Tamar Sternthal

May 5, 2004

‘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.
April 28, 2004

Dictionary of Bias

In navigating the complex lexicon of Middle East terminology, journalists may easily run into verbal land mines. The following guide is designed to assist those seeking to avoid partisan language which frequently crops up in Western news reports.

April 12, 2004

Up Against a Brick Wall

For months, the New Yorker stonewalled regarding errors on a Dec. 15, 2003 article by Connie Bruck. Staff people at the magazine repeatedly handed off responsibility for fact-checking, and the corrections never ran.
March 25, 2004

Journalists Behaving Badly

Since the discovery of massive journalistic fraud involving plagiarism and fabrication by the New York Times’ Jayson Blair, new revelations have emerged about similar offenses by journalists at other prominent newspapers. Underscoring that journalism is as infallible as any other endeavor, these additional cases of dereliction will hopefully reinforce editors’ willingness to address reader concerns about error and distortion.

December 26, 2003

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.

December 20, 2003

CAMERA Letter-to-the-Editor Published in the Boston Globe

The following CAMERA letter-to-the-editor correcting a letter about Israel's security barrier appeared today in the Boston Globe:

IN HER Dec. 5 letter lambasting Israel's security barrier ("Motives behind Israel's wall"), Ellen Cantarow admonishes: "The Globe owes its readers commentaries that don't make up the facts." Yet Cantarow does just that.

December 15, 2003

Dissembling Demolitions

Why do photo services feature images of forlorn Palestinian children scampering across rubble if the structures were uninhabited?
December 12, 2003

WSJ Columnist Overstates U.S. Aid to Israel by Almost $1 Trillion

In an Oct. 8 column entitled "Getting to Know Our New Buddy: OPEC," Wall Street Journal opinion writer Holman Jenkins overstated U.S. aid to Israel by almost a trillion dollars. His number is based on a study by economist Thomas Stauffer, which cannot be considered a credible source given that, among other absurdities, it includes aid to Arab countries as part of aid to Israel.