Friedman admits he was wrong, sort of, about Israel's release of Palestinian prisoners during the tenure of Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas. But he maintains that Sharon was responsible for Abbas's resignation, a claim which Abbas himself refuted this week.
CNN once again obscured the reason for Palestinian terrorism by not even once mentioning the sustained campaign of hatred and incitement against Jews and Israelis that has been a staple of Palestinian newspapers, radio, television, mosques, classrooms and summer camps. Instead of exploring for viewers the horrifically effective Palestinian brainwashing campaign that has convinced so many Palestinians to kill and be killed, CNN in effect blamed Israel for the suicide bombings.
Since the discovery of massive journalistic fraud involving plagiarism and fabrication by the New York Times’ Jayson Blair, new revelations have emerged about similar offenses by journalists at other prominent newspapers. Underscoring that journalism is as infallible as any other endeavor, these additional cases of dereliction will hopefully reinforce editors’ willingness to address reader concerns about error and distortion.
In its extensive coverage of Israel's targeted killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder and supreme leader of Hamas, the San Francisco Chronicle included an op-ed by Arab propagandist Mazin Qumsiyeh. The column distorted Israeli history in several ways. (The same day, the paper ran its own similarly themed editorial, yet no opinion piece appeared carrying exclusively Israeli views of the Yassin killing.)
In a March 1, 2004 article about Palestinian emigration, Associated Press Writer Jason Keyser makes selective use of context to illustrate why Palestinians are leaving the West Bank. The essential backdrop of terrorism — supported in principle by a majority of Palestinians, and made possible by PA complicity and funding — is omitted from this article, as are lawlessness and Palestinian Authority corruption.
The February 13, 2004 edition of USA Today published as an advertisement a large editorial cartoon depicting Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon controlling the US media, a cartoon closely mirroring anti-Israeli, anti-American illustrations common in the Middle Eastern press and even neo-Nazi publications. CAMERA contacted the newspaper and was promised that future ads will be more closely scrutinized and vetted.