Yesterday, my daily visit to almanar.com.lb was different. The most prominent story of the day was entitled, “ Jesus (pbuh) Abused by Spiteful Israelis; Hezbollah Condemns.”
This was a far cry from last week’s coverage of Israeli elections, which were characterized by some semblance of dispassionate neutrality. The article details a comedy program on Israeli TV, which made fun of Jesus and the Virgin Mary. The author, Hussein Assi infuses his opinion of Israel thorough the story and argues that this television program shows that Israel degrades and disrespects other prominent religions. For instance, the article begins with “It’s the same Israeli ‘spite’ that has proved itself since the ‘creation’ of the so-called Zionist entity that reveals itself once again.”
This article is the most blatant expression of opinion from an Al Manar journalist on the website that I have seen. As mentioned previously, Almanar.com.lb had seemingly established a pattern of limiting its own staff to less partial news reporting and providing passionate opinionated pieces by posting articles from writers and activists not affiliated with Al Manar. These proxy voices have worldviews match Al Manar’s assumed biases but Al Manar was able to separate itself with a disclaimer:
“Al-Manar.com.lb is not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.”
The decision to post such an opinionated piece and jarring headline as news seriously erodes Al Manar’s attempt to be a credible news source. Today, a new story about the Vatican’s response to the Israeli television show illustrates the resumption of the traditional division of labor, as the news piece refrains from passing judgment and allows quotes from the Vatican about the blasphemous nature of the television show to suffice. It will be interesting to see what other issues spark this lapse in journalistic composure.
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