2020 ANNUAL IMPACT REPORT www.HonestReporting.com We believe Israel deserves fair treatment in the news. We know public opinion is shaped by the media. We empower people to respond to anti-Israel bias. Help us ensure fair media coverage of Israel. Receive our free daily newsletter and educational materials: honestreporting.com/signup HonestReporting US Board of Directors President: Robert A. Blum Members David A. Barish, Ph.D. • Martha Barvin • Daniela Bendor • Max Blankfeld • Marc Levine Morris F. Mintz • Sharon Mishkin • Jodi Samuels • Aaron Spool • Arthur Weinstein Executive Staff Daniel Pomerantz, Chief Executive Officer International Staff Charles Bybelezer, Managing Editor • Jerry Glazer, Director of Finance and Administration Suzanne Lieberman, Director of Missions & Donor Relations • Laura Cornfield, Director of MediaCentral HonestReporting Defending Israel From Media Bias 2020 ANNUAL IMPACT REPORT www.HonestReporting.com This annual report is also available online as a downloadable PDF with additional content hyperlinks at www.honestreporting.com/2019-annual-report/ HonestReporting IN ACTION We deliver real solutions to We mobilize at a real problems moment’s notice Media bias is a global problem that affects Israel and The longer biased news is out there, the more people will Jewish communities around the world. With our be misinformed. That’s why we have a rapid response monitoring capabilities, critiques and social media mechanism. Corrections begin to appear quickly so that presence, we put news outlets on notice and hold them the public is told the truth. to account. We have leverage Our team of professionals The most valuable assets for news agencies are their makes every dollar count reputation and credibility. They know who we are, they We monitor events, how they are covered, reach out know about our reach and our impact. Journalists have to our expansive network, provide support and get the to do their jobs right or risk being exposed. results to keep people well-informed. Our track record is We don’t just critique media, unparalleled we educate the public For two decades we’ve been inducing corrections, Our staff members have intimate knowledge of the expanding our community partnerships and prompting issues and are able to effectively disseminate accurate media to report with fairness and accuracy. and relevant information. Our educational materials are an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to advocate on behalf of Israel. We're on the ground, in the heart of Jerusalem 2 HonestReporting Annual Report 2020 • www.honestreporting.com Message from the CEO In the year of COVID-19, the need for honest reporting about Israel did not slow down, and neither did we. Thank you for helping to make our success possible. MediaCentral increased its number of press events, resulting articles or television segments, and amount of journalists served, by 85% to 185% in each category, including worldwide praise for Israel’s COVID response and vaccine efforts, much of it coming right out of our conferences. Our editorial team’s critiques and social media savvy prompted corrections by Associated Press, Reuters, CNN, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The Telegraph, and others. We helped induce YouTube to remove Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan’s horribly antisemitic July 4th address, and working with other organizations we convinced Facebook to (finally!) recognize that Holocaust denial is a form of hate speech, and ban it from its platform. Meanwhile, our YouTube campaign, which directly reaches young adults, showed enormous growth with 97 original videos generating nearly 13 million views. Finally, with our in-person trips to Israel frozen due to coronavirus-related restrictions, we launched virtual missions, webinars, and educational Zoom calls, in which 800 of you participated throughout the year. Ironically, the global lockdown became an opportunity for all of us to connect more closely and more often than ever before, and I’m so glad we did. This year showed me that we have an exceptionally talented and motivated team, as well as enormously energetic and supportive friends, like you. This is why I’m so excited about what comes next. For 2021, we have specific plans to professionalize all of our activities to the highest possible level, enhance our global credibility and create a greater, measurable impact for Israel than ever before. To this end, we have generated clear internal plans, benchmarks and deliverables, and if you ever want to talk about the specifics or about how you can help please feel free to reach out any time. Best wishes from Israel. I hope 2021 brings you safety, health and peace. Sincerely, Daniel Pomerantz CEO HonestReporting Annual Report 2020 • www.honestreporting.com 3 STATS Social Media 6 million Facebook REACHED 5 million Twitter IMPRESSIONS 1,200 TWEETS 12.9 million Videos VIEWS 97 VIDEOS 4 HonestReporting Annual Report 2020 • www.honestreporting.com HonestReporting Marks 20 Years Since the ‘Photo that Started it All’ HonestReporting marked 20 