Understanding Media’s Deadly Double Standards on Gaza
Hundreds of journalists signed on to a statement saying they condemn “Israel’s killing of journalists in Gaza and urge integrity in Western media coverage of Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians.” United States media coverage of Israel’s brutal war on Gaza appears blatantly lopsided, taking claims of the Israeli state at face value, while requiring “independent” verification of the atrocities that Palestinians are reporting.
It’s a familiar pattern, according to longtime peace and justice activist Medea Benjamin, who sees a strong link between uncritical media acceptance of the United States’ misdeeds in Iraq in the early 2000s and coverage of what’s happening today in Gaza. Benjamin, who is co-founder of Global Exchange and CODEPINK: Women for Peace spoke with YES! Racial Justice Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on YES Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about the connection.
![]() |
Sonali Kolhatkar
is currently the racial justice editor at YES! Media and a writing fellow with Independent Media Institute. She was previously a weekly columnist for Truthdig.com. She is also the host and creator of Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. Sonali won First Place at the Los Angeles Press Club Annual Awards for Best Election Commentary in 2016. She also won numerous awards including Best TV Anchor from the LA Press Club and has also been nominated as Best Radio Anchor 4 years in a row. She is the author of Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence, and the co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women's Mission. Her forthcoming book is Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice (City Lights, 2023). She has a Master’s in Astronomy from the University of Hawai’i, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. She reflects on her professional path in her 2014 TEDx talk, “My Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host.” She can be reached at sonalikolhatkar.com
|