• Home
  • Perspectives
  • Articles
  • Columns
  • Platform
  • Poetry
    • Literature
  • Shop
    • Cart
    • My account
  • Support
    • Donation Confirmation
  • Write for us
Search
50.4 F
Los Angeles
Thursday, February 2, 2023
Sign in
Welcome! Log into your account
Forgot your password? Get help
Privacy Policy
Password recovery
Recover your password
A password will be e-mailed to you.
Media Monitors Network (MMN)
  • Home
  • Perspectives
    • Jerusalem Israel Palestine Dome of The Rock Golden Dome

      The Abraham Accords undermined much-needed peace with Palestinians

      World Map

      Global disturbing disparities

      Globe Algeria Niger Mali Africa

      There is always a price to pay for befriending the Zionists

      Illegal Israeli Settlements

      Antisemitism claims mask a reign of political and cultural terror across…

      The Flower - Pakistan Monument at Night

      Israel in the vanguard of India’s mounting conflict with Pakistan

  • Articles
    • Man studying religious book

      Ishmael and Isaac: An Essay on the Divergent Moral Economies of…

      Mahmoud Abbas

      May Your Home Be Destroyed

      Netanyahu Lighting Hanukah Candles with His Wife and Sons

      Bibi’s Son or: Three Men in a Car

      The Map of Greater Israel

      The Man Who Jumped

      West Bank - Palestine

      Cry, Beloved Country

  • Columns
    • Progressives Must Fight With -- and In -- the Democratic Party

      Steps Left for Electing Progressives and Defeating Republicans in the Midterms

      Tax Revelations and Corporate Media Won’t Defeat Trump

      Nancy Pelosi Could Get Us All Killed

      Tax Revelations and Corporate Media Won’t Defeat Trump

      ‘Fortress Mentality’ Among U.S. Leaders Has Trapped Us in a Cycle…

      Progressives Must Fight With -- and In -- the Democratic Party

      Grassroots Organizing Should Dump Biden and Clear the Path for a…

      Corporate Media Are Focusing on Race -- and Dodging Class

      Biden Refuses to Mention the Worsening Dangers of Nuclear War. Media…

  • Platform
    • Hanukkah Lights

      Hanukkah is not hypocrisy

      The Washington Post

      “Preemptive war could risk millions of casualties. But….”

      When they shout: "We strongly condemn…"

      68

      Why Iran won’t attack Israel

      Is One Iraqi’s Self-Hatred Newsworthy?

  • Poetry
    • Literature
  • Shop
    • Cart
    • My account
  • Support
    • Donation Confirmation
  • Write for us
Home Perspectives If it’s critical of Israel, spike the story!
  • Perspectives

If it’s critical of Israel, spike the story!

By
Iqbal Jassat
-
September 26, 2007
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
WhatsApp
Linkedin
ReddIt
Email
Print
Tumblr
Telegram
Mix
VK
Digg
LINE
Viber
Naver

    In the wake of a recent controversy sparked by the SA Jewish Board of Deputies’ claim that it had obtained assurances in the form of “concrete undertakings” from the SABC to address the “problem of anti-Israel bias within the organization," one wonders whether journalists realize that these type of “balancing deals” actually undermine press freedoms.

    Since it is common within lobbying groups to campaign for their cherished causes, it is a different ball-game and quite reprehensible too, when emotional blackmail of the type associated with charges of “anti-Semitism” is used to curtail freedom of expression.

    That such lobbying is expected from organizations keen to protect Israel from censure, does not necessarily mean that media institutions must allow themselves to have their lips sealed –” meaning in effect that whilst espousing press freedoms, they voluntarily surrender theirs in a misguided pursuance of “balance”.

    My own experience attests to this. On numerous occasions producers of radio talk-shows would, after securing my confirmation as an invited guest, call back to apologise profusely for having to cancel. The reasons advanced are invariably that “opposing” voices are unavailable –” hence to proceed would lack “balance”. Fortunately, in most cases I have been able to persuade them not to deny me my media space simply because some or other Zionist official was either unavailable or unwilling to debate the question of Israel in public.

    It’s a ridiculous notion to insist –” as some pro-Israeli propaganda outfits do –” that each time Palestine is discussed on radio or TV, an “opposing” voice providing an “Israeli position” be heard. To prevent being labeled as “one-sided” and “lacking objectivity”, many shows just do not see the light of day. The ensuing result is nothing less than censorship!

    And no matter how often media practitioners talk about the evils of censorship –” it appears to escape them that in-house suppression of views and opinions is equally repugnant and can be viewed as censorious.

    Newspapers in particular, have a notorious reputation in this regard. Editors for instance, argue about lack of space, yet continue restricting public interaction via letters-to-the-editor –” confined to a minute few centimeter columns –” while editorializing about the dangers of limitations to media freedoms!

