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How to Sell a Genocide: The Media's Complicity in the Destruction of Gaza
As bombs rained down on Gaza in October 2023, images of mass death and destruction gripped the world, and openly genocidal statements from Israeli leaders foretold the magnitude of horrors to come. But the US media was quick to downplay, obscure, and repackage an emerging campaign of extermination into a slick “war on terror” framework.
How to Sell a Genocide is a thorough indictment of US corporate media's role in enabling—and, at times, directly inciting—one of the most devastating campaigns of mass killing in modern memory. Johnson unpacks how major news outlets like The New York Times, CNN, and MSNBC systematically sanitised Israel's war crimes, hid the US’s central role, and dehumanised the Palestinian people.
Drawing from deep, original data-driven analysis, Johnson dissects the mechanics of propaganda, from the selective empathy, strategic omissions, overt racism and repetition of state-sanctioned falsehoods, to the demonisation of humanitarian workers and dishonest coverage of campus protests. With clarity and moral force, Johnson argues that the genocide could not have been sustained without the active, sustained complicity of the US media.
How to Sell a Genocide is a thorough indictment of US corporate media's role in enabling—and, at times, directly inciting—one of the most devastating campaigns of mass killing in modern memory. Johnson unpacks how major news outlets like The New York Times, CNN, and MSNBC systematically sanitised Israel's war crimes, hid the US’s central role, and dehumanised the Palestinian people.
Drawing from deep, original data-driven analysis, Johnson dissects the mechanics of propaganda, from the selective empathy, strategic omissions, overt racism and repetition of state-sanctioned falsehoods, to the demonisation of humanitarian workers and dishonest coverage of campus protests. With clarity and moral force, Johnson argues that the genocide could not have been sustained without the active, sustained complicity of the US media.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2026
About the author
Adam H. Johnson
1 book23 followersAdam H. Johnson is an American media critic, writer, and political commentator. He is the co-host and co-creator of the Citations Needed podcast, which examines the role of media, public relations, and political messaging in shaping public discourse.
His writing has appeared in publications including The Nation, In These Times, The Intercept, the Los Angeles Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle. His work focuses particularly on media framing, propaganda, and the coverage of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts. He is the author of How to Sell a Genocide: The Media’s Complicity in the Destruction of Gaza (Pluto Press, 2026).
His writing has appeared in publications including The Nation, In These Times, The Intercept, the Los Angeles Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle. His work focuses particularly on media framing, propaganda, and the coverage of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts. He is the author of How to Sell a Genocide: The Media’s Complicity in the Destruction of Gaza (Pluto Press, 2026).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 109 reviews
April 24, 2026
However angry you think you are with the Biden/Harris administration and the liberal pundit class, I can promise you it is not enough. To have witnessed a live-streamed genocide, in HD, for 2+ years, while we are told we must fall in line and reward them with 4 more years of power, has psychological repercussions beyond my own understanding. But what Adam has described in painful detail here is, it was not done in a vacuum. The state and media apparatus, through well-documented and refined methods of dehumanization, distraction, and manipulation, have laundered mass extermination and genocide into a palatable Feel Good narrative that is already being used to rewrite history.
By walking us through the detailed analysis of thousands of articles, news shows, and essays, my rage feels renewed. The campus protests and fake narratives on crises of antisemitism; the silencing of any and all voices critical of israel and its genocidal policies; the orientalist tropes of biologically violent and sadist Arabs who lack cognitive ability - it's all meant to utterly dehumanize the Palestinian people and render their resistance outside the human condition. We must never forget: an occupied people have the absolute right - moral and legal - to resist their occupiers. By any means necessary.
By walking us through the detailed analysis of thousands of articles, news shows, and essays, my rage feels renewed. The campus protests and fake narratives on crises of antisemitism; the silencing of any and all voices critical of israel and its genocidal policies; the orientalist tropes of biologically violent and sadist Arabs who lack cognitive ability - it's all meant to utterly dehumanize the Palestinian people and render their resistance outside the human condition. We must never forget: an occupied people have the absolute right - moral and legal - to resist their occupiers. By any means necessary.
May 5, 2026
It’s almost shameful to admit now, but at the onset of the genocide I was a print subscriber to NYT. Each Sunday, reading through the paper became a ritual of driving myself insane as what was clearly unfolding before my eyes was minimized, obfuscated, or just ignored.
