Tamar Sternthal

July 11, 2003

UPDATED: Journalists Veer Off ‘Road Map,’ Crash Into Cease-Fire

It seems that some members of the media are having a tough time differentiating the terms of the American brokered "road map" from Palestinian unilateral demands on Israel. Namely, while Palestinians have conditioned their cease-fire on the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons (among other demands), the "road map" plan, drawn up by the United States, European Union, Russia, and the United Nations, has nothing at all to say about Palestinian prisoners.

July 11, 2003

“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."

July 7, 2003

B’Tselem, Los Angeles Times Redefine “Civilian”

Misrepresenting civilian deaths in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, guest columnist Rashid Khalidi erroneously reported June 17 in the Los Angeles Times that "The U.S. media regularly fail to mention that three times as many Palestinians as Israelis–most on both sides civilians–have been killed since September 2000, when the second intifada began" ("Can Hamas Cut a Deal for Peace?")

May 30, 2003

International Herald Tribune Demolishes the Facts

When New York Times reporter Jayson Blair resigned amid controversy in May 2003, the Gray Lady sought to put its house in order by cutting down on factual errors. Evidently that new focus on accountability and accuracy has yet to rub off on the International Herald Tribune, which is owned by the Times and publishes material by its reporters and columnists.

May 29, 2003

LA Times Demonizes Israeli PM

Over the last couple of days, the Los Angeles Times news coverage of Ariel Sharon's views on the U.S.-backed "road map" and his Cabinet's approval of the plan unfairly characterized the prime minister and contained several other examples of bias.

May 14, 2003

Lopsided NPR News from Peter Kenyon

Once again, National Public Radio has focused lopsided coverage on Palestinian civilians unintentionally killed during an Israeli incursion into Gaza, minimizing the responsibility of Palestinian gunmen in deliberately endangering their own civilians, while giving only perfunctory coverage to Israeli civilians targeted for death by an Arab suicide bomber.