CAMERA Op-Ed in Times of Israel on NYT’s Faux Fairness

The New York Times is an American icon and fairness is a core American value.

It’s no wonder then that The Times says it places a premium on fairness, a laudable journalistic value. Its Standards and Ethics guidelines state: “The goal of The New York Times is to cover the news as impartially as possible – ‘without fear or favor,’ in the words of Adolph Ochs, our patriarch.”

Maybe that’s why editors habitually issue a pro-forma condemnation of both Israelis and Palestinians – before it proceeds to single out Israel for real or perceived wrongdoings, while downplaying or ignoring foul play on the other side.  Today’s editorial (“Four Horrific Killings, July 8”) follows the familiar formula. First, the blanket exhortation to both sides: “It is the responsibility of leaders on both sides to try and calm the volatile emotions that once again threaten both peoples.”
 
After inserting additional background information (including an egregious factual error about the Israeli prime minister), The Times tackles its real beef. Editors provide a detailed litany of Israeli misdoings, followed by a perfunctory reference to “Hamas’s violence” and unidentified Palestinian “hateful speech.”

Read this July 8 Op-Ed in its entirety at The Times of Israel.

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