Johnson is an excellent media critic - I would highly recommend his podcast Citations Needed - and he has all the receipts on the first year of the genocide as covered through what is commonly referred to as the liberal media. He has the data to back the feeling I had when reading the NYT’s coverage.
It really should be enough evidence to send some of these editors and ‘journalists’ to The Hague, but as he points out in the conclusion, it’s unlikely any of these people will face any negative consequences because no one has ever faced consequences for parroting the State Department’s line. In fact careers will probably advance further, just like they did for those who helped sell the Iraq War. At least we have books like these to record the crimes committed.
Johnson is an excellent media critic - I would highly recommend his podcast Citations Needed - and he has all the receipts on the first year of the genocide as covered through what is commonly referred to as the liberal media. He has the data to back the feeling I had when reading the NYT’s coverage.
It really should be enough evidence to send some of these editors and ‘journalists’ to The Hague, but as he points out in the conclusion, it’s unlikely any of these people will face any negative consequences because no one has ever faced consequences for parroting the State Department’s line. In fact careers will probably advance further, just like they did for those who helped sell the Iraq War. At least we have books like these to record the crimes committed.
April 28, 2026
Quick read, several fugue states, Hague indictment material
Read
September 30, 2026Whilst undoubtedly important and essential, I didn’t find this as profound as I expected.
The book is a case against USA corporate media and liberal institutions that have systematically manufactured consent, sanitised war crimes, and at times directly incited mass violence.
As this is focused on America, I found it didn’t have as much impact for me, living in the UK. I can acknowledge the grave implications, yet can’t really grapple with the reality of the propaganda churning. Not that the UK doesn’t have its own problems with partisan media outlets.
I appreciated that it presented misleading titles, descriptions, and blacklisting has resulted in a skewed perception. I would have liked to see more of the background information, backdrop, and further implications.
This is a date driven book. Whilst it is shocking, I did find it lacked as much emotional resonance for me personally, as someone who prefers narrative non-fiction. I am NOT saying Palestine’s genocide isn’t a horrific case of humane atrocity; merely that this book is delivered matter-of-factly with little emotional reflection.
This was not helped by the audiobook narrator who has an extremely monotone and dry delivery.
It uses many individual examples of instances where the pro-Israel line is pushed which can make it harder to have discussions as the philosophical and theoretical commentary is lacking.
I think this non-fiction will be received differently depending what you are expecting and what you are looking for.
If you want a thesis-like overview with robust examples that can be used to bring up in conversation, you might find this lacking.
If instead, you want a clear case detailing many incidents of selective empathy, systematic dehumanisation, and counter-terrorism rhetoric; you will find that here.
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The book is a case against USA corporate media and liberal institutions that have systematically manufactured consent, sanitised war crimes, and at times directly incited mass violence.
As this is focused on America, I found it didn’t have as much impact for me, living in the UK. I can acknowledge the grave implications, yet can’t really grapple with the reality of the propaganda churning. Not that the UK doesn’t have its own problems with partisan media outlets.
I appreciated that it presented misleading titles, descriptions, and blacklisting has resulted in a skewed perception. I would have liked to see more of the background information, backdrop, and further implications.
This is a date driven book. Whilst it is shocking, I did find it lacked as much emotional resonance for me personally, as someone who prefers narrative non-fiction. I am NOT saying Palestine’s genocide isn’t a horrific case of humane atrocity; merely that this book is delivered matter-of-factly with little emotional reflection.
This was not helped by the audiobook narrator who has an extremely monotone and dry delivery.
It uses many individual examples of instances where the pro-Israel line is pushed which can make it harder to have discussions as the philosophical and theoretical commentary is lacking.
I think this non-fiction will be received differently depending what you are expecting and what you are looking for.
If you want a thesis-like overview with robust examples that can be used to bring up in conversation, you might find this lacking.
If instead, you want a clear case detailing many incidents of selective empathy, systematic dehumanisation, and counter-terrorism rhetoric; you will find that here.
