26 April 2001
Courtesy of HonestReporting.com
In discussing the question of who planted the bomb that killed four Palestinian policemen in Gaza on Wednesday, CNN quotes two sources:
- the Palestine Red Crescent Society, and
- the extremist Palestinian Popular Resistance Group
Nowhere does CNN quote any Israeli source. Israel has repeatedly denied any involvement in the bombing, though CNN readers would have no way of knowing that.
How can CNN possibly claim to be fair, objective and unbiased? Can Mike Hanna, Jerold Kessel, Eason Jordan, Tom Johnson and Rick Davis really say this with a straight face?
The same CNN article refers to an exchange of gunfire between Beit Jala and Gilo. In the hundreds of articles since Gilo first came under fire six months ago, it is universally accepted -- even among Israel's harshest critics -- that Israel is responding to Palestinian-initiated gunfire from Beit Jala.
Except for CNN, which says:
"Clashes continued in the West Bank overnight Wednesday as Israeli troops opened fire on the town of Bate Jala and Palestinians opened fire on the Jewish settlement of Gilo."
The implication is obvious. First, Israeli troops opened fire. Only then did the Palestinians shoot.
There's more.
The previous day, CNN published a report by Reuters which referred to the 1948 War of Independence. As is common knowledge, Israel was invaded by 5 Arab armies in 1948, and Israel lost key parcels of land including the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem and towns in the Gush Etzion region. At the same time, Jews living in Arab countries like Iraq, Egypt and Morocco quickly became targets of pogroms and had to flee to safe haven in Israel.
CNN states it like this:
"Palestinians mark the birth of Israel on May 15, 1948, as their 'Nakba' or
catastrophe, which led to the loss of 78 percent of historic Palestine. Some 700,000 Palestinians left or were forced to flee their homes in the fighting that accompanied the declaration of the Jewish state."
No mention of who started the war. No mention of Israeli loss of land. No mention of the 650,000 Jewish refugees from Arab countries who similarly "left or were forced to flee their homes."
Read the articles at:
http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/meast/04/26/israel.patrols/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/meast/04/25/mideast.reut/
Please write your own letter, in your own words, to:
Tom.Johnson@turner.com
Eason.Jordan@turner.com
Rick.Davis@turner.com
Also write to Steve Case (the CEO of AOL, CNN's parent company), as well as his two assistants:
SteveCase@aol.comJBrauda1@aol.com
YoCisneros@aol.com
Thank you for your ongoing involvement in the battle against media bias. We will not give up the fight.
HonestReporting.com
More On CNN's Bias Against Israel
Flick Off CNN
By Michael Freund
Having tuned in to CNN's recent coverage of the Middle East, I have gained a renewed sense of appreciation for the "off" button on the television set. While the 1991 Gulf war may have brought the network a variety of honors for news reporting, the current intifada seems destined to yield it a cluster of literary awards, given some of the fictional reports it has produced.
Granted, covering the Middle East is no easy task, as journalists must contend with an array of complex issues. And it is hard to complain about foreign coverage of Israel when much of the Israeli media itself seems overly sympathetic to the Palestinian side.
But even so, there is simply no justification for CNN's egregious record of bias and distortions. Somehow, Israel always seems to emerge as the aggressor, while the Palestinians are depicted with compassion and understanding.
A recent case in point was the April 16 CNN program Insight hosted by Jonathan Mann, who quickly dispensed with any pretense of objectivity and instead assumed the role of an opinionated, anti-Israel partisan. After blaming Israel for the impasse in the peace process, Mann suggested that Israel might not at all be interested in peace since, in his words, "If all of this drags on for years, Israel will become stronger and more affluent, and its Arab neighbors will become poorer and weaker."
Mann then went a step further, asking his guest: "Does Ariel Sharon really care about a better future for all the people in the region?" - with the tone in his voice clearly indicating what he thought the answer to be.
Perhaps realizing he had gone too far, Mann added, "or is the peace that he looks at more of - at the risk of being unfair - a peace where Israel succeeds and is secure but essentially subjugates the peoples around it?"
If Mann were a guest on the show, his comments would be understandable, as ridiculous as they might be. But he is the anchorman and host of the program. His job is not to take sides, but to question the sides, something he utterly failed to do.
