys from the rally on the 22nd. Only two young men wearing Hezbollah T-shirts in the entire crowd of thousands, and of course City TV chose to concentrate on THEM. While he interviewed one of them, the others draped Hezbollah flags behind to create a backdrop, and excited 8 year old boys gathered to watch and cheer in admiration. Really representative of the crowd, which was primarily families and in a sombre mood. He then interviewed another of their group (but one in a black t-shirt) and I could hear the word 'Hizbollah' coming from him as well. So I tapped the City TV guy on the shoulder and said, "I really hope you don't intend to do what CTV (a rival news program) did at last week's rally- which was to ignore the fact that MOST people are here to support Lebanon, not specifically Hezbollah, and demand an IMMEDIATE ceasefire to protect more innocent citizens from being killed by Israel. AND to criticize Prime Minister Harper for his position. " He replied, "Well, we shoot a lot of footage and then it gets edited down afterwards." (Big news to me, buddy) Fact is, they will go for the extreme, and I am in media, so don't I know. I mentioned to him that relaxing near a flower bed by the stage was a family, with two children who just managed to escape Lebanon this week. His ears perked up and he took off in their direction. Hopefully they were still there. I also sent after him a woman from the group, "Jewish Women Against The Occupation", to try and speak with him. If the media is going to use you, use them back. If they haven't got the footage, there's nothing to edit either in or, more likely, out.
www.hrw.org/reports/2007/09/05/why-they-died-0
In five months of research, Human Rights Watch investigated 94 cases of air, artillery and ground attacks by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to discern the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 510 civilians and 51 combatants, nearly half the at least 1,125 Lebanese deaths during the conflict. Of the approximately 510 Lebanese civilian deaths investigated by Human Rights Watch, at least 300 were women or children.
City TV coverage
Protest for Lebanon and Gaza © Linda Dawn Hammond / IndyFoto July 29, 2006 protest in support of the Lebanese people caught up in the Israeli attack on their country. Demand for an immediate ceasefire. Toronto, in front of the American consulate. A smaller group this week. City TV interviewing the obvious Hezbollah supporters in the crowd. Hopefully not in exclusion of other groups.
The City TV guy ( a news station already suspect for its sensationalist, American style reporting) was at the rally interviewing the same young guys from the rally on the 22nd. Only two young men wearing Hezbollah T-shirts in the entire crowd of thousands, and of course City TV chose to concentrate on THEM. While he interviewed one of them, the others draped Hezbollah flags behind to create a backdrop, and excited 8 year old boys gathered to watch and cheer in admiration. Really representative of the crowd, which was primarily families and in a sombre mood. He then interviewed another of their group (but one in a black t-shirt) and I could hear the word 'Hizbollah' coming from him as well. So I tapped the City TV guy on the shoulder and said, "I really hope you don't intend to do what CTV (a rival news program) did at last week's rally- which was to ignore the fact that MOST people are here to support Lebanon, not specifically Hezbollah, and demand an IMMEDIATE ceasefire to protect more innocent citizens from being killed by Israel. AND to criticize Prime Minister Harper for his position. " He replied, "Well, we shoot a lot of footage and then it gets edited down afterwards." (Big news to me, buddy) Fact is, they will go for the extreme, and I am in media, so don't I know. I mentioned to him that relaxing near a flower bed by the stage was a family, with two children who just managed to escape Lebanon this week. His ears perked up and he took off in their direction. Hopefully they were still there. I also sent after him a woman from the group, "Jewish Women Against The Occupation", to try and speak with him. If the media is going to use you, use them back. If they haven't got the footage, there's nothing to edit either in or, more likely, out.
www.hrw.org/reports/2007/09/05/why-they-died-0
In five months of research, Human Rights Watch investigated 94 cases of air, artillery and ground attacks by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to discern the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 510 civilians and 51 combatants, nearly half the at least 1,125 Lebanese deaths during the conflict. Of the approximately 510 Lebanese civilian deaths investigated by Human Rights Watch, at least 300 were women or children.