CNN's coverage of the Middle East had been a continual bone of contention since the September 2000 outbreak of Palestinian violence against Israelis. HonestReporting maintained the pressure on the cable news station, highlighting inaccuracies, bias and lack of objectivity. Finally, as the Jerusalem Post reported in June 2002, the efforts of HonestReporting's readers paid off:

HonestReporting.com readers sent up to 6,000 e-mails a day to CNN executives, effectively paralyzing their internal e-mail system. The consultant, who was present at several meetings with watchdog groups initiated by CNN, says the top CNN executives had, until then, failed to appreciate the strength of public feeling on the issue.

"At the beginning," says the consultant, "the executives didn't believe there was a problem, mostly out of ignorance of what was going on [in the field]. They were not aware of how often the big lie [that 500 Palestinians died in Jenin in April] was spread by Palestinian spokesmen, and seemed shocked when we told them there were 30 cases in 10 days. They were not watching this narrow little part of CNN's operation ??? they have to watch what's going on in a massive empire, and suddenly this corner started biting them in the backside."

CNN's public relations difficulties and HonestReporting's role in addressing media bias was also highlighted in the New York Times. HonestReporting was invited to enter into dialogue with executives at CNN's Atlanta headquarters, who demonstrated a genuine sensitivity to HonestReporting's concerns.

While we remain vigilant regarding CNN's coverage, the network certainly made efforts to improve its reporting ??? a direct result of HonestReporting's work and the activism of its thousands of readers.

As well as holding the media accountable, one of HonestReporting's most important goals is to educate not only its own readers but also the journalists themselves about the issues surrounding the Mideast conflict. It is gratifying, therefore, when writers acknowledge their errors and learn from them as Sandy Wold did in May 2005:

Ithaca Journal contributor Wold used her May 8 column to berate 'Zionist Jews' for 'terrorist attacks' and 'slaughter of Palestinians'. This prompted a communique from HonestReporting, whose subscribers followed up with large numbers of e-mails.

In response, Wold found it necessary to apologize for her original article, sending this to HonestReporting subscribers:

As you probably know, I have received dozens of emails from members of your organization from all over the country and the U.K. in the past few days...

Having read your emails and having spoken with many Jewish friends of mine, who have lived in Israel, were born in Israel, and/or know a lot more about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict than I do, I have learned much and better understand why you all are so upset with me.

I sincerely apologize for my lack of sensitivity to and inclusiveness of your group's perspective and experience in my article.

Wold's admission that she was previously uninformed on the realities of the conflict underscores the vital need to educate on these important issues ??? something that HonestReporting continues to do with its various activities.

A cornerstone of HonestReporting's 2003 Dishonest Reporting 'Award' was Reuters' attempt to legitimize Hamas by falsely describing their goal as the 'pursuit of independence'. For example:

The military wing of the Islamic militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement faxed to Reuters. Hamas has spearheaded a 28-month-old Palestinian militant uprising against Israel for a state in Gaza and the West Bank. (Feb. 15, 2003 ??? emphasis added)

Hamas makes it perfectly clear in their official charter and at speaking events that their goal is the destruction of the State of Israel ??? not merely an independent Palestinian state ??? yet the highly influential Reuters persisted in this charade, regularly casting Hamas as 'freedom fighters'.

The thousands of emails that HonestReporting subscribers directed to Reuters at the end of 2003 started to pay off ??? Reuters fundamentally improved the way they described Hamas in news reports:

• Toward the end of 2003, Reuters began indicating that Hamas' idea of 'independence' includes the complete destruction of Israel:
  
  Hamas, sworn to Israel's destruction, has led a suicide bombing campaign during the three-year-old Palestinian uprising for independence. (Dec. 15, "Israel Remands Arab-Canadian in Alleged Bomb Plot")
  

• And by January 26, Reuters was describing Hamas in no uncertain terms ??? "a faction sworn to destroy Israel," adding:
  
  Hamas has led a suicide bombing campaign that has killed hundreds of Israelis during more than three years of violence. It has rejected peace talks and demanded that a Palestinian state be formed on all the land that was Palestine under the British mandate preceding the creation of Israel more than five decades ago.
  

