GENOCIDE IN GAZA: RADIO NEW ZEALAND IS STILL IN A STATE OF DENIAL

For nearly two years, RNZ's Mediawatch has remained silent about Gaza. Even the fact that the Israel military have killed over 250 journalists in Gaza has not compelled Mediawatch to comment.  But on Sunday, presenter Colin Peacock suddenly had something to say about events in the besieged Palestinian enclave. However, like RNZ itself, Peacock still won't acknowledge that Israel is committing genocide. 


THROUGHOUT THE course of Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza, Radio New Zealand's Mediawatch (9am Sunday) has failed to provide any assessment of the mainstream media's reporting of events in the besieged Palestinian enclave. Presenter Colin Peacock, loquacious on most other issues, has remained conspicuously silent as far as Gaza is concerned.  

With one exception. 

In March this year, Peacock wrote a news story that uncritically accepted the conclusions of RNZ's review of its Israeli-Palestine coverage.  Written by former RNZ editorial policy manager Colin Feslier, it was criticised by former RNZ journalist Jeremy Rose, journalist Eugene Doyle and Victoria University senior lecturer Ramon Das as wholly inadequate. They commented: 

'... Feslier has a long and close affiliation with Radio New Zealand. His remuneration, time allocation, and RNZ’s own requirements of him may have constrained the scope of his work.

'However, the report, as presented, we believe, does not meet a credible standard in terms of breadth, methodology, and analysis. Unfortunately, the result – an assessment that the broadcaster was almost unswerving in meeting journalistic codes and standards – fails to do justice to the issue on numerous counts.

Given its self-limiting scope and its conclusions (which we do not agree with), the report risks appearing to be a quick sanitising exercise that ended in a predictable finding of, “Nothing to see here; you’re doing a great job.'

Another former RNZ journalist, Mick Hall, wrote: 

'...instead of offering a bitter tonic to treat an institutional blindness to fundamental deficiencies in fulfilling its public interest charter to provide “comprehensive, independent, accurate, impartial, and balanced” international news and current affairs, the review raised a toast to RNZ with a bland beverage, palatable to its managers.'

None of these criticisms — and there were others — have ever been aired on RNZ itself and certainly not on Mediawatch. 

Mediawatch has consistently avoided commenting on the slaughter of innocent men, women, and children in Gaza by the Israeli military and how it has been reported by the mainstream media. However, last Sunday, Colin Peacock surprisingly reported on the media's coverage of the famine that has broken out in Gaza. He even went as far as to comment that the food delivery service set up by the United States and Israel was 'inadequate and dangerous'. 

Since Israel's assault on Gaza began, it has killed over 250 journalists. Yet Mediawatch has never once reported on the deliberate targeting of journalists by Israel, and which is a war crime. However, on Sunday, Colin Peacock could be heard talking about how the journalists remaining in Gaza are feeling the ill-effects of not having sufficient food to eat.

After remaining silent on Israel's murderous rampage for nearly two years, why has Mediawatch and presenter Colin Peacock suddenly become vocal about Gaza?

It might be comfortable to believe that Mediawatch and RNZ in general have finally decided that they are no longer prepared to play ball with the Israeli-driven narrative. 

That would be incorrect.

The real explanation is that Colin Peacock has stuck a wet finger in the air and concluded that the political winds have changed direction as far as Israel is concerned. 

So, in the United States, the Washington Post has published the names of the 18,500 children killed in Gaza since Israel began its barbaric assault. This is a newspaper that previously has defended Israel and claimed it was fighting a war of 'self-defence'.

And in Britain, the BBC--another media organisation that has favoured Israel — has compiled material on 160 cases where Palestinian children were shot and reported that 95 of the children were either shot in the head or chest.  

Here in New Zealand, Stuff editor-in chief Keith Lynch has called for people's views on Gaza. This is the same media company that has spent two years not only prioritising the Israeli narrative but has also provided little coverage of the many protests that has occurred throughout the country. 

Despite the fact we have been able to see for ourselves, via social media, the many atrocities and war crimes that Israel has committed in Gaza, Colin Peacock still defends the failure of the media - and that presumably includes RNZ- to charge Israel with committing genocide. Peacock says this is 'because of the absence of a definite International Criminal Court ruling or the United Nations or other bodies employing the term'.

That's what Peacock told listeners to Mediawatch on Sunday. But he is doing little more than hiding behind legal niceties in order to justify turning a blind eye to genocide and, in the process, legitimising Israel's barbaric assault on Gaza.  In avoiding using the 'g word' at all costs, the only recourse the mainstream media has is to frame the slaughter of over 60,000 innocent men, women, and children as the 'collateral damage' of war.

But the mainstream media appears to have reached its own tipping point. Colin Peacock has noticed it too. On Mediawatch he commented that 'as time passes and without any easing of the conditions in Gaza, the media now have to confront the question that Israel is committing genocide'. But Israel has been inexorably killing and destroying for two years and for Peacock not to front up and state now that Israel is engaged in genocide suggests that he — and RNZ — are still in a state of denial.