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July 2, 2026
in an era of widespread anti-intellectualism and hand-waving “it’s not that deep” “the blue curtain is just blue” rhetoric, it is increasingly important to continue critically examining the power of language, specifically in how ~mainstream media uses language to push certain narratives under the guise of fair and neutral reporting
both well-researched and accessible, how to sell a genocide should be required reading for any U.S. leftists looking to stand in solidarity with palestine
both well-researched and accessible, how to sell a genocide should be required reading for any U.S. leftists looking to stand in solidarity with palestine
June 14, 2026
This book should be required reading for anyone casting a ballot in the U.S. Following Joe Biden announcing that he is a proud Zionist, I thought he mustn't really understand what that is and what they have always stood for. Through exhaustive research and scores of pages of citations, Johnson exposes what the center-left media has done to both promote the cause of Israel and garner support for their campaign of genocide. From the New York Times to the Washington Post, The Atlantic, CNN, NBC, MSNBC, the message that the Israeli government wants people to hear has been promoted through the aforementioned outlets, but there are many more. We all know how the right does this but although they are far more racist and far less intellectual, their message is essentially the same. The information that is provided, the way language is used to soften people's views on Israel, they have distorted, lied about, and failed to cover the story, the whole story.
The book covers American center-left reporting from the Hamas attack on October 11 for the year after. When covering stories about the impact of Israeli actions, young Israelis are called children while young Palestinians are referred to as minors- sometimes in the same sentence. When the lie about the 40 beheaded babies became public, they referred to it long after it had been thoroughly debunked. Hamas are referred to as terrorists while Israeli attacks on Palestinians are characterized as being necessary and done with heavy hearts by the Israeli military. Israel has always presented itself as the only democracy in the Middle East and the underdog but that democracy is extended only to Israeli citizens, not to the Palestinians from whom the land has been stolen.
Journalists are under pressure to present the slanted view in the way they do from publishers and have often adopted a "go along to get along" attitude- oftentimes because they will not be published, on air, or fired if they do not, but that does not justify their actions. Anti-Israel demonstrations on college campuses have been characterized as anti-Semitic even when the participants have been Jewish. Many have been expelled, many have even been denied their degrees.
Americans, through their taxes, have financed the genocide. All Biden needed to do during Israel's terrorism was to let Israel know, in no uncertain terms, that all forms of aid to their country would be cut off. That would have ended it. It could end it all now. Congress is filled with people supporting Netanyahoo and his murderous regime- This is perhaps the only bi-partisan activity they engage in.
The book, and others on the subject, have adjusted the way I look at candidates. If they support the Israeli government, that is two strikes against them. Ireland is one of the few countries where people en masse have actively fought against the horror. Between the evil of the Trump regime and the support for Israel, I regret having moved back from Ireland.
The book covers American center-left reporting from the Hamas attack on October 11 for the year after. When covering stories about the impact of Israeli actions, young Israelis are called children while young Palestinians are referred to as minors- sometimes in the same sentence. When the lie about the 40 beheaded babies became public, they referred to it long after it had been thoroughly debunked. Hamas are referred to as terrorists while Israeli attacks on Palestinians are characterized as being necessary and done with heavy hearts by the Israeli military. Israel has always presented itself as the only democracy in the Middle East and the underdog but that democracy is extended only to Israeli citizens, not to the Palestinians from whom the land has been stolen.
Journalists are under pressure to present the slanted view in the way they do from publishers and have often adopted a "go along to get along" attitude- oftentimes because they will not be published, on air, or fired if they do not, but that does not justify their actions. Anti-Israel demonstrations on college campuses have been characterized as anti-Semitic even when the participants have been Jewish. Many have been expelled, many have even been denied their degrees.
Americans, through their taxes, have financed the genocide. All Biden needed to do during Israel's terrorism was to let Israel know, in no uncertain terms, that all forms of aid to their country would be cut off. That would have ended it. It could end it all now. Congress is filled with people supporting Netanyahoo and his murderous regime- This is perhaps the only bi-partisan activity they engage in.
The book, and others on the subject, have adjusted the way I look at candidates. If they support the Israeli government, that is two strikes against them. Ireland is one of the few countries where people en masse have actively fought against the horror. Between the evil of the Trump regime and the support for Israel, I regret having moved back from Ireland.
May 14, 2026
Very bleak with a particularly bleak ending but a very necessary read. If there was any semblance of justice in this world every single figure in “establishment” media would be tried in The Hague for laundering the coverage required to commit the genocide in Gaza.
