Mediadevelopmentvol. XLX 3/2002

Mediadevelopmentvol. XLX 3/2002

Media Development Vol. XLX 3/2002 Published four times a year by the World 23 International media coverage Association for Christian Communication 357 Kennington Lane and changing societies: London SE11 5QY England The view from Canada Telephone +44 (0)20 7582 9139 Fax +44 (0)20 7735 0340 Haroon Siddiqui E-mail: [email protected] http://www.wacc.org.uk 26 What constitutes full and fair media coverage of Israeli-Palestinian issues? Editors Pradip N. Thomas Marda Dunsky Philip Lee 10 US media turn a blind eye to the Israeli occupation Editorial consultants Sarah Eltantawi Clifford G. Christians, Professor, University of Illinois, Urbana, USA. Marlene Cuthbert, Professor Emeritus, University of 14 Sharo n ’s cunning plan Windsor, Ontario, Canada Regina Festa, Director, Workers’ Television, James M. Wall São Paulo, Brazil. Cees J. Hamelink, Professor, University of Amsterdam, 16 J o u rnalists’ Code of Fair Practice Amsterdam, Netherlands. Karol Jakubowicz, Lecturer, Institute of Journalism, Warsaw, Poland. 17 Style-sheet on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict Kong Zhiqiang, Professor, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. J. Martin Bailey Fernando Reyes Matta, Director, Instituto Latinoamericano de Estudios Transnacionales, 32 On the screen . Santiago, Chile. Michèle Mattelart, Professor, University of Paris, France. Emile G. McAnany, Professor, University of Texas, 36 In the event . Austin, USA. Breda Pavli˘c, Unesco, Paris. Usha V. Reddi, Professor, Osmania University, 39 Theological and ethical issues in Hyderabad, India. Robert A. White, Director, Centro v i rtual communication Interdisciplinare sulla Comunicazione Sociale, Isabelle Graesslé Gregorian University, Rome, Italy. 44 A n d rei Tarkovsky: Cinema’s poet Subscriptions Individual subscribers world-wide £20 or US$ 30. Gabor Karsai Libraries and institutions in North America and Europe £40 or US$ 60. 49 In defence of journalism as a public tru s t Libraries and institutions elsewhere in the world £27 or US$ 40. Statement WACC personal and corporate members receive 51 Disability matters . Media Development as part of membership privileges. The contents of Media Development may be reproduced only with permission. 53 On the page . Opinions expressed in this journal are not necessarily those of the editors nor of the WACC. Cover design John Bury Printed by Battley Brothers Ltd In the next issue 37 Old Town, Clapham Issues raised by the World Summit on the Information Society, and London SW4 0JN WACC support for the Campaign for Rights in the Information Society, will be the theme of the 4/2002 issue of Media ISSN 0143-5558 Development. Courant presented a ‘Fair East Understanding, Inc. and first Editorial Practices Code’ for journalists published in their newsletter The covering the conflict. Link. It is an invaluable meaning It was clear from the start that map for journalists and, for that one of the problems with routine, matter, for anyone interested in mainstream journalism had to do interpreting and writing about the with the traditions of what might conflict in this part of the world. be called lazy journalism, charac- But from a communications The WACC/NARA-WACC/NCC terised by short-hands and short- perspective the conflict is not only Communications Commission- cuts that have, rather unfortunately, about the ‘style’ of reporting, it is sponsored conference ‘Mega- become the accepted way of about journalists and their deeply phones and Muffled Voices: What reporting stories of conflict. A held emotions, gut feelings, near Constitutes Full and Fair Coverage smorgasbord of practices: reliance total distrust of the other, psycho- of Israeli-Palestinian Issues?’ held on official sources, dependence on logical and social conditionings in New York 17-18 April 2002 Middle East ‘experts’ who happen that have convinced them that was part of a series of workshops to have a penchant for partial what they write and how they inter- on the media and conflict in the truths, the tradition of the ‘para- pret the conflict is objective report- Middle East. A year earlier, in chute’ journalist whose brief, flak- ing at its best. One participant stat- April 2001, a workshop on the jacketed appearances atop the ed in all seriousness that journalists ‘News Embargo on Iraq’ was Jerusalem Hilton rarely if ever com- could not be impartial and that it organised in NY. WACC is also municates background knowledge would be wrong to be objective supporting an event scheduled to to the conflicts, over-reliance on because the other side had no tra- be held in Bethlehem later this year received understandings, routine ditions of morality let alone of jour- that will focus on the representa- stereotypical representations of the nalistic impartiality and objectivity. tion and reporting of Christian ‘other’ even by established jour- In spite of misgivings in the Bush Palestinians, who have also been