Kiwis for Balanced Reporting on the Middle East

Kiwis for Balanced Reporting On The Mideast New Zealand Media bias

Photo courtesy www.perrytrotter.com

About Us

Who are we?
Kiwis for Balanced Reporting on the Middle East (KBRM) was started during the 2006 Lebanon-Israel war when much of the Middle East coverage and commentary appeared to be one-sided and sometimes untruthful. This mis-reporting has continued ever since, and was particularly bad during the 2009 Gaza war.

What do we do?
In an effort to present the missing side of the story, KBRM conducts the following activities:

— Letters. When news items or other articles appear that are biased, we encourage our members and others to write letters to the editor that present the missing facts.
— Corrections. In some cases we contact editors to suggest corrections or other remedial action, or to call their attention to articles that might balance the one-sided nature of a previous item.
— Articles. Several articles written by KBRM members have been published in NZ newspapers, and this continues to be one of our main activities.
— Advertisements. In 2009, we began an advertising campaign to present "The missing truth" to the NZ public in cases where editors refuse to publish our articles.
— Appeals. In egregious cases where the editor refuses to take remedial action, KBRM is prepared to appeal to the New Zealand Press Council.

What can you do?
KBRM is a voluntary organisation which receives no funding from any other source. If you would like to support our activities, either financially or through membership, please click on Feedback and then ‘Drop us an email’.
You can also help by writing to newspapers and TV stations when you see unbalanced or untruthful items.

Related Organisations

Honest Reporting | Eye on the Post | CAMERA | The Israel Project | Palestinian Media Watch |

Letter of the Month

August 12, 2010

I would like to make these points in support of you guys:
The Jewish Holocaust of World War 2 has shocked and horrified many of the fair minded people of the world once they found out what happened.
The Jewish Holocaust was caused by the fair minded German people turning a blind eye to the events between 1935-1945. Their complacency and inability of fair-minded people to stand up to the evil was to blame for those events. Evil cannot help being evil it is up to the good people not to let it happen. In the end the evil turned on fair-minded people and they died too. If the good people of Germany stood up and stopped this evil in 1937 neither the holocaust nor the 2nd world war would have happened.
Hamas and the Iranians have both vowed to destroy Israel, just as Hitler vowed to destroy the Jews in Europe. Many Arab nations have tried to commit another genocide — Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq.
The fair minded people of the world in their complacency are supporting Hamas, the Iranians and other radical Islamic groups to commit another genocide on the Israeli people. Their support of Hamas and Iran means they have the blood of the European Jews killed on their hands because they would have done exactly the same thing as the german people did. They are no different.
I would like you to show an atlas of the world with the Muslim world, the Christian world and the Jewish world to see if its unreasonable that the Jews have Israel.

Recent Posts Previous Posts

August 30, 2010

Israel Legitimacy article printed in The Northern Advocate, 28th August 201

Hatred Of Israel Denies Truth Of Democracy

So many people just can't contain their rage against Israel.
A mere mention of Israel and they're out of the starting gate in record time with another tirade accusing it, and its defenders, of every conceivable evil in the world — from Nazism to Apartheid, from blood libel to mass murder.
Their narratives are pre-cooked, airtight and impervious to reason. They are filled with a hatred of Israel that eludes logical explanation, a blindness that shuts out any contrary evidence. As they say ‘my mind is made up — don't bother me with the facts’. (read more)

August 10, 2010

In The Press, ad hominem is OK, response not

The Press is the third largest daily paper in NZ and the largest in the South Island. It also contains the most biased letters column. (See posts of 21/12/09, 17/10/09, 29/9/09, 23/9/09, 7/8/09, and 25/4/09.) In the latest example of bias, the editor unecessarily abridged a pro-Israel letter, then published a vicious ad hominem attack on he writer that was abetted by the abridgment, but did not permit her to respond to the personal attack. This led to the following complaint by KBRM to the editors:

Hi, Coen (cc Andrew),
You once said you would “keep a close eye” on the letters column. I know complaints about letters are a nuisance to you, but just take a look at this latest example of Michael Vance's bias and see if you don't agree that he has gone way beyond the pale of good journalism. In summary:

1.   He shortened a pro-Israel letter by over 50% even though it was well within the limit, thereby reducing its effectiveness and impact.
2.  He then published a childish ad hominem attack on the writer that took 50% more space than her abridged letter and contributed nothing of substance to the debate.
3.  He then refused to permit the writer to defend herself against the attack that he himself had aided and abetted by emasculating her first letter.

Please take the time to read the following detailed account: (read more)

August 6, 2010

Gaza Flotilla ‘raid’— More missing truths

On May 31, Israeli naval forces intercepted six ships attempting to break the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. Five of the ships agreed to redirect toward Ashdod where the aid material could be transferred overland to Gaza after undergoing security inspections. One ship refused, and when Israeli troops attempted to board it peacefully, they were attacked with live fire and light weaponry. After ten Israelis were wounded or captured, the Israeli forces responded and nine crew members were killed.
As usual, the NZ public was not given these facts. Instead the NZ press screamed headlines about the ‘deadly flotilla raid’, with all the blame placed, explicitly or implicitly, on Israel. KBRM then submitted an article giving the ‘missing truths’ to most NZ newspapers, but it was only accepted by one small paper (the Gisborne Herald). Once again, KBRM had to pay for an advert to get the true story to the NZ public:(read more)

July 22, 2010

NZ media ignore luxury mall opening in Gaza

Although the New Zealand media have followed international trends in reporting that Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip is hampering rebuilding efforts and creating a humanitarian crisis, they failed to notice the recent opening of a newly constructed, well stocked shopping mall in Gaza. This prompted a KBRM member to write to seventeen New Zealand newspaper editors, asking the following question:

If the Israeli and Egyptian blockade of Gaza is as effective as Hamas, George Galloway, and the international media would have us believe, where on earth did the Gazans get the building materials required to construct a large shopping mall, never mind the items that are for sale? Surely if the Israeli and Egyptian blockade restricts the importation of building materials into Gaza to the extent that ordinary Gazans cannot rebuild their homes and hospitals, it would be impossible for a well-stocked shopping mall to exist in the Gaza Strip. (read more)

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