This year, the media have blundered all too many times in reporting on the Middle East. There were, unfortunately, countless potential “winners,” but CAMERA has identified our ten worst offenders.
PBS receives federal funds through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting so it must maintain “strict adherence to objectivity and balance in all programs or series of programs of a controversial nature.” By airing two back-to-back anti-Israel films, PBS documentary series POV violates this rule.
PBS’ "Newshour" aired back-to-back stories about Gaza and Israel resuming normal life. The Gaza segment is filled with civilians and devastation. In contrast, viewers do not see a single Israeli victim of Hamas rockets, nor is there one shot of destruction in southern Israel. 
Phyllis Bennis, again working at bashing Israel, teamed up with PBS’ Tavis Smiley on Oct. 11, 2012 to misinform viewers about the Jewish nation. Smiley’s show is aired daily (generally at midnight) in major cities. 
On PBS' Bill Moyers program, Chris Hedges makes a number of revealing assertions about journalism, truth, and Israel coverage. Surprisingly, he emphasizes the importance of fact-checking, something that was sorely lacking in his own Gaza reporting. 
On PBS Newshour, John Mearsheimer, author of the "Israel Lobby," asserts " a nuclear-armed Iran would bring stability to the region." He also offers reassurance that "they have hardly any offensive capability at all." 
USA Today (online, March 4) published CAMERA's call, by Washington director Eric Rozenman, for public broadcasting to finally conduct mandatory objectivity and balance oversight of NPR and PBS. 