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.
In a February 5th column, New York Times syndicated columnist Tom Friedman not only gets his facts wrong, but uses imagery and descriptions that are, in the familiar words of Harvard President Lawrence Summers, “anti-Semitic in their effect if not their intent.”
On Dec. 23, the Associated Press filed an anonymous story entitled "Israeli company asks Chinese workers not to have sex with Israelis." The story is bogus, falsely stating: "An Israeli company has required thousands of Chinese workers to sign a contract promising not to have sex with Israelis or try to convert them."
Aggressive bias continues at NPR, America's foremost publicly-funded radio network, with lopsided time afforded Israel's detractors. Unsupported and anecdotal charges of Israeli misconduct are routinely aired without any balance or counterpoint. Partisan groups critical of Israel are characterized euphemistically as neutral champions of "peace" and "human rights."
"Nightline and ABC News devote a significant amount of time to both Israeli and Palestinian issues and we consider our record even on the whole," wrote Kerry Smith Marash, ABC's VP for editorial quality, in her Nov. 13 letter to CAMERA. If the Dec. 2 "Nightline" focusing on "Israeli issues"–the 27 pilots objecting to Israel's targeted killings followed by a piece on the "demographic bomb"–was meant to balance the tendentious Oct. 9 broadcast featuring the suicide bomber as victim and criticizing Israel's security barrier, then it was a dismal failure.