These concepts are regularly invoked by journalists in the discussion of Israel's military actions, most recently following the Gaza flotilla raid in May 2010, and most commonly in relation to the Gaza war of 2008/9. Israel is routinely accused of 'war crimes' and use of excessive - or 'disproportionate' - force against the Palestinians and their supporters.
However, despite the fact that the leaked Afghan reports contain details of previously unreported Nato killings of hundreds of Afghan civilians, this research shows that virtually none of the reporting of this story in the UK has raised the spectre of ‘war crimes’ and the ‘disproportionate use of force’.
KEY FINDINGS:
• Of 52 articles published on the websites of BBC News, The Guardian, The Independent, The Times, The Daily Telegraph and Financial Times on 25/26 July, not one cited the international legal concept of ‘proportionality’
• Of 23 articles published on The Guardian’s dedicated webpage, only two made references to possible war crimes. (1) Neither references appeared in the section called ‘The death toll’ which focused on civilian deaths
• Of six BBC News articles, only one mentioned the issue of ‘war crimes’ when relating the claims by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. (2) In its ‘selection’ of the log contents, ‘Civilians in the firing line’ came seventh out of a list of nine topics. ‘War crimes’ or ‘proportionality’ were not mentioned (3)
• Of the eight articles across the six publications which contained the phrase ‘war crimes’ in reference to the contents of the leaked reports (4), seven were in the context of reporting claims by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Only one ‘war crimes’ reference appeared out of this specific context
(1) 'Logs reveal grim toll on civilians,' 'Afghanistan war logs: Wikileaks founder rebuts White House criticism'
(2) 'US says Wikileaks could 'threaten national security''
(3) 'Excerpts: Leaked US Afghan war records'
(4) 'Logs reveal grim toll on civilians,' 'Afghanistan war logs: Wikileaks founder rebuts White House criticism,' 'US says Wikileaks could 'threaten national security'', 'Wikileaks files 'may reveal thousands of war crimes'', 'Afghan leaks ‘pose very real risk to US forces,’' (The Times) 'Afghan leaks raise ‘serious questions’ about US policy, says Obama ally,' (The Times) 'How the day unfolded: Afghan logs ‘show war crimes’ – Wikileaks,' (The Times) 'Afghan war logs: 'files may contain evidence of war crimes'', 'Logs reveal grim toll on civilians'
REFERENCES
The Guardian
'The investigation: leak exposes real war'
'The interactive: IED attacks'
'Logs reveal grim toll on civilians'
'Task Force 373 – hunting Taliban'
'Commanders point finger at Pakistan'
'How coalition is losing IED war'
'Afghanistan war logs: Wikileaks founder rebuts White House criticism'
'Wikileaks founder Julian Assange: more revelations to come'
'Afghanistan war logs reveal hand of Osama bin Laden'
'The key incidents'
'Biggest leak in intelligence history'
'Civilians caught in UK firing line'
''Friendly fire' deaths that plagued invasion from the start'
''Green on green' – clashes between Afghan police and troops'
'US condemns Pakistan over Taliban'
'Secret war along the Pakistan border'
'Iran's covert operations in Afghanistan'
'US covered up missile strike on Chinook'
'Drones bring remote control death'
'Nato feared Taliban could tap phones'
'The unvarnished picture'
'War logs aren't just about bungling Bush'
'The war logs can bring transparency to Afghanistan'
BBC News
'US says Wikileaks could 'threaten national security''
'Excerpts: Leaked US Afghan war records'
'Wikileaks row is the last thing Nato needs'
'Wikileaks reveals awkward truths'
'Government 'laments' Afghan war documents leak'
'What is Wikileaks?'
Read more at Just Journalism