October 1, 2026
A thorough analysis of ‘liberal’ media in the US in the first year of genocide. Nothing has changed and Australian media is just as bad.
May 2, 2026
“The primary role of our Center-Left media… was not to accurately convey reality but, for want of a better descriptor, to make their readers and viewers feel better… about their country, about their president, their institutions, and themselves. It was to rationalize, negotiate, obscure, and, ultimately, deny the most inconvenient of truths: a genocide carried out, defended, and authored by elite liberals and liberal institutions” (p. 5).
A total red-pill (said ironically). Like Alec Karakatsanis’ “Copaganda” and Michael Parenti’s “Inventing Reality,” a book that exposes the moral and intellectual rot at the core of elite liberal media, and, by association, the Very Serious political circles from which they source their opinions. Found the quantitative analysis especially interesting and important to drive the argument home. Also, I cannot stress this enough: the Editor in Chief of “The Atlantic” was an IDF prison guard during the First Intifada!
Anyways, I’d call it a must-read, especially as someone who consumes news from a handful of the outlets mentioned in this book semi-regularly: reading media criticism makes you an infinetly more discerning reader. Check it out and fuck Jake Tapper, Eliot A. Cohen, David Leonhardt, Graeme Wood, Joe Scarborough, and the many, many other sanctimonious scumbags who ran (and in many cases, continue to run) cover for genocide. Like Johnson, I’m not convinced any of them will pay for it in any real way, but in a just world, they would.
A total red-pill (said ironically). Like Alec Karakatsanis’ “Copaganda” and Michael Parenti’s “Inventing Reality,” a book that exposes the moral and intellectual rot at the core of elite liberal media, and, by association, the Very Serious political circles from which they source their opinions. Found the quantitative analysis especially interesting and important to drive the argument home. Also, I cannot stress this enough: the Editor in Chief of “The Atlantic” was an IDF prison guard during the First Intifada!
Anyways, I’d call it a must-read, especially as someone who consumes news from a handful of the outlets mentioned in this book semi-regularly: reading media criticism makes you an infinetly more discerning reader. Check it out and fuck Jake Tapper, Eliot A. Cohen, David Leonhardt, Graeme Wood, Joe Scarborough, and the many, many other sanctimonious scumbags who ran (and in many cases, continue to run) cover for genocide. Like Johnson, I’m not convinced any of them will pay for it in any real way, but in a just world, they would.
April 25, 2026
Despite having followed the genocide closely, such forensic recap still packs a massive punch. Grim but realistic conclusion which I agree with.
I would just mention The Grayzone as major source of debunking media lies which in this book are ascribed to The Intercept which didn't really do it first. Great read, sobering.
I would just mention The Grayzone as major source of debunking media lies which in this book are ascribed to The Intercept which didn't really do it first. Great read, sobering.
August 31, 2026
I’m thoroughly impressed with the quantitative analysis that Adam Johnson has done on the propaganda that mainstream media in the United States has perpetrated against the Palestinian resistance. This piece of literature would have taken a long time to collect the data, as Johnson has seemed to painstakingly comb through 3 years worth of daily reporting by almost 10 main news outlets across the US.
This comprehensive study is critical in showing how the US media has been actively supported the genocide. They cannot bury these statistics. They cannot hide their complicity. They will one day be held accountable for their actions thanks to the works of Johnson and his team.
This comprehensive study is critical in showing how the US media has been actively supported the genocide. They cannot bury these statistics. They cannot hide their complicity. They will one day be held accountable for their actions thanks to the works of Johnson and his team.
April 25, 2026
I appreciated the thorough methodology and approach taken in the research of this book. The writing is clear and astute, and where subjectivity is applied regarding word choice or phrasing, well thought out justification is provided. Even though the content isn't necessarily revelatory to anyone who has witnessed and paid heed to the flagrant (unsurprising but nevertheless grossly disappointing) media complicity (perpetuation/perpetration) of Israel's genocide on Gaza, it doesn't undermine the importance of this well-documented account. I also appreciated that this book occupies a space where it makes sense for an American author to have written it -- Johnson doesn't stretch beyond what is appropriate for his positionality as a media critic, which is a level of sensitivity and journalistic and academic professionalism not always upheld. Johnson limits his substantiated opinion on future prospects to a very short conclusion, and while it is bleak (and inshallah doesn't play out), is not unrealistic. Free Palestine.
