On Dec. 2, 2004, the New York Review of Books ran an error-filled essay by Henry Siegman ("Sharon and the Future of Palestine"). The publication has been alerted to the errors, but has declined to address them.
A leading Hamas preacher was caught on tape saying that a BBC correspondent slants his reports to favor Muslims. A story in the Israeli daily Haaretz reports that Fathi Hamad, a preacher responsible for Hamas' communications system in Gaza, said "that Hamas man Faiz Abu Smala works for the BBC, 'and that way he writes the story in favor of the Islam [sic] and Muslims'" (Arnon Regular, "Leading Hamas preacher warns of clash with Islamic Jihad," 12/15/04).
In the intense media coverage accompanying Yasser Arafat's death, the man known to many as the "father of modern terrorism" is benefiting from an "extreme make-over," as some news reports and columns airbrush history to exclude his actual deeds.
The self-declared mission of the Associated Press (AP) is to provide news "of the highest quality, reliability and objectivity with reports that are accurate, balanced and informed." AP's code of ethics calls for "impartial treatment of issues." Why then does the wire service adopt the position of Hezbollah — a group designated by the U.S. Department of State as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, presenting the terrorist group's propaganda as fact?