Kiwis for Balanced Reporting on the Middle East

November 13, 2008

Press Council denies appeal, ignores complaint

On September 4, KBRM filed an appeal with the Press Council about the Otago Daily Times. The heart of the appeal was the unbalanced treatment given to news items, as follows (red font as in original):

The following six news items appeared shortly after the meeting. The first three were primarily about criticism of Israel for building houses and were given prominent exposure:
June 16. ‘Israel approves houses’, p. 8. Above-the-fold Reuters article (15 col-cm) in bold print.
June 17. ‘Rice blames settlements’, p. 9. Top-of-page Reuters article (70 col-cm) with extra-large headline.
July 31. ‘Rice begins fresh push for peace’, p. 8. Above-the-fold Reuters article (30 col-cm) starts with criticism of ‘Israeli settlement building.’
The following three items contained reports of brutal and deadly Palestinian attacks and were given very limited exposure — in one case almost infinitesimal:
July 1. ‘Israel to release gunman in exchange for soldiers' bodies’, p. 6. A key passage describing the brutality of a Palestinian attack was deleted from this below-the-fold AP article (36 col-cm), even though this was an important factor in an event of major importance. An additional six paragraphs that gave the Israeli view of the exchange were also deleted.
July 4. ‘Rampage by construction worker kills three in Jerusalem’, p. 6. Bottom-of-page article (57 col-cm) doesn't even mention the 40 people injured until the last paragraph. Accompanying small photo (1/3 size of June 17 photo) gives no hint of the carnage, violating Principle 11: ‘care in photographic and image selection’.
July 24. ‘Obama promises to support Israel’, p. 8. The only space given to a bulldozer attack that wounded 16 people in Jerusalem was a two-sentence description buried deep within this Reuters article about Obama's visit to Israel.
The difference in space, headlines, placement and even font between reports of Israel building houses and descriptions of Palestinian attacks that killed and wounded people is striking.

In denying the appeal, the Press Council gave the following response:

The ODT, like every other New Zealand paper, is reliant for its overseas news on material sent by agencies, with Thomson Reuters perhaps the most common conduit. The suggestion that Thomson Reuters is deliberately biased is beyond the scope of this council to measure. No evidence of bias lies before it. Mr Kirkness is undoubtedly correct, however, in his observation that his paper's overseas copy is chosen in response to events that happen on a given day, without thought given to balance ‘tallies’. It would be hard for his paper to function otherwise. Conclusion: Covering overseas conflicts poses big difficulties for New Zealand's relatively small news media. It is understandable that a local newspaper should rely for its cover on respected news agencies such as Thomson Reuters.

Incredibly, the six examples cited were completely ignored! Instead the Press Council focused on an issue of news agencies that was not even part of the appeal!

Nevertheless, KBRM feels that the appeal served its purpose in that no further examples of imbalance have been noted. The following letter was sent to the editor of the ODT:

Dear Murray,

I just returned from a long overseas trip and found the decision from the Press Council awaiting. I was not surprised at the denial — I expected that — but I was surprised that their response in regard to news items (the core of our appeal) failed to address our complaint, which was ‘the difference in space, headlines, placement and even font between reports of Israel building houses and descriptions of Palestinian attacks that killed and wounded people’. It was as if they hadn't even read it.

In any event, I hope that the appeal is now ‘water over the dam’ and that we can proceed in a direction that I'm sure we both desire, which is balanced and accurate treatment of news, opinion and letters about Israel. And if you should occasionally slip up, you can be sure that KBRM will be there to let you know.

Rodney Brooks, Chairman
Kiwis for Balanced Reporting on the Mideast