May 6, 2026
A well needed shot of moral clarity in an increasingly obfuscated society in which empty handwringing, blatant dehumanizing propaganda, and a media in servitude to empire have enabled and advanced the horrific destruction of Gaza.
What was it Lenin said about “freedom of the press” amongst capitalists over 100 years ago? What were Nyerere’s thoughts on America’s two party system? Both are integral to an analysis of the conditions that have lead to such a disgrace, and Johnson here thankfully leaves no stone unturned in his excoriation of the neoliberal media’s “coverage” of late 2023 and 2024 in Gaza and the campus protests.
“Who is allowed to be human?” Johnson muses, amongst analyzing hundreds of leading, doubt sowing headlines and fluff articles from the media that blatantly answer: in their eyes, certainly not Palestinians.
Essential reading.
What was it Lenin said about “freedom of the press” amongst capitalists over 100 years ago? What were Nyerere’s thoughts on America’s two party system? Both are integral to an analysis of the conditions that have lead to such a disgrace, and Johnson here thankfully leaves no stone unturned in his excoriation of the neoliberal media’s “coverage” of late 2023 and 2024 in Gaza and the campus protests.
“Who is allowed to be human?” Johnson muses, amongst analyzing hundreds of leading, doubt sowing headlines and fluff articles from the media that blatantly answer: in their eyes, certainly not Palestinians.
Essential reading.
September 20, 2026
An important and devastating book laying out how the media has manufactured consent for the genocide in Gaza.
June 30, 2026
As the author says, they can’t do much about their nation’s foreign policy but that can document media complicity. This follows in a long line of essential criticism that stems from the like of Philo and Miller’s Bad News From Israel and More Bad News From Israel. Essential.
July 20, 2026
“The purpose, again, was to soothe, and make liberals—whose institutions and president were arming and funding mass death before their very eyes—feel better about themselves. To compartmentalize, scroll past, and index as sad, but not something anyone in the West could really do anything to stop.”
Excellent and extremely informative read detailing the lengths the mainstream liberal USA medias have gone to in order to justify, or outright pretend, that the genocide of the Palestinian people by the Israeli government isn’t occurring. Highly recommend. Free Palestine 🇵🇸
Excellent and extremely informative read detailing the lengths the mainstream liberal USA medias have gone to in order to justify, or outright pretend, that the genocide of the Palestinian people by the Israeli government isn’t occurring. Highly recommend. Free Palestine 🇵🇸
April 24, 2026
Adam, I relived my frustrations with corporate media while also feeling vindicated for my bias against it. This book confirms why independent media is so important. It also explains why nihilism is so rampant among normies. Thank you and your team for pursuing the universal truth.
June 8, 2026
We zijn niet boos genoeg. In plaats van mijn mening hier te delen – ik ben het eens met argumenten in dit werk – wil ik een korte samenvatting geven en een lijstje van nieuwe termen delen. Twee uitspraken galmden in mijn hoofd tijdens mijn lectuur. Zo zei een docent van me ooit: ‘Staat Israël is een spiegel van het Westen.’ En ik geloof dat het Sylvana Simons was die ooit zei (of het was Anja Meulenbelt): ‘Denk je nou echt dat 400 jaar aan kolonialisme geen invloed heeft achtergelaten op ons denken?’
Het begint met een analyse hoe Palestijns verzet (en een vaag idee van Hamas) direct wordt gelijkgesteld met islamitisch fundamentalisme. Het maakt niet uit of deze berichtgeving echt juist is, zolang de juiste woorden in dezelfde combinatie genoemd worden. Zolang het inspeelt op een westers wereldbeeld en genocidaal denken ondersteunt, hoeft het immers niet verder onderzocht te worden. De dubbele standaard is bizar, maar jammer genoeg niet verrassend in een racistisch paradigma.
Daarna focust het op de actieve ontmenselijking van Palestijnen op taalkundig en narratief gebied. Zo wordt er steevast gepraat in hele raciale termen omtrent Palestijns geweld (‘slachten’, ‘barbaars’), terwijl veel grootschaliger zionistisch geweld zachtjes wordt goedgepraat. Het verklaart hoe ook ‘fatsoenlijke’, ‘liberale’, ‘linkse’ en serieuze media helpt om Westerse actoren als zogenaamd hulpeloos te schetsen.