Other CNN correspondents are no less guilty of editorializing. When asked in October to describe Israel's closure of the territories, Rula Amin said: "This kind of siege is creating a feeling that they are in a big jail." The Palestinian Ministry of Information could not have said it any better.
Unfortunately, such bias is rampant at CNN and permeates its Middle East coverage. A glance at the CNN Web site makes it abundantly clear that the Cable News Network is worthy of being renamed the Fable News Network.
Arafat is described as "a student of Jewish life."
In a biographical sketch, CNN's Web site describes Yasser Arafat, who is personally responsible for more Jewish deaths in the past 50 years than anyone else, as "a student of Jewish life." Applying the same standard, perhaps they would label Slobodan Milosevic a "scholar of Bosnian emigration patterns."
CNN's Web site describes the 1987 intifada as "the largely nonviolent Palestinian protest against Israeli occupation," despite its having killed hundreds of innocent Israelis and wounded thousands of others.
But if you think that's bad, check out CNN's description of Hamas: "a grass-roots Palestinian organization known in Gaza and the West Bank for humanitarian efforts." It almost makes you want to organize a parlor meeting on the group's behalf.
You might be wondering whether all of this really matters. Unfortunately, it does. Despite declining ratings, CNN still plays an important role in shaping public opinion. By failing to accurately present the Palestinian Authority's depravity and wrongdoing, CNN enables it to escape public censure, something that only encourages Arafat to continue the violence and terror.
But like any business, CNN is sensitive to its reputation and mindful of its ratings. A television station's primary product is not its programming - it is the quantity and quality of viewers it can deliver to advertisers.
Thus, each of us holds the key in our hands to countering this blatant assault on the Jewish state. Our weapon: the remote control. By pushing one button, you can banish CNN from your television screen. With a couple of postage stamps, you can let CNN and its sponsors know how you feel. With a couple of phone calls, you can get your friends, in Israel and abroad, to do the same.
Whether or not this will work ultimately depends on the number of people who get involved. CNN will likely cry foul, self-righteously invoking the public's right to know. But the public has another, equally precious, right. The right to say no. No to biased reporting. And no to CNN.
With thanks to the Jerusalem Post.
(12) , September 18, 2001 12:00 AM
Tuning into CNN today at the bottom of the screen in bold print as you cover the many stories about the events of Sept. 11, 2001 are the words "Americans' AT War". Please, simply report the news without the "Titles" and let history tell us what this is or was.
(11) Peggy Owens, August 27, 2001 12:00 AM
Henry Cisneros and Herzl Award
CNN nor any of the national media covered the presentation of the Herzl Award to Henry Cisneros in the US. Thank you Israel for honoring this noble American. I would like to read his acceptance speech.
(10) Anonymous, May 31, 2001 12:00 AM
CNN should change its name
What does CNN stand for again? Corrupted News Network?
(9) Eric Agaki, May 25, 2001 12:00 AM
I will do my part!!
Till the day I will need a gun, my computer will work, I e-maild all my friends copys of the artical, and asked them to pass it on, you can do the same!
(8) ARTHUR SIEGEL, May 22, 2001 12:00 AM
LET US DROPAOL AS OUR INTERNET ENGINE
IT SEEMS THATMONEY TALKS AND IF WE HAVE MANY PEOPLE WHO USE AOL ,DROP THEN WE WILL BE HEARD
(7) Anonymous, May 4, 2001 12:00 AM
How can they be Reporters?
I was stunned to read about all the bias found in the CNN reporters. I wish Americans could wake up to such truths as you have shared with us in this article. I have always felt the CNN did do JUSTICE to their Middle East news, now I KNOW I was right. Thanks for enlightening me!
(6) martin duckworth, May 4, 2001 12:00 AM
CNN is off my TV
CNN has completely lost face as a professional news network in my opinion. It has become the original amateur hour of television news services. Bungling anchors fed by wind blown clueless reporters. It is no small wonder that they have so botched their coverage in the Middle East conflict. Thank God I was blessed to visit Israel last November. I learned so much about the Holy Land. AISH has continued my education. Our prayers are with you and the people of Israel. May God bring peace to Jerusalem.
