Thread by @JKSteinberger

Been wondering all week how Fox managed to outperform pretty much all liberal media in the US on Israeli crimes (especially against fellow journalists). The most jingoistic racist conspiracy-friendly outlet outperformed liberal ones. What does this mean???
A few thoughts.
1/

https://twitter.com/rafaelshimunov/status/1843695547364061655

This won't be profound or even factual, btw, just I am searching for reasons, because it is a significant development.
1⃣ US news outlets wanted to send their own journalists to Gaza, but were forbidden by Israel. Bias against using reporting by Palestinian journalists led ...
2/

even someone like Christiane @amanpour to say "we don't have reporters on the ground in Gaza" and basically not report or broadcast on it except in Israel's terms, for most of last year. Since the summer more outlets are rebroadcasting Palestinian journalists.
3/

But the long term damage was done: Israel's policy succeeded in creating a US media blackout and aura of lack of reliability around the news coming out of Gaza, including the deliberate targetting of the Palestinian journalists these outlets should have been broadcasting ...
4/

from the very start.
2⃣ US liberal mentality, exacerbated by the defensiveness of an election year, is just intent on feeling righteous, an emotional state even more rigid apparently than found on the right side of the political spectrum. I think we can see this in Germany too
5/

At some point, between Biden's hardline Zionist position, prominent unfounded rape and burning babies stories of Oct 7 massacre, "Hamas-led health ministry" etc talking points, AIPAC and ADL charges of antisemitism for anyone critical of Israel, liberal mentality solidified.
6/

This can be seen in Brianna Wu as an archetype, btw. And that mentality was a very sticky amalgam of supporting Biden, revulsion at Hamas and its crimes, distrusting Palestinians and Arabs generally, and being *really* afraid of being called antisemitic.
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And that amalgam is now completely cemented because a year into a now completely undeniable livestreamed genocide, this sticky amalgam and its components are further strengthened by the liberal fear of discomfort at having to admit to have been wrong all along ...
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complicit all along, which would have to call into question so many fundamental pillars of their self-regard and self-worth: fawning alignment with the Democratic establishment, unthinking refusal to criticise mainstream liberal news outlets like the NYtimes or CNN or MSNBC...
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admission of their own anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian racism and deep-seated Islamophobia, cowardice and uncritical acceptance of hardcore Zionist orgs like AIPAC and the ADL. So rather than doing the hard work of facing all of this, they prefer to continue to turn a blind eye..
10/

to reality and to support genocidal Israel. And right-wing Fox, unbound by at least some of the sticky amalgam factors of the liberal thought hive, managed to do some actual news reporting before liberals.
End/

Some more really interesting points by @unchimico on differentiated pressure on left vs right wing discourses wrt accusations of antisemitism and scrutiny/danger wrt Israel support.

https://x.com/unchimico/status/1844625223087178082?t=RusZtVmZzCwKChVhs9MMHA&s=19

Another point which I think is important: even Fox is not a monolith, and journalist @TreyYingst is known to do good (fair) reporting from the region, so this may be much less an overall Fox position/agenda and much more Trey doing his job. I think @MonicaLMarks made this point.