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Originally Posted by CDSmith
And why do you think Israel did such a thing?
Any ideas?
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There is a long history of the media not reporting civilian casualties. It's always been accepted as a sad fact of war. So governments know they can get away with it as long as the masses never find out about how bad it really is.
The civilian deaths in Lebanon at the hands of Israel marks the first time I can recall that such a focus has been put on civilian deaths. The Israeli government likely did not expect this bad press, and this could signal a change in how the media reports this aspect of war from now on.
My opinion is that the breaking point was the civilian body count in Iraq. We have "accidentally" killed around 40,000 civilians there (that number is based on reported deaths only, it is believed to be higher). This figure went largely unreported during the first phase of the war when most of them were happening. Now people question why so many had to die to remove one man from power and take out a weak army.
I think instead of waiting until they see the end result and asking why, the media is now asking the questions early on. I think everybody should support this type of coverage.