Amerikaanse Democratische archetypen zijn:
- ‘Helpless Biden’ (het Westen kan niets doen aan zionistisch geweld);
- ‘Fuming/Deeply Concerned Biden’ (we vinden het heel erg (punt)) en
- ‘Third Partying’ (als wij stoppen met genocidaal geweld doorzetten, dan doet iemand anders het wel.
Hierna wordt liberaal ‘Oh Dear!-ism’ uiteengezet. Hoe berichtgeving in woordgebruik actief uitgevoerd geweld presenteert als een natuurlijk kwaad. Natuurlijk is fatsoenlijk publiek verdrietig over Gaza, maar daar eindigt het bij. Kritiek op krachten die verdriet veroorzaken dient gecensureerd te worden door deze ‘fatsoenlijke’ kanalen. Dit is het punt waarin de analyse draait van het falen van westerse mediakanalen naar het falen van de westerse rechtsstaat in het algemeen. Denk hierbij aan o.a. racistische bedrijfsvoering in HR-speak tot simpelweg doxxen.
Hierna komt de nadruk te liggen op de dubbele standaarden in de geloofwaardigheid van Israëlische bronnen tegenover alle andere internationale mensenrechtenorganisaties ooit (ongeveer). Denk hierbij aan de gehallucineerde Hamastunnels onder ziekenhuizen. Dat bewezen wordt dat deze verhalen kul zijn, maakt niet uit, een constante stroom aan onkritische berichtgeving geeft het beeld dat iedere Palestijn een terrorist is.
Langzamerhand gaat de analyse zichzelf herhalen, toch ben ik er nog steeds niet overheen hoe diepgeworteld racistische dubbele standaarden werken in berichtgeving en taal. Fatsoenlijke kenniscreatie vervult één functie: onszelf overtuigen dat we onze eigen medeplichtigheid achteraf nicht gewußt haben.
- Ga dit lezen in plaats van het NRC, NOS of al helemaal the New York Times, brr -
Het begint met een analyse hoe Palestijns verzet (en een vaag idee van Hamas) direct wordt gelijkgesteld met islamitisch fundamentalisme. Het maakt niet uit of deze berichtgeving echt juist is, zolang de juiste woorden in dezelfde combinatie genoemd worden. Zolang het inspeelt op een westers wereldbeeld en genocidaal denken ondersteunt, hoeft het immers niet verder onderzocht te worden. De dubbele standaard is bizar, maar jammer genoeg niet verrassend in een racistisch paradigma.
Daarna focust het op de actieve ontmenselijking van Palestijnen op taalkundig en narratief gebied. Zo wordt er steevast gepraat in hele raciale termen omtrent Palestijns geweld (‘slachten’, ‘barbaars’), terwijl veel grootschaliger zionistisch geweld zachtjes wordt goedgepraat. Het verklaart hoe ook ‘fatsoenlijke’, ‘liberale’, ‘linkse’ en serieuze media helpt om Westerse actoren als zogenaamd hulpeloos te schetsen.
Amerikaanse Democratische archetypen zijn:
- ‘Helpless Biden’ (het Westen kan niets doen aan zionistisch geweld);
- ‘Fuming/Deeply Concerned Biden’ (we vinden het heel erg (punt)) en
- ‘Third Partying’ (als wij stoppen met genocidaal geweld doorzetten, dan doet iemand anders het wel.
Hierna wordt liberaal ‘Oh Dear!-ism’ uiteengezet. Hoe berichtgeving in woordgebruik actief uitgevoerd geweld presenteert als een natuurlijk kwaad. Natuurlijk is fatsoenlijk publiek verdrietig over Gaza, maar daar eindigt het bij. Kritiek op krachten die verdriet veroorzaken dient gecensureerd te worden door deze ‘fatsoenlijke’ kanalen. Dit is het punt waarin de analyse draait van het falen van westerse mediakanalen naar het falen van de westerse rechtsstaat in het algemeen. Denk hierbij aan o.a. racistische bedrijfsvoering in HR-speak tot simpelweg doxxen.
