Christine,
I'm well aware of the extent and funding of the pro-Israel lobby; the Arabs for a while were actually doing a fairly good job of swinging their money to get Palestinian causes coverage as well. Any American who cares to try can certainly get a balanced picture of the situation. Those who do not care to try will probably come away, as you say, on the Israeli side, though I'm not sure if this is due to the lobby or due to a certain entrenched antipathy toward Arabs and other persons of color. I grew up in a fairly liberal circle; the NYT was required reading, and sympathy for the Palestinians was a given, almost a knee-jerk reaction. Things may have changed; I do notice that the Palestinian cause is not being pressed as hard these days by the moderate Arabs.
I get my news mainly from Asian and European sources - a blend of FT and the Economist, Far Eastern Economic Review, and the IHT is easy to read and pretty comprehensive. If there's a Zionist bias, I haven't noticed it, and I expect that I would, being reasonably well read on the situation.
And while there is certainly a Zionist lobby (just as there is a Taiwan lobby, a Korea lobby, an Arab lobby, etc. - everybody presses their issues with Uncle Sam), but to jump from this to the notion that the American media is controlled by a conspiracy of Zionist Jews out to capture the soul of America is pretty absurd.
Steve |
