Kiwis for Balanced Reporting on the Middle East
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February 10, 2010
KBRM appeals to Broadcasting Standards Authority about TVNZ programme
On Feb 9, TVNZ rejected our formal complaint about the ‘Bridging the Divide’ programme (see post dated November 24, 2009). Today KBRM sent the following appeal to the Broadcasting Standards Authority:
Before reading the complaint and response, we hope that BSA members will view the programme, as the imbalance is self-evident. Eleven minutes, including the critical first 7 1/2 minutes, were devoted to charges against Israel . The only rebuttal to these charges (other than a few seconds by ‘a man called Tony’) was one minute during an interview with a man who had no direct knowledge or involvement with the eviction and demolition in question! Nineteen KBRM members who viewed the programme all found it unbalanced. (While these people admittedly are ‘pro-Israel’, they are also rational, informed people who can detect bias if it is there.) Even ‘anti-Israel’ viewers would have to admit that the programme was heavily weighted toward condemnation of Israel , even if they felt the condemnation was deserved. Far from ‘bridging the divide’, this programme added to it. (read more)
February 10, 2010
New Zealand's Response to UN Report
A KBRM member wrote to Foreign Minister Murray McCully to congratulate him on not endorsing the UN's Goldstone report. Mr McCully replied in part:
The New Zealand government's decision to abstain from voting on the resolution was based on our concern about the process in which the Report was considered and on aspects of the Resolution text ....
The member wrote back with some questions, which have not yet been answered:
Dear Mr. McCully,
Thank you for your letter and the attached statement presenting New Zealand's viewpoint on the UN vote on the Goldstone and I appreciate all that was expressed although I did wonder if the following two points below could be considered by the government in light of the need for a balanced view of the situation in Israel.
1. Israel's right to defence ‘should be done in a way that avoids harm to civilians.’
Maybe this could read ‘minimizes’, not avoids. It is impossible to totally avoid such harm. During WWII according to Wiki, 4,000,000 civilians were killed by Allied forces! (read more)
January 15,2010
KBRM runs new advert
On the first anniversary of the Gaza War, KBRM ran a new advertisement, ‘Gaza: One year on, truths still missing.’ This was done after a corresponding article was rejected by every newspaper. One of the highlights of the advert is a new analysis of civilian casualties that provides strong evidence discrediting the Palestinian report and validating Israel's:
...According to the Palestinian report, 65% of those killed in Gaza were civilians, while an Israeli report said the number was about 30%. In this case an inconsistency in the Palestinian report — a smoking gun, so to speak — tells us which report is accurate. In the Palestinian report, among ages under 12 and over 60 the number of males and females killed were about equal, as would be expected for innocent people who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. However among the ‘fighting age’ group (15-59), 1079 males were killed and only 92 females! No reasonable person could believe that these additional 987 men just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. If we make the reasonable assumption that they were either fighters or supporting the fighters, the civilian casualty rate becomes 30% — the same as Israel's report!! This is a lower rate than was achieved by Allied forces in WWII — and in WWII the enemy didn't hide among civilians. As an international expert on anti-terrorist operations said, ‘The IDF did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare.’(read more)
An unreported boom in the Middle East
When the Wall Street Journal article about Palestinian prosperity (Dec. 14 post) was not picked up by any newspaper, a Kiwi who now lives in what is called the West Bank decided to write his own first-hand account. It came as no surprise that this also was not published by any NZ newspaper and therefore in order to provide the public with the missing truth the entire article is reproduced here.
The only sort of boom from the Middle East that New Zealanders usually read about these days is the sound of exploding bombs and armed conflict. Each of these ‘booms’ is usually portrayed in the media as Israel's fault, while the terrorist organisations perpetrating the terror are usually portrayed as innocent victims. Given the steady diet of negative reporting about Israel, one can hardly be surprised that the average New Zealand reader, listener or viewer believes the worst about the Jewish State in its ongoing struggle to protect itself.
However, there is another sort of boom taking place that is not so widely reported — perhaps because it shows Israel in a positive light and does not fit the stereotype perception of the ‘poor Palestinians’. I am referring to the economic boom that is happening in West Bank areas... (read more)