Historian: Media Manufactured Genocide Consent — SkimNews
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- Assal Rad discussed her new book Don't Say Palestine: How the Media Manufactured Consent for Genocide on Al Jazeera's The Listening Post, arguing mainstream media normalized the dehumanization of Palestinians and whitewashed Israel's campaign in Gaza.
- Rad built a reputation on social media as the "headline fixer" for correcting journalistic errors at major news outlets before publishing the book.
- Ameed Shehade, West Bank correspondent for Al Araby TV, told the program he has escaped death four times while working as a journalist in the territory.
- Israel has intensified operations in the occupied West Bank, where settlers — protected by the Israeli army — have been besieging, attacking, and killing Palestinians, according to the segment.
- The episode framed Rad's media critique alongside Shehade's firsthand testimony, presenting both the coverage failures and the on-the-ground danger facing Palestinian journalists.
Why it matters: Rad's book makes a direct, sourced argument that mainstream newsrooms bear responsibility for normalizing violence against Palestinians — a claim that, if accepted by readers, reframes the accountability debate from battlefield conduct to editorial gatekeeping. Pairing the argument with Shehade's testimony that he has escaped death four times gives the media critique an immediate human cost.
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