A few short updates on recent media monitoring activity:
●
CNN: HonestReporting's
Sept. 27
communique noted a CNN report on a deadly Gaza
explosion omitted the Palestinian Authority's
acknowledgement that Hamas ― not Israel ― was to blame for the blast.
The omission was particularly problematic since Hamas used the
explosion as a pretext for a new round of anti-Israel missile attacks.
In response to HR subscribers' complaints, CNN
updated its report to include: 'The
Palestinian Authority announced that the blast was an accident, and
was not Israel's responsibility.'
●
AP:
HR's
Sept. 27
communique also raised questions regarding an Associated Press report on IDF soldiers celebrating a successful training mission.
HonestReporting has ascertained that a
celebration scene did in fact take place following this IDF exercise.
We remain perplexed by the lack of supporting information in
this AP article ― and AP's general refusal to cover jubilant
Palestinian celebrations of outright terrorist murder
― and
we thank HR subscribers who joined us in the inquiry of
this event.
●
BBC: BBC2 TV is beginning a three-part series entitled 'Israel and the Arabs: Elusive Peace'. UK media monitors (including at least three HR subscribers) saw the following description of Part 1 on the BBC website:
The story of how Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Barak persuaded President Clinton to devote his last 18 months in office to helping make peace with Yasser Arafat.
But Barak got cold feet twice. Then Ariel Sharon took a walk around Jerusalem's holiest mosques, and peace making was over.
The activists wrote to the BBC, explaining that blaming Barak and Sharon for Oslo's demise is inaccurate and tendentious (at best). BBC
acknowledged the error by changing the wording to:
The story of how Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Barak persuaded President Clinton to devote his last 18 months in office to helping make peace with Yasser Arafat. But after tense negotiations the deal was never made.
Nearly all parties agree that the 'deal was never made' due to Arafat's intransigence. Will BBC's
program acknowledge that? This show airs tonight ― if you receive
BBC2, be sure to monitor the series, and send us your feedback: action@honestreporting.com.
● See also:
Panel to scrutinize BBC Mideast coverage (from BackSpin,
HonestReporting's daily blog)
AUSTRALIAN COVERAGE REMAINS HIGHLY BIASED
A
new report in the
Jewish
Political Studies Review finds Australian media coverage of Israel
remains strongly biased in favor of the Palestinian narrative. Tzvi Fleischer finds that
the British media's anti-Israel bias has a
way of seeping 'down under' via syndication, and notes some outright
anti-Semitic themes in Australian media, including these claims:
● Jewish power, especially financial power, closes off debate
about the Middle East in Australia.
● Israel is a demonically evil or Nazi state and the source
of most of the world's problems.
● U.S. policy is the result of Jewish neoconservatives.
● Anti-Semitism results from Jewish activities and behavior,
especially support for Israel.
● See also:
'The Age' Newspaper Study (.pdf)
HonestReporting continues to closely monitor Australian media coverage
of Israel and the Mideast, demanding accuracy and editorial balance.
