An Israeli forensic police officer takes a photo while examining the body of a Palestinian following a stabbing attack in the West Bank settlement of Shilo, near Nablus, Monday, March 31, 2008. In the West Bank Monday, a Palestinian who tried to stab an Israeli hitchhikers near a Jewish settlement was shot and killed by an armed Israeli civilian, Israeli police said. One of the hitchhikers opened fire after the Palestinian pulled a knife, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, calling the shooting self-defense. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

It’d be interesting to know if the Israeli hitchhikers were still on the scene, though. If they were still there, I would’ve expected someone to take a picture of them, considering that they were a direct part of the story…

Regards,
Brian

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jD4YSkDPlclqd9dHvg2f0Ij18zEgD8VOGDUO0

For the most part, I tend to blame the editorial staff for this kind of thing. It is they, after all, who set down the guidelines as to what the journalists and photographers who work under them are to write, and it’s they that make the ultimate decisions as to what content goes across the wire.

Of course, the photographers who cover middle eastern affairs tend to be biased towards the “Palestinians,” and there are plenty of possible explanations for that as well. Most journalism schools are dominated by anti-Israeli and other anti-Western (think “diversity”) thought. Those of us who are sitting here taking Israel’s side of things tend to not be involved in journalism. And, of course, the wire staff that are so heavily biased towards this line of politically-correct thinking do all of the hiring for their agencies.

It is, however, ultimately the responsibility of the editors to “edit” this bias out of their news service.

A job that they are failing miserably at, in my total outsider’s opinion.

For what it’s worth, Muhammed says that he does care about Israelis as well, that he was born in Israel, has family, friends, and associates there, and considers himself to be an Israeli citizen.

And did I mention that he gives terrific photography advice?

Regards,
Brian

Jeffrey Nihart

He may be a “really nice guy”, but I’m sure he doesn’t lose sleep over Israelis being killed.

I’ve always wondered about the captions, and assumed it was the photographer. Please let me know what Mo’ has to say.

Muhammed’s actually a really nice guy, compared to some of the others I’ve heard from. Great for photography advice, to boot!

And, in all fairness, the photographers are only partially responsible for the captions sent across the AP wire. From what I’ve gathered, the editorial desk does more caption-writing than anybody. (I may be wrong about this, of course. I’ve sent a note to Mr. Muheissen to verify.)

Regards,
Brian/snapped shot

Jeffrey Nihart