Kiwis for balanced reporting on the Mideast
Who are we?
We are a group of Kiwis and Kiwi friends who believe that news and articles on Israel and the Mideast should be truthful, fair and balanced. We do not believe that Israel, or any country, is beyond criticism, but we feel that any criticism should be balanced and based on fact. We also believe that New Zealanders have a right to know the whole truth, fairly presented, so they can make informed decisions.
Why are we?
KBRM was started during the 2006 Lebanon-Israel war when much of the Mideast coverage and commentary appeared to be one-sided and sometimes untruthful. While anti-Israel bias may have been in existence earlier, the problem was exacerbated during the war to the point where Israel was portrayed as cruelly causing devastation to innocent neighbors, rather than as a country which wants peace with its neighbors but is forced to fight for its life.
What do we do?
We do not believe that this imbalance is due to prejudice on the part of most editors, but has arisen from factors mostly beyond their control. We believe that editors will respond favorably to efforts to redress the imbalance. Therefore we have four basic missions:
- Ratings. To demonstrate or determine the need for balance by rating as many newspapers as possible, using standards that are as objective as possible.
- Information. To send articles and news items to editors that inform them of the missing side of the story, so that they can better present a balanced picture to their readers.
- Response. To notify editors when violations of these standards occur, and to request corrective action.
- Appeal. If necessary, KBRM may appeal egregious cases to authorities such as the New Zealand Press Council.
Related Organisations
Honest Reporting | NZ Friends of Israel | eyeonthepost.org | CAMERA | The Israel Project | Palestinian Media Watch |
Please inform via E-mail of pages not found or any other problem with the web site.
Recent Posts
KBRM appeals to NZ Press Council
The following appeal was filed with the NZ Press Council in regard to the failure of the Otago Daily Times to take corrective actions:
Kiwis for Balanced Reporting on the Mideast (KBRM) is devoted to maintaining fairness, balance, and accuracy in reporting and editorials about Mideast events, particularly in regard to Israel. These are the same values expressed in Principle #1 of the Press Council. Our present complaint is directed at the Otago Daily Times for persistent violations of these principles. (read more)
August 1, 2008
KBRM hires staff
KBRM is pleased to announce the addition of a staff member to perform newspaper ratings, a Communications student at a leading Auckland university. With this hiring, all NZ newspapers with circulation over 25,000 are now covered, plus the Northern Advocate and Nelson Mail. Also this will ensure even more consistency of ratings, which are based on the objective criterion of space and emphasis given to damage, hardship and blame on each side.
ODT buries bulldozer attack but criticises houses
The Otago Daily Times reached a new low by burying news of a bulldozer attack that wounded 16 Israelis in two sentences deep within an article about Barack Obama's visit to Israel. In contrast, The Press (ChCh) devoted 120 column-cm to the incident, including a large photo and headline. Then a week later the ODT published a Reuters article that criticised Israel for building houses in Jewish settlements. KBRM complained to the editor as follows:
...When more emphasis is given to Israel's building houses than to Arabs who attack and kill Jews, there is something wrong, and when the imbalance is this extreme, something is badly wrong. Remember, this comes on top of the 12 examples of imbalance that I already pointed out, not to mention the fact that the ODT's 4-to-1 imbalance ratio for the year is one of the worst in NZ... (read more)
Bias in the ODT extends to letters
Following publication of the KBRM article in the Otago Daily Times (see June 30 post), two opposing letters were published. The first contained 334 words and the second 210 words, both well over the ODT guideline of 150 words. Two letters by KBRM members were then published on July 10 after being abridged (eviscerated is a better word) to 110 and 100 words, respectively, well under the ODT guideline! A third KBRM letter, submitted at 145 words and containing different points, was not published. On July 16 a KBRM letter submitted with 150 words was published with 21 important words deleted, including a reference to the KBRM web site, despite a plea to publish it intact. (read more)
ODT deletes account of Palestinian brutality
When Israel announced it would release terrorist Samir Kantar in exchange for two dead bodies, the Otago Daily Times published an AP report, but deleted from the middle of the report the following description of his brutality. (When space is a problem, it is usually the end of an article that is dropped).
