A respectful dissent, please, from Gary Rosenblatt’s column, “Don’t Just Blame the Media,” (Nov. 8). Rosenblatt asserts that “for the most part, mainstream American coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been fair.”
Yet another two-month study reveals National Public Radio coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict continues to be marred by factual distortions and disproportionate presentation of Arab and pro-Arab speakers. Skewed and serious allegations against Israel are, at times, aired in completely one-sided programs without giving Israel the right of response. Partisan language shades reporting, blurring the terrorist role of Palestinian groups and leaders and casting Israeli leaders alone as “hard-line.”
In September 2002, NPR aired a seven-part series entitled "The Mideast: A Century of Conflict" purporting to bring "context and perspective to the story" of the Israeli-Palstinian conflict and "to help listeners understand the complex situation in the Mideast, the history, and the consequences of the confrontation." In fact, the series was marred by severe lack of balance, error and distortion