Thursday, May 10, 2012

Gender Bender

Messrs. Naomi Chazan (above) and Tzipi Livni (below)


What is it about the hacks who write about the happenings in the Middle East that causes them to be confused about the genders of Israeli politicians?

Some years ago, Anthony Loewenstein, of no particular fame other than that he was once apparently rejected by Fairfax as a potential cadet reporter, infamously described the Kadima Party's Tzipi Livni as being of the male gender. The gaffe, one of many, simply confirmed Mr. Loewenstein's low credibility when discussing Israeli politics.

So what do we make of the Age's Ruth Pollard who wrote the following in a piece today about the surprise announcement of a coalition between the Israeli Likud and Kadima parties:-

Netanyahu's power play all about securing home front
The new coalition leaves ''an opposition so sparse that it cannot really be effective'', warned Naomi Chazan, a former deputy speaker in the Knesset and president of the New Israel Fund.

He said there would be much more street action: ''It will be the people against the government more because they will have so few voices in the official arena.''
Naomi Chazan is a senior political figure in Israeli politics and she is definitely not a "he".

So how is it that the head of Fairfax' Middle East could possibly get her gender wrong?

Perhaps he needs to get his eyes tested? :)

7 comments:

Wilbur Post said...

The Age has now rectified the error.

No apolgies to Mr. Chazan though.

Anonymous said...

Do you know how journalism works at all, Mr Post? Because if you did, it might occur to you that someone other than the correspondent made the mistake. And then where would your argument be?

Anonymous said...

"The Age has now rectified the error."

Have they acknowledged changing the text?

Anonymous said...

Another person who knows nothing about journalism. Journalists "change the text" of every single story in the paper - that's why it is called an "edition".

I reiterate, that if Pollard did not make the mistake, your argument falls in a heap.

Wilbur Post said...

The Age did rectify the error in its on line edition but she was a he in the hard copy edition which I managed to purloin from my local coffee shop (with the consent of the proprietor).

Chazan will always be a man according to the Ruth Pollard article of Thursday May 10, 2012.

Anonymous said...

Boy she has a face that only her mother would love maybe thats why
Palestinian lover Pollard mistook her for a man.

Faygale.

Roy Westgarth said...

It's good to note that Pollard has at least one fan out there. Sure thing. The mistake was made by someone else in the Fairfax organisation. We all know how it works but what about all of the other mistakes Pollard's made while in this job? What about the stories she's missed?

Now, let's see.

Stories about corruption in Hamas and the PA - zero

Stories about how the majority of Palestinian hunger strikers really ended up in Israeli prisons - zero

I could go on and on.