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.
In an article May 1 entitled "Syria Still Mourns Land Lost to Israel," Los Angeles Times correspondent Azadeh Moaveni made false assertions about Israeli actions in the Golan Heights town of Kuneitra during the 1970s which are refuted by the paper's own coverage from that time period.
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.
A recent seven-month CAMERA study of the Los Angeles Times' headlines concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict reveals a striking difference in the way the paper describes Israeli actions as opposed to Palestinian actions.
NPR reporter Kate Seelye, a former Manager of Media Relations for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), regularly interviews speakers from the Arab world and routinely gives them a platform for distorted, self-serving claims about Middle East events. Rarely, if ever, does she ask challenging questions or contradict her guests.
Cable network A&E offers viewers a mix of fact and fiction–with news documentaries like "Investigative Report," "American Justice," and "Biography," as well as dramas including "Murder She Wrote," "Third Watch," and movies. A recent installment of the documentary "Biography"–which according to A&E's web site provides "depth, detail, and historical accuracy"–was itself a blend of fact and fiction.
Had they wanted to, the editors of the San Jose Mercury News could not have illustrated the concept of "bias" more succinctly than they did with the March 31 publication of an Associated Press photo on page A16.
In his Feb. 20 Los Angeles Times article entitled "Syria Works to Polish Its Image," correspondent John Daniszewski appears to have joined the official Syrian public relations campaign. The reporter obscures Syrian involvement in chemical and biological weapons, covers up the government's support for Hizballah and other terrorist groups, and distorts Syria's position vis-í -vis peace with Israel.
In his March 21 column, Rami Khouri, executive editor of the Beirut-based Daily Star, misrepresents the facts concerning
Iraq, Israel and United Nations resolutions. He states that the Arab
world is aggrieved by "an Anglo-American armada to enforce U.N.
resolutions in Iraq, while applying no comparable political, economic or
military clout to implement 50-year-old U.N. resolutions on the Israeli
Palestinian conflict. . . ." ("For Arabs, a Cruel Echo of History").
In a striking display of tunnel vision, Los Angeles Times Jerusalem correspondent Laura King missed the plainly clear evidence that many Palestinian residents of Gaza resent Hamas for endangering their neighborhoods by launching attacks against Israel from the area.