Newsflash: Goliath is Jewish

More of this Feature • Part 1: Media War in the Middle East • Part 3: Why the Press portrays Goliath as Jewish • Part 4: Ways to Fight Media Bias  Join the Discussion "I am amazed at the tremendous amount of misinformation and one-sided reporting in the World Media." Yidle   Related Resources • Jewish in Israel Today • Jewish in the World Today    From Other Guides • Media Watchdogs • Media Analysis and Criticism • Voices of Anger, Voices of Reason  Elsewhere on the Web • CAMERA • Objectivitiy and the Media

CAMERA (the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America) is a national organization devoted to promoting accurate, full and balanced media coverage of Israel and the Middle East through a combination of systematic monitoring, research, communication with media outlets, public education and citizen activism. Win Meiselman, former president of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), called the networks "unscrupulous in presenting a one-sided picture" of events in the Middle East (Karetzsky and Frankel, p. 60).

CAMERA has compiled the following examples of media bias in reports covering the last three weeks of violence in the Middle East.  

Photo Falsehood (Oct. 8, 2000)
http://world.std.com/~camera/docs/alert/tuvia-up.html

Arabs in Jerusalem stoned a taxi in which Tuvia Grossman, an American Jewish student, was riding. Then they dragged Tuvia out of the car, beat him, and stabbed him.

A photographer snapped a photo of Grossman, dripping with blood, next to an angry Israeli policeman. The Associated Press released the photo with the caption "An Israeli policeman and a Palestinian on the Temple Mount." This photo and the false description of the story told by the photo was used by newspapers worldwide to portray Israel as the aggressor and the Palestinians as the victims.

CAMERA calls this a case of "media unwillingness to present the vulnerability of the Israeli side and brutality of the Palestinians." The Associated Press simply assumed the victim in the photo was Arab. And newspapers worldwide, after having circulating the misinformation, only put limited effort into correcting the story and undoing the damage.

Rosh HaShana Riots (October 12, 2000)
http://world.std.com/~camera/docs/alert/lupdate.html

In this article, CAMERA exposes the media's inaccurate portrayal of the Palestinians as unarmed, civilian stone throwers. CAMERA shows that, in fact, "The Palestinian crowds seen on television are a volatile mix of civilians, including children, many of them bussed to the scene by the Palestinian Authority, Tanzim militia (plain-clothed and heavily armed) under the control of Yasir Arafat, and uniformed and non-uniformed Palestinian "security forces" and snipers who hide behind the crowds and shoot at Israeli personnel."

Jews Rampage, Arabs Demonstrate (October 13, 2000)
http://world.std.com/~camera/docs/alert/rampage.html

The media uses "lop-sided language in reporting on Jewish attacks against Arabs versus Arab attacks against Jews." The Arabs are described by the media as being "protestors" or "demonstrators" while the Jews are described as "rampaging."

New York Times Again the Picture of Bias (October 16, 2000)
http://world.std.com/~camera/docs/alert/shipler.html

CAMERA reveals the bias shown in the New York Times by the captions the Times chooses to use for two pictures. In one photo, an Israeli soldier is shown with his automatic rifle in firing position. In the second photo, a Palestinian is shown holding an automatic rifle. The caption under the photo of the Israeli reads "An Israeli facing stone-throwers in Hebron." and the caption under the photo of the Palestinian reads "At the burial of a Palestinian killed in the Gaza Strip." Again, the Israeli is portrayed as the aggressor against relatively harmless stone throwers, and the Palestinian is portrayed as just innocently holding a gun while attending a funeral of one of his fellow victims of Israeli aggression.

Journalists doing PR for the PA (October 19, 2000)
http://world.std.com/~camera/docs/alert/rai-up.html

This article also refers to the stories of pro-Palestinian reporters who were attacked by Palestinian mobs. Mark Seager, a British photographer who makes no attempt to hide his pro-Palestinian sentiments, had his camera destroyed and felt his life was in danger after he took pictures of the burnt and beaten body of one of the Ramallah victim's as it was being dragged. Another journalist, Nasser Atta, a Palestinian producer for ABC, was filming the lynch when "youths came to us and they stopped us with some knives, with some beating."

There are also cases of official PA intimidation of journalists, such as retraction of unrestricted access to PA areas and officials, following unfavorable stories.

BBC Reporter Beaten by Palestinian Mob (October 22, 2000)
http://world.std.com/~camera/docs/alert/adams.html

"BBC World Service reporter Paul Adams was assaulted by a Palestinian mob as he was covering an apparently accidental explosion in the Bethlehem headquarters of a Palestinian militia." CAMERA criticizes the attack itself as a means to intimidate the media and ensure pro-Palestinian coverage of events. Furthermore, CAMERA criticizes the media's refusal to cover the intimidation and attacks.

These are just a sampling of the media bias CAMERA has uncovered. More articles can be found in CAMERA's Web Site which is located at http://www.camera.org.

Next page > [Why the Press portrays Goliath as Jewish] > Page 1, 2, 3, 4

~ Lisa Katz

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