Hierna komt de nadruk te liggen op de dubbele standaarden in de geloofwaardigheid van Israëlische bronnen tegenover alle andere internationale mensenrechtenorganisaties ooit (ongeveer). Denk hierbij aan de gehallucineerde Hamastunnels onder ziekenhuizen. Dat bewezen wordt dat deze verhalen kul zijn, maakt niet uit, een constante stroom aan onkritische berichtgeving geeft het beeld dat iedere Palestijn een terrorist is.
Langzamerhand gaat de analyse zichzelf herhalen, toch ben ik er nog steeds niet overheen hoe diepgeworteld racistische dubbele standaarden werken in berichtgeving en taal. Fatsoenlijke kenniscreatie vervult één functie: onszelf overtuigen dat we onze eigen medeplichtigheid achteraf nicht gewußt haben.
- Ga dit lezen in plaats van het NRC, NOS of al helemaal the New York Times, brr -
April 26, 2026
For two and a half years mass media has systematically lied, obscured, deflected, and obliterated journalistic standards in a show of unconditional material support of our government’s false narratives defaming all Palestinians and enabling what all reputable human rights organizations have described as genocide.
This behavior is nothing new. What’s different now is they haven’t been able to freeze out all other media. I recently heard the quote “morality is long term common sense.” Institutional power warps that reality. People begin to believe they can act unilaterally without consequence. By abandoning all moral obligations, mass media has propelled itself full speed into an unreality that will result in generations of harm; not only to innocent peoples all over the world but to itself, our Government, and citizens of the western world made complicit through taxation to pay for their crimes.
To make up for this staggering journalistic malpractice, individuals and organizations have been documenting this inconvenient reality. On paper we are supposed to have a government ‘for and by the people.’ Without adequate information integrity we are robbed of our ability to understand and judge the actions of the government that is supposed to represent us. This has done and continues to do irreparable damage.
In How to Sell a Genocide: The Media's Complicity in the Destruction of Gaza, media analyst Adam Johnson has documented in great detail mass media’s many indefensible practices.
As someone who has painstakingly studied this exploitation of the populace perpetrated by our institutions, I have so much gratitude for this book. Above all I hope we can recognize this systemic failure and begin to rectify the unspeakable wrongs being visited upon so much of the world.
This behavior is nothing new. What’s different now is they haven’t been able to freeze out all other media. I recently heard the quote “morality is long term common sense.” Institutional power warps that reality. People begin to believe they can act unilaterally without consequence. By abandoning all moral obligations, mass media has propelled itself full speed into an unreality that will result in generations of harm; not only to innocent peoples all over the world but to itself, our Government, and citizens of the western world made complicit through taxation to pay for their crimes.
To make up for this staggering journalistic malpractice, individuals and organizations have been documenting this inconvenient reality. On paper we are supposed to have a government ‘for and by the people.’ Without adequate information integrity we are robbed of our ability to understand and judge the actions of the government that is supposed to represent us. This has done and continues to do irreparable damage.
In How to Sell a Genocide: The Media's Complicity in the Destruction of Gaza, media analyst Adam Johnson has documented in great detail mass media’s many indefensible practices.
As someone who has painstakingly studied this exploitation of the populace perpetrated by our institutions, I have so much gratitude for this book. Above all I hope we can recognize this systemic failure and begin to rectify the unspeakable wrongs being visited upon so much of the world.
June 2, 2026
An important and comprehensive work outlining media bias and complicity when it comes to covering Gaza.
It's clear our mainstream media are beholden to an embarrassingly amateurish hardcore pro-Israel bias and have been for several decades. Johnson's timely and important book proves it all and then some.
Get this : A directive from CNN management in the days after October 7, first reported by Boguslaw, required that “all copy on all platforms that’s connected in any way to the Israeli or Palestinian stories” must “be approved in advance by the Jerusalem bureau.”
Of the 208 hours the Sunday shows were on-air, only one of these shows, CBS’s Face the Nation, featured a single Palestinian guest—Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Kingdom, who appeared in a seven-minute Face the Nation interview on November 5, 2023.
By contrast, the Sunday shows featured Israeli guests 20 times— either government officials or families of Israeli hostages. Netanyahu alone made five appearances—once on each of the three network shows, and twice on CNN’s State of the Union.
