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The Media's Fault
by Yossi Sarid
- Prominent journalists pointed this past month to the need for self-examination. The media too, in their opinion, revealed its flaws during the war, and would do well to check itself, as though it were unfair to project one's own flaws onto politicians and generals.
- The real question the media must ask itself is where it stood "in real time," when the thunder was rolling.
- And it stood for the most part among the national chorus, like in a tragedy, and went along as usual with the government and the chief of staff. It did not set its own tone; it usually played according to an official score composed and dictated by ministers and generals.
- The reservations it expressed were trivial reservations - is it better to attack like this or better to attack like that? In the early days, before the war lengthened and grew complicated, not many wondered whether it would be best not to attack at all.
- In the first days of war, of any war of choice, the media must must provide a platform for skeptics and disputers so that a different stance may be heard among the clarion calls, the cheering and hoorays. (Ha'aretz)
Foreign Policy Values and the Media
by Alexander Downer
- I have to say I have been disappointed with some of the recent reporting out of the Middle East, which I believe has brought discredit upon the Western media.
- What concerns me greatly is the evidence of dishonesty in the reporting out of Lebanon.
- There has been the tendency to report every casualty on the Lebanese side of the conflict as if a civilian casualty, when it was indisputable that a great many of those injured or killed in Israeli offensives were armed Hizballah combatants.
- My point is this: in a grown-up society such as our own, the media cannot expect to get away with parading falsehoods as truths, or ignoring salient facts because they happen to be inconvenient to the line of argument - or narrative - that particular journalists, or media organizations, might choose to adopt on any given controversy or issue. Alexander Downer is Australian Foreign Minister. (Australian Jewish News)
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Always Blaming the Media
by Uzi Peled
- The mass media in Israel have recently faced an unprecedented attack from readers, listeners and viewers who are unwilling to accept the media's conduct during the Second Lebanon War.
- The attacks pose a grave risk to freedom of the press. In practice, they represent an absolute expression of lack of faith in the role of an independent press in a democratic society, and a clear attempt to restrict the media's actions in the future.
- It is proper to leave clarification of these issues to editorial boards, ministerial bodies and unbiased public organizations, such as the Council for Democratic Press and academic institutions.
- It is certainly important to publicize the conclusions of such inquiries, but they must not be transformed into a double-edged sword raised against journalists and media organizations.
- The role of responsible journalism in a democratic state is to expose and publicize everything that is fit to print - even during wartime. The public has a right to know, because only the public is forced to pay the price. (Ha'aretz)
A Mike, a Camera, but Not One Clue
by Ike Seamans
- The Jewish state was savaged by many American print and TV reporters for aggressively defending itself against a ruthless enemy, while Hizballah received a free pass by journalists in its territory for fear of retribution.
- Newcomers have demonstrated exceptionally weak comprehension of combatants, issues, strategies -- even geography -- and an inability to provide context.
- Couldn't they have, at the least, read Craig S. Davis' The Middle East For Dummies before network jumpmasters ''parachuted'' them in to deal with skillful information manipulators and the perplexing maze of mirrors?
- It was mystifying to watch Fox's and CNN's young, telegenic ''anchor-talents'' masquerading as masters of the Levant, then abruptly vanish when hostilities bogged down, materializing the next day in stateside studios.
- Before Internet blogs, where sharp-eyed amateurs expose media transgressions, ineptitude and chicanery, TV news could get away with it. No more. (Center Daily)
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