Role of the Media

Journalists and media organizations have abdicated their role of providing an independent alternative source of information and have too often slumped toward over-reliance on anonymous government sources. Almost every reporter uses anonymous sources. But it is a rare reporter or editor who will repeatedly use this device to convey information that might help start a war. Writing in The Buffalo News, Douglas Turner is alarmed by increasing examples of careless use of anonymous sources, with the result that the public is often grossly misled about fundamental issues of life and death.

Did the Income Tax Authority in Israel decide to harass hundreds of foreign media personnel in Israel for their coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? The following report from Yediot Ahranot’s Arabic website looks at recent developments.

A 12 August 2001 action alert from pro-Israeli group CAMERA (“Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America”) made a series of baseless accusations against National Public Radio. EI’s Ali Abunimah reports.

Suzannne Goldenberg, the British Guardian’s correspondent in Israel till recently, is the topic of this article, which explains some of the realities that foreign correspondents must deal with working in Israel and the occupied territories. Nathan Guttman writes in Ha’aretz.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) today warned the American media against accepting Israeli government claims without independent confirmation. ADC’s note of caution comes in the wake of a false Israeli government account of the death of 12 Israeli combatants on Friday.

Thank God, I often say, for the Israeli press. For where else will you find the sort of courageous condemnation of Israel’s cruel and brutal treatment of the Palestinians? Where else can we read that Moshe Ya’alon, Ariel Sharon’s new chief of staff, described the “Palestinian threat” as “like a cancer – there are all sorts of solutions to cancerous manifestations. For the time being, I am applying chemotherapy.” The Independent’s Robert Fisk continues on to note that meanwhile, mere criticism of Israel outside the country gets you labeled an “anti-Semite”.

The Electronic Intifada’s Ali Abunimah is currently in Amman, Jordan and tuning into the latest US government propaganda effort, Radio Sawa. One would have hoped that one of the seeds of hope planted in the rubble of the World Trade Center would have been a reevaluation of America’s activities in the Middle East. Apparently, Britney Spears and censored news were a better idea. Oh dear. Turn up that taxi radio, ya habibi.

Dutch correspondents in Israel are not interested in Palestinian victims of Israeli violence. Their emotional bond with the country prevents objective coverage. That is wrong.

The IDF spokesman’s credibility hit an all-time low after the house demolitions in Rafah. This time, the incredulity extended well beyond the usual circle of skeptics comprised of Palestinians, foreign journalists, human rights organizations and inveterate leftists.

Has network news, as many partisans charge, been taking sides in the Middle East? One thing is clear amid the carnage: Everyone involved is getting terrible press.