Another important result for HonestReporter???s dedicated subscribers.

Utilizing the activism and dedication of its subscribers around the world, HonestReporting is able to have an impact far beyond the confines of national and international media outlets. The global community of HonestReporting's readership can be a powerful force in locales where media bias and inaccuracy has previously slipped beneath the radar, as one Irish magazine found out:

In December 2005, The Dubliner, which claims to be a "cultural magazine", published an opinion piece by a former Irish politician that not only disputed Israel's right to exist but also denigrated Jewish history and culture at the same time.

In response, HonestReporting published a communique highlighting and debunking many of the historical distortions and inaccuracies contained within the piece. Having supplied the tools for effectively countering the false arguments of The Dubliner's op-ed, HonestReporting encouraged its subscribers to send comments to the magazine's editor. Within only a few days, the magazine, which claims a monthly readership of 10,000, was swamped by over 2000 e-mails from concerned and outraged HonestReporting readers from around the world.

The resulting outcry forced the issue of Irish anti-Semitism into the open, with intervention by Ireland's Chief Rabbi and a panel debate on RTE, Ireland's state television broadcaster, as well as coverage in the Jewish press, including the Jewish Telegraph (UK), Jewish Telegraphic Agency and European Jewish Press, all three recognizing the key role played by HonestReporting in prompting effective action against The Dubliner.

By forcing The Dubliner's editor and the author of the offensive opinion piece to publicly defend themselves, HonestReporting succeeded in ensuring that even a relatively small magazine should be held to the same standards of accountability and professionalism expected of larger and more visible media outlets.

Panel slams media as biased on conflict
Speakers at public forum say news has pro-Israel slant

The Canadian media has shown a pro-Israel bias during the 34-day war in Lebanon between Hezbollah and the Israeli military, a public forum in Halifax heard Tuesday.

Halifax MP Alexa McDonough, the New Democrats??? foreign affairs critic, said some domestic news agencies are starting to resemble a couple of their American cousins ??? in terms of reporting what their government is telling them without covering other sides of the story.

Paladin's comment-- "Sucks to be a leftist,huh Aleax??

 

"More and more, at least some of our major media outlets look a lot more like Fox News and CNN, with the amount of bias that is built in in terms of what is conveyed and what is not conveyed," she told about 55 people at a public library.

Paladin's comment--CNN is slightly to the Left,FOX is slightly to the Right...it averages out.

Ms. McDonough pointed to the reporting on an emergency meeting of parliamentarians held to discuss the Middle East crisis, saying the coverage was inaccurate and what happened was "distorted in the press."

--When some one calls the truth inacurate and disstorted,they themselves are lying.

Bruce Wark, a local journalism teacher and veteran newsman, said war reports tend to be predictable and loyal to government policy.

"When you are assessing international news coverage, it nearly always follows the frames and narratives set down by the home government," he said.

Mr. Wark, who like other speakers on a four-member panel has been critical of Israel???s government and military, said the mainstream media in Canada "are biased in favour of Israel," adding "many mainstream journalists are not fully aware of this bias."

--Great,all we need is another left leaning a$$ teaching our kids. 

No one on the panel supported Israel???s handling of the latest Mideast crisis.

---Of course not,,,its a hand picked bunch of self serving people who don't want a Balanced debate..

The war in Lebanon began last month after Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers on July 12. By the time this week???s ceasefire took effect, The Associated Press says, about 800 people had been killed in Lebanon and more than 155 Israelis were dead. Most of the Israelis who died were soldiers.

Lebanese officials say about 1,100 people in Lebanon ??? most of them civilians ??? have been killed.

----So that must be the gospel truth...yeah.

  Who you buy a used camel from the Lebaneese goverment or the NDP for that matter?

 

Every night,Alexa goes to bed and dreams about the good old days,,communism,the Berlin Wall,KGB, Gulags,,etc