nalists, lack of language skills and administration about some of the under siege in that troubled land. knowledge of local culture and statements made recently by Ted To bring together media person- local cultural practices, the exis- Turner, his comments on mutual nel from Jewish and Palestinian tence of a singular narrative and terrorism, shared terrorism in the backgrounds in NY was no mean the ignoring of other narratives Middle East need to be taken seri- achievement. The organisers, and the almost reflexive tendency ously. In spite of the fact that his some of whom were veteran to not distinguish between fiction comments do not reflect the posi- Middle East observers and jour- and fact, indicate some of the tion of the CNN, the pressure that nalists, had, from the very start, no problems that have to be sorted pro-Israeli pressure groups in the illusions as to the ‘sensitive’ nature out before reporting can be put on USA have exerted to lobby view- of this project. There were many an even keel. ers to switch to the rival, Murdoch- factors to be taken into account – This remains a monumental task owned, Fox News channel is a the overall geo-political environ- given the existence of a grand case of extraordinary censorship. ment in the Middle East, US for- narrative of history, of origins, of Journalists in all the media eign policy, the stance taken by inevitability, that are reflexively would do well to heed the words the churches, the impasse over and routinely used to justify these of Mitchell Plitnick, editor of A sanctions on Iraq, the heightened traditions of reporting. We heard Jewish Voice for Peace, who on state of tension between Israel and that some media in Israel routinely 22 April 2002 called for alterna- Palestine, along with the culture refer to the West Bank in Old tive voices that offer ‘a more and traditions of reporting this con- Testament terms – Judea and nuanced view of this conflict… that flict in the USA. There had to be an Samaria. It was clear that the lack can stand for justice and guard equal number of speakers from of credible information on the com- against the legitimate struggle for both communities, impartial mod- plex nature of this conflict has the basic rights of Palestinians eration and an environment con- resulted in journalists merely regur- being co-opted into the agenda of ducive to debate and the gitating partisan meanings. Which those who would see only harm exchange of ideas. In the event, is why this issue of Media comes to Jews and Arabs alike.’ 60 people turned out for a stimu- Development carries a ‘Style sheet In other words, fair and bal- lating two days at the end of on the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict’ anced reporting whose motives which, John Zakarian, editorial compiled by Martin Bailey on are shared understanding and the page editor of the Hartford behalf of Americans for Middle eventuality of peace. ■ 2 MEDIA DEVELOPMENT 3/2002 hat constitutes full and fair coverage editorially independent, if it is so inclined, i.e. if its of the Israeli-Palestinian issue? It goes owner is so inclined. W Being a business, media are not in the business of without saying that the question can never offending clients to the point of driving them away. fully be answered in a democracy. And it So they go with the flow. Too many cater to the low- cannot be answered without context. There est common denominator. Only some aim for the are two relevant contexts: One has to do highest common factor. Very few lead, and take the with the structure of the media and the risk of telling the truth the public, or to powerful peo- second with the post-Cold War and post- ple and lobbies who may not want to hear the truth. The notion of journalistic objectivity has been over- September 11 geopolitics of the United sold. Journalism is subjective, hopefully practiced States. After exploring these and related fairly, based on news value. There are guidelines on issues, the author offers several ethical what constitutes news. But news judgments reflect the points for journalists and the media. biases of the editors, who reflect the biases of the owners. Monopolisation and pluralism None of this is new. What is new are the four C’s of journalism: increasing corporatisation of media; International media increasing concentration of ownership; increasing convergence of media; and, in the case of ideologi- cal owners, creeping censorship. Monopolies in the coverage and media are worse than monopolies in other industries. Something else is new: Our demography is chang- ing dramatically. Both sides of almost every interna- changing societies: tional issue are present in Canada and the United States: Serbs and Kosovars, Serbs and Bosnians, The view from Canada Serbs and Croats; Greeks and Macedonians, Greeks and Turks; Kurds and Turks; Sikhs and Hindus; Haroon Siddiqui Indians and Pakistanis; Chinese and Taiwanese; Arabs and Jews.

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