The Media Comedy Club By Prof. Barry Rubin

One of the dubious rewards of spending too much time reading newspapers on the Middle East are the laughs derived from those wonderful little phrases that seem logical but are so profoundly bizarre. Some indicate media bias but they are more often the result of some reporter, newsmaker, or editor who so takes for granted the bizarro, flat-earth version of the Middle East as to be blissfully unaware of the yawning contradiction in what they say.

For example, here’s a great sentence in an otherwise good survey of European attitudes toward intensifying sanctions against Iran on the nuclear issue. It is taken from Jamey Keaten, AP, “Europeans Ponder Sanctions Against Iran,” of October 27, 2007: “Concerns have been rising in some European corners that the United States or Israel might attack to prevent Iran from developing atomic bombs….”

The Media Comedy Club ...

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