Martin and Carol Duckworth
(5) Zev Kremen, May 4, 2001 12:00 AM
enough viewers have to monitor it, in order to have enough protest
The more educated viewers watch CNN and others, the more correctly the bias can identified and protested.
The rest is easy -- the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
(4) Alberto Batista, May 2, 2001 12:00 AM
Arafat, Hanoi Jane, & changing morality
All my childhood, I remember the jubilant, grimy, skraggly-bearded Yassar Arafat appearing on TV News whenever an act of terrorism against Jews was perpetrated. For about twenty years, Arafat and his raggedy, snaggle-toothed "lieutenants" would cheer on the death of Jews (often American Jews), and call for Moslem uprising against the Western Democracies. Arafat was the personification of un-repentant murder of innocent people, a hard-core Terrorist. Then one day, it seems that Arafat became the poster child for everyone who believes that serial killers are just "misunderstood victims of child abuse." As if Arafat had attended an "Anger Control" class and was no longer a threat to anyone. The question is: Has Arafat evolved to become a Ghandhi-like missionary for his people; or have the world's moral values changed; or have the owners of the news media changed the content we are fed on TV?
(3) Lee Tracy, May 1, 2001 12:00 AM
my comments to CNN and AOL
Does running something originating with Reuters absolve CNN of any responsibility for the content? I think not. I hate to align myself with those who argue bias with every single report that paints Palestinians as anything other than evil villains, but I am now standing up against anti-Israel bias.
The article as a whole is not that bad. But the last paragraph is what stays with people. And this last paragraph is blatantly inaccurate in its effort to make Arab aggression into something just "accompanying the declaration of the Jewish state." This is like saying "The four little girls died in the explosion accompanying their arrival at the 16th Street Church." Or "Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman died in the violence accompanying the arrival of OJ Simpson onto South Bundy Drive." It's just _there_, an act of G-d, no fault and no responsibility, just disconsolate victims. Violence mysteriously accompanies Independence like the piece of toilet paper accompanies the shoe onto which it sticks. Who knows how it got there?
When the British relinquished its Mandate in May of 1948 and Israel declared its Independence, the Arab countries surrounding it invaded, causing the war that Israelis and Jews refer to as the War of Independence. The real "nakba" the Palestinians endured was being the victims of a misguided Arab quest to annihilate the nascent Jewish state rather than pursue peace with it. The Palestinians are still living with the consequences of the Arab world's decision to try genocide rather than diplomacy. That their children and children's children have had to live with the consequences of this foolishness is the real catastrophe.
If CNN keeps up with this anti-Israel bias, I will have to go to other sources for my news on TV and the net.
(2) Ruth Novice, April 29, 2001 12:00 AM
One sided reporting
It seems that CNN wishes to see more blood spilled. That is what one-sided- reporting and expressed views will do. Telling half the truth and not the other half will work the same way.
Hitler found distortions promoted his views and helped promote his hate.
If CNN thinks it can help destroy the Jewish people it should look at history. It simply cannot be done.
I used to trust CNN...No longer
(1) Anonymous, April 29, 2001 12:00 AM
Putting Pressure on CNN
I suggest starting a campaign to have CNN removed from Israeli cable in favor of EuroNews (if not already carried.)
If so, BBC News channel which is probably not quite as bad as CNN.
The point though is that if CNN is biased by Arab interests now it will have to be be even out by influence of Jewish/Israeli interests. The Israeli cable operators should inform CNN that they will monitor the newschannels coverage of the Israel crisis and will remove the channel if it does not objectively cover this story. Cable operators can be petioned by cable subscribers to do this.
Some US cable systems allow individual channels to be blocked out which sometimes deprives that channel of up to 25 cents a house/a month which would be signifigant if many Jews and other friends of Israel asked for the channel to be removed, where possible, as a way of petition.
CNN portrayed an Hamas terrorist responsible for the murder of Israeli schoolgirls and a handicapped Jewish American Tourist, as a "freedom fighter." The piece was done by an Arab reporter. The author of the above article is correct, The Palestians could not create a better PR campaign. It's time to take a stance.