[Avodah] Geneivat Da'at/Onaat Devarim for a Ben Noa'h

[Arie Folger]

Rabaussaj,

On my blog (http://ariefolger.wordpress.com/ ) I posted a video
comparing two news broadcasts of the same incident in a refugee camp
in YeSH, where it is blatantly noticeable that, through omission of a
crucial fact by France3, it strongly implied that the Israeli military
was responsible for the death of a six year old Arab child. In the
same video, you can see the report of the same incident by another
French TV station, TF1, which report one additional minor, but somehow
crucial fact: the bullet came from a Palestinian Arab terrorist.

This issue got me thinking about the following. First of all, is
withholding such information assur for a Jew (we'll ignore for a
moment that such blood libels incite others to violence, because once
we start mentioning piqua'h nefesh and eyva, we'll no longer be able
to analyze the finer points)?

The Tzitz Eli'ezer quotes a Yad Rema, who extends the assey
prohibition of midevar sheqer tir'haq to written material, as well,
which would include multimedia, his point being that sheqer is sheqer
even if you use alternate communication channels, and didn't actually
say anything. So, it would seem that this is sheqer by omission. That,
in turn, may be a form of motzi shem ra' and onaat devarim.

But is that so? Is omission sheqer deOraita?

In the case of broadcasts by subscribers, we may add that there is
commercial wrongdoing of the geneivat da'at type, as the clients
assume that they are buying factually correct news, while it isn't.
Likewise, in cases where the news is syndicated by other channels and
payment is passed from local channels to news provider, there may be a
case of geneivat da'at. However, what about advertising supported
networks (which most are), are the advertisers clients of the entire
offering, as they peg their reputation on the channels where they
recruit customers?

Finally, since the networks aren't Jewish, does any of this apply to
non Jews? The prohibition of Sheqer seems disconnected from any of the
7 mitzvot BN, so that seems inapplicable.

Onaah mentions ish et a'hiv and 'amito, which both seem to be
regarding fellow Jews. But is it? The exception to the prohibition of
onaat devarim regarding a rasha is explained by either RSZA or the
Shevet haLevi (don't recall, sorry) as being a particular aspect of
tokhe'ha, and hence, when the mitzvah of tokhe'ha cannot be fulfilled,
either because one won't be successful, doesn't have the influence, or
because there is no such obligation regarding a nokhri, then the issur
of onaat devarim returns in full force. Is that obligation two sidede,
or are only Jews prevented from onaat devarim, while benei Noa'h are
free to do as they please?

How about motzi shem ra'?

Your thoughts will be much appreciated,
Good Shabbos,
-- 
Arie Folger
http://ariefolger.wordpress.com/
http://www.ariefolger.googlepages.com