years of monitoring anti-Israel media bias, a remarkable journey launched by the “Photo that Started it All.” On September 30, 2000, Associated Press, The New York Times and other major media outlets published a photo of a bloodied youth standing near an Israeli border policeman. The caption identified the victim as a Palestinian, although the truth quickly surfaced: The person in question was actually Tuvia Grossman, a Jewish student from Chicago. The Israeli security officer was trying to protect him after he and two friends were pulled from their taxi by a mob in an Arab neighborhood of Jerusalem and severely beaten. The public outcry over the picture became a symbol of the struggle to ensure that Israel receives the fair news coverage that every nation deserves. Two decades later, this remains HonestReporting’s core mission. HonestReporting Annual Report 2020 • www.honestreporting.com 5 Israel's Historic Normalization Agreements The Abraham Accords marked the first time in more than 40 years that any Arab state agreed to normalize relations with Israel. And the initial ceremony at the White House was just the first stop aboard an intended Middle East peace train. HonestReporting was there all along the way: September 15, 2020: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signs normalization agreements at the White House alongside former US president Donald Trump, members of whose administration mediated the historic diplomatic breakthroughs. October 12, 2020: Israel’s cabinet votes unanimously to adopt the peace agreement forged with the United Arab Emirates; this, ahead of a full parliamentary debate that culminates with the deal’s formal ratification. October 19, 2020: Bahrain becomes the second Arab country to officially normalize diplomatic ties with Israel. At a ceremony in Manama, officials sign eight bilateral agreements, including a “Joint Communiqué on the establishment of diplomatic, peaceful, and friendly relations.” October 22, 2020: An overwhelming majority of both chambers of Congress introduce new resolutions in support of the Abraham Accords. December 23, 2020: The heads of a joint Israeli-American delegation hold high-level talks with Moroccan officials, including King Mohammed VI. Following the meeting, a declaration obligates the resumption of “full official contacts between Israeli and Moroccan counterparts” by the end of January 2021. January 7, 2021: After committing to do so months previously, Sudan officially joins the Abraham Accords, paving the way for Khartoum’s normalization of ties with Israel. The North African nation became the third of four countries to agree to establish relations with the Jewish state, following the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain and preceding Morocco. 6 HonestReporting Annual Report 2020 • www.honestreporting.com HonestReporting Debunks Palestinian Coronavirus Vaccine Lie When Israel launched a major initiative to inoculate the country’s population against the coronavirus in December, media outlets such as Reuters, Associated Press, The Washington Post and ABC News, among others, began to plaster headlines across their sites that incorrectly implied that Media: Israel Leaves Palestinians Jerusalem was responsible for the Palestinians’ purported lack of access to vaccines. Waiting For Vaccines; Truth: Palestinians Never Asked Israel What many major news organizations failed to report was that the Palestinian Authority had not even contacted Israel about for Help the issue of purchasing the vaccine. Indeed, overlooked in the By Charles Bybelezer • December 21, 2020 coverage was that Ramallah had for the better part of 2020 cut off ties with Jerusalem over the latter’s now-shelved plan to apply sovereignty to parts of the West Bank in accordance with A senior official with the Palestinian Authority former US president Donald Trump’s peace plan. Ministry of Health [told The Jerusalem Post] “ that the Palestinians do not expect Israel to sell The PA’s decision was made at the height of the pandemic when them, or purchase on their behalf, the vaccine Palestinians were, so the media narrative suggests, desperate from any country... for help. Another PA Ministry of Health official said that Ramallah not only refused to accept huge sums of money in he expected vaccinations in the West Bank monthly taxes and tariffs Israel collects and remits on its behalf, and Gaza Strip to begin next month. He, too, clarified that the PA has not asked Israel to it went so far as to decline the transfer of COVID-19-related supply the Palestinians with the vaccine. humanitarian aid from the United Arab Emirates because the supplies had arrived from the Gulf state on a plane that landed ‘We are working on our own to obtain the at Ben Gurion Airport. vaccine from a number of sources,” the official added. “We are not a department in the Israeli HonestReporting played an instrumental role in combating the Defense Ministry. We have our own government false, if not malicious, media narrative, producing numerous and Ministry of Health, and they are making articles on the issue.