Press Coverage of Civilian Casualties:
Yesterday was another remarkable day for this diary, in that I was the only mainstream `news service' in the world to offer a conservative estimate, based on Lebanese health ministry figures, of the number of Lebanese civilians killed by Israel. The health ministry figures were completely absent from yesterday's news, as far as I could tell. I was unhappy about that, and I hoped today AP or another `real' news service would come to their common senses and begin re-reporting those most reliable and `confirmed' figures. Well, today was a little better than yesterday, because AP has provided an estimate of the total number of Lebanese killed, though readers are still denied the figure on Lebanese civilians killed.
Today, I will again estimate total Lebanese civilian deaths, from the ratio of the most recent day (two days ago) when health ministry figures for civilian and total deaths were provided. The math looks like this: 524 x 700+ / 606+ = 605.28.
AP/Yahoo
I wish AP would tell us the best estimate of how many Lebanese civilians have been killed -- i.e., the figure provided by the health ministry -- as did just last Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
Since the fighting began, at least 700 people have died on the Lebanese side. The Israeli toll stood at 103 killed -- including 36 civilians.
http://news.yahoo.com/...
FoxNews/AP
Fox is using the AP copy; its details on civilian casualties are the same as above.
http://www.foxnews.com/...
CNN
CNN continues to use the Lebanese security forces figure, which apparently doesn't distinguish civilian and non-civilian deaths. Repeating myself from yesterday, my strong impression is that the lower Lebanese health ministry figures -- used by AP (and Fox and Yahoo) today -- are more certain and `confirmed'.
As of Wednesday, Israeli casualties in the conflict stand at 105 dead, including 38 civilians, and more than 700 wounded, according to the IDF.
Lebanese security forces said that 827 people have died, most of them civilians, and more than 3,200 have been wounded.
http://www.cnn.com/...
Reuters
Reuters continues not to attribute its Lebanon figures. They may be Reuters' own, but in all likelihood they continue to reflect casualty reports provided by the Lebanese security ministry.
At least 1,005 people in Lebanon and 101 Israelis have been killed in four weeks of bloodshed which erupted when Hizbollah seized two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.
http://today.reuters.com/...
AFP
Once again, I think the data provided to AFP is coming from a government source relying less on confirmed deaths than does the Lebanese health ministry.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora said there had been no progress on drafting a new resolution to try to end the conflict, which has killed more than 1,000 people and created a major humanitarian crisis.
... A total of 65 military personnel have been confirmed killed since July 12 while 36 Israeli civilians have also lost their lives.
http://www.afp.com/...
BBC
Same old lack of specificity from the BBC.
More than 1,000 people, most of them civilians, have now been killed in the conflict, the Lebanese government has said. More than 100 Israelis, most of them soldiers, have also been killed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/...
I decided to stop reviewing the UK Guardian. It does not seem, after all, to be a true up-to-the-minute internet news service.
Please donate to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, at www.ifrc.org, to assist Lebanon.
P.S.
Great news from Hezbollah today, in the final two paragraphs of Yahoo's main story right now (actually, 75 minutes ago now), the scary `Nasrallah says get out of Haifa' AP report:
However, [Sheik Hassan] Nasrallah said Hezbollah was solidly behind a Lebanese government plan to deploy 15,000 soldiers in south Lebanon once a cease-fire is reached and Israel withdraws its forces.
"In the past we used to oppose or not agree on deployment of the army at the borders," the Hezbollah leader said. Now, he said, "we agree on deployment of the army."
http://news.yahoo.com/...