While reporting from Gaza, MSNBC correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin was asked by Andrea Mitchell about claims that Hamas was intentionally firing missiles from civilian locations. Mohyeldin, who has a history of reporting for the Muslim Brotherhood’s media arm Al Jazeera as well as CNN, didn’t flinch as he issued a bald-faced lie in support of Hamas:

Shortly after Mohyeldin’s comments, Mitchell interviewed Mark Regev, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. To begin that exchange, Regeve essentially called Mohyeldin a liar. The full exchange is in the video below but we have included a couple of audio clips from Regev’s response to Mohyeldin first.

Regev responds to Mohyeldin’s comments that Hamas is not using civilians as shields:

A short time later, Regev made it clear what the Hamas strategy is:

Here is video of the entire exchange between Mitchell and Mohyeldin as well as her interview with Regev:

Clearly, a main difference between Regev and Mohyeldin is that the former’s position is made clear while the latter’s position is rooted in deceit. Regev unequivocally supports the Israeli position and Mohyeldin supports the Hamas (Muslim Brotherhood) position while portraying himself as an ‘objective’ journalist. A consequence of this for the ‘low information’ viewers is that Mohyeldin must be closer to the truth because he is ‘objective’.

In reality, the opposite is true.

Mohyeldin’s loyalties aside, there is another dynamic at work when it comes to reporting from Gaza. Reporting the truth from there – even if you wanted to – is not good for your health. In 2008, Fox News reporter Mike Tobin went into Gaza and met up with Palestinians who were firing rockets into Israel.

Giving Tobin the benefit of the doubt would require accepting his being deferential to the terrorists (and very biased in their favor) in exchange for getting an exclusive report. If that’s true, Tobin’s report was ill-advised and counterproductive as it gave terrorists a platform, unwarranted attention and credibility. The video could not be located but below is an audio excerpt from Tobin’s report.

Note the sound of a rockets being launched during Tobin’s report. Was he witness to attacks?

The truth is that mainstream media is at best giving both sides a voice at the expense of reporting the truth.