    The irony is that lampooning the political leadership of the country is acceptable and viewed as evidence of a free media exercising its right to provoke robust debate on matters such as the “succession debate”, “zumagate” and the fortunes of the Health minister; yet a similar approach to Israel is rather subdued.

    Why? Is it fear of losing advertising revenue? Or fear of being stigmatized as anti-Semitic?

    The paradoxes are blatantly inexplicable!

    While of course there are honourable exceptions, media in SA seems to be caught in the same net as government’s foreign policy on Israel: an inane obsession with so-called “balance”!

    This implies a refusal to consider the relevance of Palestinian rights under international law.

    According to Howard Friel and Richard Falk in their study on how the New York Times misreports conflict in the Middle East, if media lived up to its responsibilities to be informative and impartial in its treatment of the Israel/Palestine issue, it would pay close attention to the connections between foreign policy and international law. “Its attentiveness would exert a constructive influence on the whole media climate.”

    In their book “Israel –” Palestine On Record," they introduce a novel approach to assessing media integrity. Friel and Falk believe that the values of a democratic society and of a peaceful and equitable world order depend on a willingness by all political actors, especially those who purport to be world leaders, to shape their foreign policy with due regard for the restraints of international law.

    Therefore, from this standpoint, the quality of news media coverage is evaluated by the extent to which it takes account of international law.

    The indictment against media’s coverage of the Israel/Palestine conflict relates to its unwillingness to acknowledge the degree to which the central Palestinian claims in the conflict are solidly supported by international law.

    Hence, to be “balanced” as both government and media strives is in effect unbalanced!

    How on earth can anyone claim parity in the ongoing struggle between an occupying power imposing its destructive policies for six decades on an abused civilian population and the resistance mounted by this population?

    • TAGS
    • about
    • acceptable
    • according
    • account
    • actors
    • actually
    • address
    • advanced
    • after
    • against
    • allow
    • anti-Semitic
    • anti-Semitism
    • anyone
    • approach
    • attention
    • balance
    • balanced
    • balancing
    • because
    • being
    • believe
    • between
    • blackmail
    • board
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Pinterest
    WhatsApp
    Linkedin
    ReddIt
    Email
    Print
    Tumblr
    Telegram
    Mix
    VK
    Digg
    LINE
    Viber
    Naver
      Previous articleArab Americans Win a Victory
      Next articleWhy did Israel attack Syria?
      Iqbal Jassat
      Mr. Iqbal Jassat, Executive Member of Media Review Network (MRN), gets featured on Media Monitors Network (MMN) with the courtesy of MRN, which is an advocacy group based in Pretoria, South Africa.

      RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

      Jerusalem Israel Palestine Dome of The Rock Golden Dome

      The Abraham Accords undermined much-needed peace with Palestinians

      World Map

      Global disturbing disparities

      Globe Algeria Niger Mali Africa

      There is always a price to pay for befriending the Zionists

      Google Search

      MMN @ Google Play Store MMN @ Amazon Appstore

      MMN @ TwitterMMN @ FacebookMMN Feed

      EDITOR PICKS

      Progressives Must Fight With -- and In -- the Democratic Party

      Steps Left for Electing Progressives and Defeating Republicans in the Midterms

      August 31, 2022
      Tax Revelations and Corporate Media Won’t Defeat Trump

      Nancy Pelosi Could Get Us All Killed

      August 1, 2022
      Tax Revelations and Corporate Media Won’t Defeat Trump

      ‘Fortress Mentality’ Among U.S. Leaders Has Trapped Us in a Cycle...

      July 25, 2022

      POPULAR POSTS

      167

      The Origin of Freemasonry: The Crusaders & Templars

      April 23, 2003

      Sharon to Peres: We Control America

      November 20, 2001
      Qibla - Kaaba

      Direction of Al-Qiblah

      February 23, 2003

      POPULAR CATEGORY

      • Perspectives13563
      • News6692
      • World5882
      • Asia4837
      • Columns1370
      • Africa926
      • Articles786
      • Australasia612
      • Health599
      ABOUT US
      Media Monitors Network (MMN) is a non-profit, non-partial and non-political platform for those serious Media Contributors and Observers who crave to know and like to help to prevail the whole truth about current affairs, any disputed issue or any controversial issue by their voluntary contributions with logic, reason and rationality.
      Contact us: [email protected]
      FOLLOW US
      • About MMN
      • Disclaimer
      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms and Conditions
      • Contact
      Copyright © 2000 - MMN International Inc. All rights reserved.
      Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
      All other brands, logos, and product names are registered
      trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.
      ResponsiveVoice-NonCommercial licensed under 95x15
      MORE STORIES
      Fake medicines kill almost 500,000 sub-Saharan Africans a year: UNODC report

      Fake medicines kill almost 500,000 sub-Saharan Africans a year: UNODC report

      February 1, 2023
      African leaders commit to end AIDS among children by 2030

      African leaders commit to end AIDS among children by 2030

      February 1, 2023