The sectarianism of the New York Times

byHabib Battah
Aug 21, 2013

Nowhere in this article is there a quote from Hezbollah’s leader “vowing to step up Sunni fight.”

Agree with him or not–and many are particularly angry about today’s mass killing— Nasrallah has not called for a “Sunni fight.”

Much like Russia, Hezbollah’s battle in Syria is a political, economic and logistical one. A battle for what it fears is its own survival.

Much like the USA, Hezbollah propagandistically frames this fight as a war against “terrorists” and “extremists.”

Yet for some reason, the New York Times finds it okay to substitute the word “extremist” with “Sunni” when it comes to Nasrallah.

Can you imagine if The Times applied the same logic to George Bush’s speeches? Instead of “Bush vows to step up war against terror” they could just print: “Bush vows to step up war against Islam.”

How would that go down?

Analysts like to claim sectarianism is a product of savage Middle Easterners. But what about those fine folks sitting behind computers on 41st street in midtown Manhattan?

***

UPDATE: As a direct response to this post, The Times has just changed the headline. Here’s their response.

Habib Battah

Habib Battah is an investigative journalist and founder of the news site beirutreport.com. Battah has covered Lebanon and the Middle East for over 15 years and teaches journalism and media studies at the American University of Beirut. He is a contributor to Monocle, The Guardian, BBC World, Al Jazeera and others, a former fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University and two-time recipient of the Samir Kassir Press Freedom Award. Battah's investigative work was recently recognized for outstanding local reporting by the Columbia University Oakes Award for Environmental Reporting. Battah earned a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.A. in Near East Studies and Journalism from New York University.

2 comments

Anonymous says:

Aug 22, 2013 at 12:03 pm

They fixed the title, but it still says “Sunni” in the title.

Reply
1. Habib Battah says:
  
  Aug 22, 2013 at 12:45 pm
  
  You mean the URL. Yes it is still the same despite the changed headline: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/17/world/middleeast/hezbollah-makes-vow-to-step-up-sunni-fight.html?_r=0
  Good catch.
  
  Reply

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Who Am I?

Habib Battah is an investigative journalist and founder of the news site beirutreport.com. Battah has covered Lebanon and the Middle East for over 15 years and teaches journalism and media studies at the American University of Beirut. He is a contributor to Monocle, The Guardian, BBC World, Al Jazeera and others, a former fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University and two-time recipient of the Samir Kassir Press Freedom Award. Battah's investigative work was recently recognized for outstanding local reporting by the Columbia University Oakes Award for Environmental Reporting. Battah earned a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.A. in Near East Studies and Journalism from New York University.