The New York Times Jerusalem Bureau Chief, Steven Erlanger made a series of statements at a Mideast Press Club meeting that shed much light on his and other newspaper’s coverage of the fighting between Israel and Hizbullah. Erlanger seems gravely concerned about proportionality.
He lamented the lack of "proportionality" in the war, adding: "This is a charge that came against Israel from the United Nations… the French, the Italians." The New York Times bureau chief also said that Israelis "were not interested in whether 1,000 Lebanese civilians needed to die," adding that the question of "whether Israel fought a proportional war is not much of interest here (in Israel)."
I think Israelis are concerned about proportionality, but unlike Erlanger they are considering what Israel may face in the future not just in the present. With Iran bent to acquiring nuclear weapons any steps used to remove its proxy from Israel’s northern border are proportional.
Erlanger also seemed unconcerned about Hizbullah control of the media in Lebanon. The article states:
While other panelists said Hizbullah placed dictatorial control over colleagues reporting from Lebanon, Ernlanger maintained that the only threat faced by his own colleague in Lebanon was posed by "Israeli missiles."
Tell that to Richard Engel, NBC News Correspondent who stated on CNN that Hizbullah fighters threatened to kill himif he filmed things they did not want him to:
They've not tried to stop us filming other events while we're in the field, but they have, on several occasions, threatened reporters here in Tyre, south Lebanon. From the location where we're standing right now, we've been able to see, today and on other days, outgoing Katyusha rockets. And on more than one occasion people from Hezbollah have come and said, "Do not film the locations of these rockets when they're being launched."
At one time, when we were talking and having a conversation with this Hezbollah representative, he said, "Look, we're serious, we will kill you if you film these outgoing rockets." So it is a threat, but when we've been out in the field, we've not had situations where they told us to stop filming.