Israel

Lebanese ambulance, Associated Press image

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Anti-Israel Bias – An Endless Battle

By Tzippe Barrow
CBNNews.com

CBNNews.com – According to certain media watchdog organizations, trying to counter the anti-Israel bias in the media is an increasingly challenging proposition. Everyday people are fed a varied diet of misinformation, designed to color their thinking about the Jewish state and its people.

Misinformation is available in many formats, among them wire services, network news, editorials, blogs, talk shows, etc. Journalists trying to counter this widespread bias are far outnumbered by those whose perspective of Israel is less than positive.

But what they lack in numbers, they more than make up for in their commitment to present well-researched, accurate information.

One such group of journalists can be found at Honest Reporting, which in less than seven years has grown to Israel’s largest media watchdog.

Senior editor Yarden Frankl attributes several factors to the media’s bias against Israel. First, journalists oftentimes lack the proper background. In racing to air their story first, they fail to check the facts sufficiently. And, he added, Israel’s enemies are “skilled in manipulation.”

A recent posting on the Honest Reporting Web site, “Covering the Conflict in the North,” exposes some of the media’s manipulation in reporting the recent war in Lebanon.

“When Israel responded to the Hezbollah attack,” said Yarden, “news organizations wanted to report on wide-spread destruction. That’s why obviously faked photographs and staged ‘scenes’ were so quickly published.” The question begging an answer is why they go to such ends to portray Israel as the bad guy.

Yarden said the Internet has provided an edge for media watchdogs. “Today, we have an advantage in fighting bias,” he said. “We can take a news story, point out the bias, and have thousands of readers send e-mails to the media.”

Yarden said they’ve seen retractions within 24 hours.

Since the UN-brokered cease-fire went into effect, a great deal has been written about the 35-day war. In an article exposing Hezbollah’s propaganda machine posted on Jewish World Review, Dan Gordon explained why it’s important for Americans to understand what happened there.

One of the most dramatic examples of media forgery was the story about Israeli missiles targeting Lebanese ambulances. It’s been exposed as a 100 percent forgery. But how many people who read the original story are aware of this?

Of course this kind of reporting didn’t start or end with the war in Lebanon. A fresh dose of anti-Israel bias is available everyday. Discerning the facts from the distortions requires “reading between the lines,” so the reader has his work cut out for him as well.

As with most things, there’s a choice involved. Many will accept what they read at face value. Digging for the truth takes more effort these days, and chances are it will become increasingly difficult as time goes on.

When it comes to Israel, depending solely on the world’s media organizations is walking a tightrope, at best. Discerning readers would do well to take what they read and hear from these sources with a grain of salt.

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