....Witnesses said Kantar smashed the little girl's head against a rock and crushed her skull with a rifle butt. The attack has been etched in the Israeli psyche as one of the cruellest in the nation's history. Kantar denied killing the girl or smashing her skull. Her mother, while trying to silence the cries of her other daughter as Kantar and three others rampaged through the apartment, accidentally smothered the two-year-old.... (read more)
ODT publishes KBRM article
In the meeting at the Otago Daily Times on June 13, the editor promised to consider a KBRM article rebutting an editorial in which he called the Mideast conflict a ‘chicken-and-egg impasse’ (see May 22 post). The article was accepted and published under the headline ‘End to Gaza conflict in Palestinian hands’. The article concluded with:
...In short, the conflict is no ‘chicken-or-egg’ impasse. It can be ended if the nations of the world say to the Palestinians, as was said to the IRA, enough is enough. Stop focusing on past perceived injustices (which differ on each side), accept the right of Israel to exist, and let us work together to build a better tomorrow where Palestinians and Jews can live side by side in peace and prosperity.
Unfortunately, the message that Arab militarism is behind the conflict was undercut by the accompanying photo that showed an Israeli tank and Israeli soldiers, instead of, perhaps, a Qassam rocket. (read more)
ODT fixates on Israel's house-building
Having blamed Israel for its ‘settlement policies‘ in an editorial (see May 22 post), the Otago Daily Times published two news items (June 16 and 17) that were also devoted to criticism of Israel for building houses in a Jewish section of Jerusalem. A response from KBRM was published on June 23:
...these houses do not harm a single Palestinian nor do they damage any Palestinian's interests... Where are the news reports about the daily rocket attacks on Israel which, unlike house building, actually kill and injure people? Readers could then decide on their own which damages the peace process more, building houses or killing people. (read more)
Are Israelis taught to hate Arabs?
The chairman of KBRM met with Murray Kirkness, editor of the Otago Daily Times, to discuss the editorial of May 22. During the meeting Mr. Kirkness appeared to agree that Israel's battle against Palestinians is defensive, and said he would consider publishing a countering article. He also promised to "be more careful in the future." However, he mentioned that he had met a former Israeli who left Israel because of the way the Israelis were taught to Ôhate ArabsÕ. A KBRM member who grew up in Israel replied to Mr. Kirkness in a letter not for publication:
...Hatred in any form is definitely not taught to Israeli school children... On the other hand, Arab textbooks in Palestine are full of hatred... This IS taught as the central theme and the core value in the curriculum in Palestine and you as a taxpayer help as part of NZ's foreign aid contribution to Palestine... (read more)
ODT gets it wrong
In an ‘even-handed’ editorial the Otago Daily Times urged Israel to ‘desist from its settlement policies, encroaching ever further into disputed territory, and from its policies of cutting off fuel supplies Ñ thus electricity and water Ñ to Gaza.’ It also called the Mideast conflict a ‘chicken-and-egg impasse’. The KBRM chairman then wrote a letter to the editor that was within the 150-word guideline; yet when published, the passage shown in red was deleted:
....According to the United Nations charter, a blockade is one of the first and least harmful actions that should be taken against an aggressor nation. Blockades were imposed, for example, on Cuba in 1961 and Iraq in 1990. Yet when Israel — a nation that is not just threatened, but is under constant and immediate attack — imposes a partial blockade on its enemy while continuing to supply it with fuel (some of which is diverted to rockets aimed at Israel), it is condemned. Why is the only Jewish nation in the world criticized for doing what other nations are allowed to do?... (read more)
Minto strikes again
After his usual lambasting of Israel and errors of fact, John Minto, a columnist for The Press, called on New Zealand to support the replacement of Israel by ‘a secular, unitary state which respects all peoples, races and religions’, knowing full well that Arabs would then become a majority and the Jewish state would be destroyed. KBRM members wrote letters of protest and also submitted an article that was published in The Press on June 11:
....Minto wants us to believe that the Palestinians are blameless, suffering through no fault of their own. He ignores their mistakes, their terrorism, and the continuous animosity of surrounding Arab and Muslim countries against Israel and Jews.... We agree that New Zealand should ‘take up the cause of the Palestinians’, but the way to do it is not to destroy Israel.... We should say to the Palestinians, enough is enough; stop focusing on past perceived injustices (which differ on each side). Let us work together to build a better tomorrow where Palestinians and Jews can live side by side in peace and prosperity. (read more)
