Kerry Smith Marash

‘Nightline’ Stonewalls on Balance Issue

An April 22 "Nightline" segment by Richard Gizbert conforms to a pattern which features interviewees sharing one point of view–opposition to Israel and/or its policies and sympathy to Arab concerns. In the following letter, CAMERA presses "Nightline" to produce the date of just one broadcast within the last year which was tilted towards Israel. Though ABC officials have in the past alleged that the program's record is "even on the whole," the network has yet to respond to CAMERA's simple request.

Measuring Balance at “Nightline”: Divergent Views Need Not Apply

"Nightline and ABC News devote a significant amount of time to both Israeli and Palestinian issues and we consider our record even on the whole," wrote Kerry Smith Marash, ABC's VP for editorial quality, in her Nov. 13 letter to CAMERA. If the Dec. 2 "Nightline" focusing on "Israeli issues"–the 27 pilots objecting to Israel's targeted killings followed by a piece on the "demographic bomb"–was meant to balance the tendentious Oct. 9 broadcast featuring the suicide bomber as victim and criticizing Israel's security barrier, then it was a dismal failure.

“Nightline” Over the Line

ABC has once again stonewalled, refusing to correct a clear cut factual error from its June 11 "Nightline" report with Jim Wooten about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which lacked any semblance of objectivity and impartiality. The theme of Wooten's one-sided broadcast is that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is solely responsible for the ongoing violence, and that Palestinian President Yasir Arafat is a hapless victim bullied by Palestinian "militants."