Kiwis for Balanced Reporting on the Middle East
May 21, 2010
Otago Daily Times concept of balance: 27-0
Since March the Otago Daily Times published 22 items of various types that contained criticism of Israel for construction in East Jerusalem, in addition to five items that contained other criticisms. Yet when Jerusalem officials announced a freeze on construction to enable peace talks to take place, the ODT didn't bother to report that. The KBRM chairman wrote the following letter:
In the last two months, the ODT printed at least 18 items [this was an early count] that referred to Israeli construction in East Jerusalem as an obstacle to peace negotiations. Many were large articles with banner headlines. Then when Israel agreed to a construction freeze on April 28 as a concession to get peace talks started, you didn't print the story. And on April 29 when Israel destroyed illegal Jewish buildings in a further effort to help peace talks, you didn't print that story.
The irony is, this house-building protest is only a pretext. There are deeper problems that stand in the way of peace, like the acceptance of Israel's right to exist, or the Palestinian ‘right of return’ that would destroy the Jewish state via the population bomb. Nevertheless 18 items of criticism and not a mention of the change in policy carries one-sided reporting to a new height, or rather, depth.
This letter was published on May 5, but when the editor refused to take any other remedial action, such as allowing space for articles critical of Palestinian organisations, a formal complaint was filed.
Dear Mr Kirkness,
I'm sorry, but you leave KBRM no choice but to file a complaint with the NZ Press Council. Please take this letter as the required formal complaint and notice of our intention.
The essence of our complaint is that by your selection of news and opinion items, as documented below, your newspaper failed to give its readers a fair and accurate picture of the Middle East conflict. While some imbalance may result from news events and policies of news services, we believe a 27-0 record is ipso facto evidence of unfairness. I believe it is the worst record of any New Zealand newspaper during this period.
I do this with reluctance, because I think your act of publishing my letter without abridgment was very fair in itself. However the overall record of your newspaper and your refusal to publish the Nonie Darwish article — or even to indicate any willingness to publish articles that are critical of the Palestinians — cries out for remedy. It seems inconceivable that a fair-minded editor would not want to show both sides of the story.
Chairman, Kiwis for Balanced Reporting on the Middle East
Items published about Israel/Palestinian conflict since March
Construction-related After rechecking my clippings, I found 22 items since March that contained criticism of Israel for construction in East Jerusalem:
Mar. 8 ‘Israel turns deaf ear to opposition’ (Guardian — full page in World Focus)
Mar. 11 ‘Settlement plan irks’ (AP)
Mar. 15 ‘Israeli move insulting to US: Clinton’ (Reuters)
Mar. 15 ‘Lockdown extended... Palestinians protesting settlement plans’ (AFP)
Mar. 16 ‘Netanyahu apologises for settlement fiasco’ (AP)
Mar. 17 ‘Israelis push towards confrontation over housing’ (McClatchy-Tribune)
Mar. 17 ‘museum goes ahead... despite a petition to the UN’ (AP)
Mar. 18 ‘Israel angered Palestinians... by announcing plans... to build 1600 homes’ (Reuters)
Mar. 19 ‘one of the worst rows... rumbled on over new homes for Jewish settlers’ (AFP/Reuters)
Mar. 19. ‘Q&A: Approval of 1600 new settler homes in the Jerusalem area on March 9 caused ruction.’ (Reuters)
Mar. 19 Gwynne Dyer ‘a decision... to build 1600 new homes for Jews’
Mar. 20 ‘tried to defuse a dispute over plans to expand settlements’ (Reuters)
Mar. 22 ‘You're not going to like my saying this, but Zdo] not build more settlements’ (The Age, in World Focus)
Mar. 22 ‘protest at Israel's consecration of an ancient synagogue in the city’ (photo caption in World Focus)
Mar. 23 Editorial ‘ZIsrael] announced plans to proceed with the building of 1600 dwellings’
Mar. 24 ‘angered by Israel's decision to build 1600 dwellings in East Jerusalem’ (McClatchy-Tribune)
Mar. 26 ‘New Israeli plans for settlement extra strain’ (Reuters)
Mar. 27 ‘Rift between the two allies over Israeli construction over Israel construction’ (AP)
Mar. 29 Oliphant ‘I protest the building of new settlements’ (cartoon in World Focus)
Mar. 29 ‘The courage to take on Israel’ (Guardian - 3/4 page in World Focus)
Mar. 31 Gwynne Dyer ‘1600 more homes for Jews would be built... an insult’
Apr. 1 Tremain ‘barbecued dove we turned on for Netanyahu?’ (editorial cartoon)
Yet when the AP reported on April 26 that city officials in Jerusalem announced a construction freeze, the ODT did not carry it. The only reference to peace talks restarting was:
May 15. ‘raised speculation Netanyahu has imposed a de facto moratorium’ (Reuters)
Other. These five items contained criticism of Israel not related to construction
Mar 8 John Pilger ‘the murderous, racist toll of Zionism’ (1/2-page in World Focus)
Mar. 25 ‘Britain expels Israeli diplomat’ (AFP)
Apr. 3 ‘Israel yesterday threatened a widescale military operation against the Gaza Strip’ (In brief - also contained reports of Palestinian rocket attacks)
Apr. 5 John Pilger ‘In Gaza , the sick and abandoned population... is being entombed’ (3/4-page in World Focus)
May 17. ‘Gaza: Insufficient fuel allowed for basic needs’ (AFP — World Focus)
To the best of my knowledge, there were no items during this period that were primarily favourable to Israel or critical of Palestinians.
Other papers. Following are some items published in The Press (and presumably other Fairfax papers) since February that are either favourable to Israel or critical of Palestinians/Muslims. None of these were published in the ODT.
Feb. 2 Hamas boss 'smuggled rockets'
Feb. 3 Push for Israel in EU
Feb. 4 Israel hunts beach bomb
Feb. 26 Son of head of Hamas on Israeli team
Mar. 10 (Muslim) Gangs butcher 500 villagers
Apr. 13 Jews targeted (not about Israel, but reflects impact of anti-Israel reporting)
Apr. 27 Media-savvy Hamas focus on prisoner
Apr. 27 ‘Hamas police have broken up the Gaza Strip's first hip-hop concert’
Apr. 28 Building freeze
Apr. 29 Crackdown may signal peace talks resumption