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CP is MIA
I’m surprised at City Paper‘s failure to cover the marches and rallies protesting Israel’s brutal attack on Gaza. This war resulted in the deaths of 1,285 Palestinians, 280 of whom were children. Many diverse groups from Pittsburgh’s peace and social-justice community joined with the Pittsburgh Palestinian Solidarity Committee and Pitt Students for Justice in Palestine to show their outrage over this heinous act. CP has always done a great job reporting news the mainstream media does not cover, but even the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Tribune-Review had photos, letters and news articles about these important events. Despite the air of “Hope and Change” that has swept across the country, our newly elected administration must be pushed to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the occupation of Gaza by Israel. We will continue to organize around the issues. Hopefully CP will continue reporting the voices from the streets.
— Francine Porter
Coordinator, CODEPINK PITTSBURGH Women for Peace
This article appears in Feb 5-11, 2009.
Francine Porter of Codepink asks a very legitimate question. “CP is MIA” The City Paper was very active in reporting and promoting anti Iraq war and impeach Bush rallies and marches. Where was the equal outrage over the Gaza massacre?
Gerald Schiller
Verona,PA
In response both to the letter and Mr. Schiller’s response below, I should note first off that we did just cover plans to protest an Israeli dance company’s visit to Pittsburgh:
http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A58464
But to respond more fully … the truth is that lots of protests happen that we DON’T cover, just for lack of space. There’s always stuff you’d like to report on, but just don’t have the time or column-inches to discuss. When we decide what to cut, we generally focus as much as possible on the issues that are relevant close to home: We put a premium on local issues over national, and national issues over international. We just think that our voice — and those of the protests — carries better when it doesn’t have so far to travel.
People are free to disagree about that, of course, or suggest a different set of priorities. And sometimes, we just plain blow things. In any case, though, comparing coverage of Gaza to our coverage of Bush protests or the Iraq war is apples-to-oranges. The build-up to Iraq was many months in the making, and the war itself has lasted a lot longer than that. The Bush administration itself, obviously, lasted 8 years. By contrast, the attacks on Gaza were launched in the past 8 weeks. I’d be amazed if we HAD given the attacks on Gaza equal coverage to these other, more protracted, struggles.