None of the shows featured any Palestinian academics, activists, or spokespeople for human rights groups.
The word “massacre” was used on the Sunday shows to describe violence against Israelis 33 times and only twice for Palestinians. The word “slaughter” was used 33 times to describe violence against Israelis and only three times for Palestinians. The word “brutal” was used 79 times for acts targeting Israelis and four for those affecting Palestinians.
The glaring example is the behavior of the 'left-wing' NYT: outrageously influenced by Israel.
Is this simply being biased, or is the Israel lobby so ubiquitous?
It's clear our mainstream media are beholden to an embarrassingly amateurish hardcore pro-Israel bias and have been for several decades. Johnson's timely and important book proves it all and then some.
Get this : A directive from CNN management in the days after October 7, first reported by Boguslaw, required that “all copy on all platforms that’s connected in any way to the Israeli or Palestinian stories” must “be approved in advance by the Jerusalem bureau.”
Of the 208 hours the Sunday shows were on-air, only one of these shows, CBS’s Face the Nation, featured a single Palestinian guest—Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Kingdom, who appeared in a seven-minute Face the Nation interview on November 5, 2023.
By contrast, the Sunday shows featured Israeli guests 20 times— either government officials or families of Israeli hostages. Netanyahu alone made five appearances—once on each of the three network shows, and twice on CNN’s State of the Union.
None of the shows featured any Palestinian academics, activists, or spokespeople for human rights groups.
The word “massacre” was used on the Sunday shows to describe violence against Israelis 33 times and only twice for Palestinians. The word “slaughter” was used 33 times to describe violence against Israelis and only three times for Palestinians. The word “brutal” was used 79 times for acts targeting Israelis and four for those affecting Palestinians.
The glaring example is the behavior of the 'left-wing' NYT: outrageously influenced by Israel.
Is this simply being biased, or is the Israel lobby so ubiquitous?
June 23, 2026
A book that is as fast-paced as it is wince-inducing. A data-driven media analysis that takes the US’ Liberal Legacy Media as its subject, highlighting its insidious mechanisms of support and apologism for American policy in Israel and Gaza.
As Johnson states in his sobering conclusion, this book, at least within our current political context, exists only as a document for posterity, which is likely to be ignored (intentionally excluded) from future Right/liberal discourse regarding the Gaza genocide. It should be the duty of anyone who still believes in the rights of Palestinians, the oppressed and all peoples, to elevate the status of this book to being one that buttresses a successful political and legal case against those who perpetrated, aided and abetted a genocide.
As Johnson states in his sobering conclusion, this book, at least within our current political context, exists only as a document for posterity, which is likely to be ignored (intentionally excluded) from future Right/liberal discourse regarding the Gaza genocide. It should be the duty of anyone who still believes in the rights of Palestinians, the oppressed and all peoples, to elevate the status of this book to being one that buttresses a successful political and legal case against those who perpetrated, aided and abetted a genocide.
October 5, 2026
Excellent media criticism in that it sends you into an angry fugue state several times. Anyone who isn't already going to hell knows that our western media is complicit in genocide denial, minimizing of Palestinian suffering and pushing of orientialist tropes to paint any resistance to Israel's occupation as non-cognitive savagery. But to have it laid out so plainly like this is another thing entirely -- each time Johnson lists the number of times language such as "Hamas-run health ministry" was used in outlets such as The New York Times, I became even angrier.
In a truly just world everyone involved would face the Hague. They hung journalists at Nuremberg too.
In a truly just world everyone involved would face the Hague. They hung journalists at Nuremberg too.
May 14, 2026
Great read. An honest analysis of a dishonest media landscape. Would not recommend for those who like to feel warm and fuzzy, or those who have their heads firmly dug into the sand when it comes to world events.
May 11, 2026
Masterwork
August 23, 2026
Damn that was depressing. Thorough and well-researched, but especially the epilogue, hopeless.
August 25, 2026
This was heart wrenching and phenomenally well done. Should be mandatory reading for anyone who works in international reporting.
September 12, 2026
holy shit
September 14, 2026
We are living in The Truman Show.
September 27, 2026
It took me a while to finish this book due to the heavy nature of the content, but it was a very important read.
July 12, 2026
Such an important piece of work that sheds light on a ever relevant topic.
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