Israel's
Media Watch
update report # 30
Israel's Media Watch Update Report #30
- February 18, 2000
- IMW court
appearance in the matter
of Eitan Oren was postponed.
- The Meretz website lists
IMW under a heading "Danger"
- Broadcasting of adult programming outside the "watershed
hour" time slot
- Israel's media is not
just reporting the facts
- Dan Shilon
- Pointing a finger at the Likud faction spokesman in the shape
of a gun
and pretending to shoot
- The sound of the media's
lips
- "The media is all
Left": Shelly Yechimovicz
- Senior Lawyer Comments
on Barak's Situation
- The media's angle in Lebanon
- "Three Fathers"
critical of Israel Radio's private agenda
- Media in History - "De Relationibus Novellis"
- Office of The Islamic
Association of Palestine
1. As we noted in a
separate posting, our
court appearance in the matter
of Eitan Oren was postponed. The State
prosecution succeeded in forcing us to type up
several dozens of police testimony transcripts even though that
are not relevant to our
argumentation. We have also been instructed to highlight
with a marker the passages we will be
referring to. The High Court of Justice (HCJ) agreed to their
request and a 15-day postponement
has been ordered.
As our attorney, Yoram Sheftel, also
represents two of the three
defendents in the regular trial proceedings who were indicted for
participating in the 1995
ceremony, we expect interesting developments next week when, on
February 22, the court will
hold its first session. Sheftel has requested certain
material that is relevant to our
case as well, notably, the original BETA version of the film
material of the swearing-in
ceremony.
2. The Meretz website lists IMW under a heading
"Danger" for describing their
campaing against the HaTzofeh newspaper during the election
campaign.
For those who read Hebrew:
http://www2.iol.co.il/communikit/html/articles/10/dangers/5085.stm
3. Due in part to IMW intensive lobbying, the Knesset's
Finance Committee voted unanimously on February 16 to return the
Israel Broadcasting Authority's budget for 2000 to the Government
and demanded that the IBA present a new budget that adequately
deals with the financial irresponsibility the IBA finds itself in.
The Committee demanded that a new budget must present a real plan
for improving the state of the IBA.
4. IMW has just sent out its "On The Lookout" bulletin, issue #6, summarizing 1999.
5. IMW was informed that
due to our complaints regarding the broadcasting
of adult programming outside the "watershed hour" time
slot in the late evening, the
Second Radio & Television Authority (SRATA) Ombudsman, Yoel
Rekem, has
instructed the broadcasters to refrain from doing so. He
also reminded them that
promotional program commercials containing adult content may not
be shown earlier in
the day as well.
Words of Wisdom
1.
"Israel's media is not just reporting the facts,
as it claims;
they also have an expressed agenda to influence public opinion
on key issues. The goal of a commander is to ensure that
his soldiers are
motivated, that they maintain the will to fight. The
willingness to do
battle is the most important ammunition a soldier has!...And what,
after
all, was Zakkai [an army officer who referred disparaging to a
women's
protest movement] trying to do? To instill in his men this
spirit of battle
- to offset the imbalance between what his soldiers are seeing on
television and reading in the papers - and the need to defend the
country.
He used words that he thought would get to the soldiers in the
language of
the Golani brigade: 'We are fighters, we're not afraid.
Forget all of the
foolishness you hear from the media - don't pay attention to what
you hear!'"
- General (Res.) Yoram Yair, Arutz 7, February 16,
2000
(Note: see items below in Israel Media News Section)
2. "In the media [Dan Shilon] is
clinically dead. The relevant question then is
why do we continue to flay away at what is left of him. And
the first elementary
answer is: that's the way we are. We did it to Benjamin
Netanyahu when
he was Prime Minister. Then, the justified feeling at least
was that we are
fighting for our lives and the future of our children...and now
that Netanyahu
has temporarily exited our lives, we - in the meantime through
the services
of the police - are trying to make sure that he doesn't return.
If the police fail,
I presume the file will pass over to us in a fancy ceremony in
the yard
of the Police Fraud Unit".
- Ron Meiberg, Culture Magazine, Ma'ariv, February 11,
2000, p. 20
3. "I told the [radio show
producers] in these days when they are
burying soldiers, there is no reason to deal in such a fringe
issue
[pointing a finger at the
Likud faction spokesman in the shape of a gun
and pretending to shoot], that was all just a
joke. And they asked me
'why should they believe you?' and I boiled [with anger] and I
told them:
'because of this haughty style of talk, I am convinced in my
feeling that
I should consider very well if I will vote to authorize your
budget'."
- Labour MK Weizman Shiri, Ma'ariv, February 14, 2000,
p.15
(Note: the IBA's budget must receive the authorization of
the Knesset's
Finance Committee of which MK Shiri is a member).
4. "That great sucking
sound you hear is the
sound of the media's lips
coming off of John McCain's".
Marvin Bush commenting on the press corps devotion to the
candidacy of his
brother's rival in the Repubnlican primary race in South Carolina,
Newsweek, Feb. 21, 2000
5. "The settlers
should have their own radio. After all, the rest of the
media is all Left". Shelly Yechimovicz,
"Kol Ha'Ir", January 21, 2000
Israel Media News
Senior
Lawyer Comments on Barak's Situation
American Yated Neeman, Feb. 11, 2000
Adv. Yoram Sheftel, a senior Tel Aviv lawyer who has many cases
of
senior political corruption under his belt, takes a caustic view
of Barak's
improprieties. In an interview published in Shisha Yomim, #453,
he says,
"In this case, whatever was uncovered by the Comptroller was
just the tip
of the iceberg. Whoever saw and heard it, knows that the illegal
money was
not 5 million shekels but $50 million dollars and possibly much
more. The
Comptroller too said that the findings are partial only."
Sheftel emphasizes that the media's partiality was obvious in the
case of Barak's phony associations. "The media was making
the rounds in
every junction in Israel and it knew at the time what was
happening in
every place. Channel Two succeeded -- against its will -- in
catching Tal
Zilberstein at the head of a gang of Likud poster-tearers. Even
worse,
after the elections, Makor Rishon published a series of
investigative
articles among the most serious ever carried out in Israel in
which they
publicized what the Comptroller later wrote in his report. The
media turned
a blind eye. Kalman Liebskind, who wrote the series, was first
interviewed
by Yechimowitz three weeks ago. Only after she clarified
that the
Comptroller's report was that terrible did she finally agree to
interview
Liebskind. I read the memorandum of MK Michael Eitan which was
full of
facts, places, numbers, checks, everything. The media ignored it.
When did
they begin to interview Eitan? Only when the draconian
Comptroller's Report
came out. The media worked completely for Barak. When things
seeped out,
they had no choice. They have to sell newspapers."
Sheftel further shows the bias of the media by the fact that the
one journalist who was willing to expose Weizmann's bribe-taking
-- Yoav
Yitzchak -- had to call a press conference in his own home and
wasn't
permitted to do so in Beis Sokolov. He says that nothing shows
more than
this the grave corruption of the establishment press. "Did
you notice that
Nachum Barnea wrote last Sunday that the media has two options:
to keep
their 'monkey no see' approach or have a 'monkey see' approach
that exposes
everything. Where was he all along? Hah, he's a Mapainik."
The media's angle in Lebanon
Arutz 7
News, February 10, 2000 -
The Israeli press has one and only one goal these days: to get
the IDF out
of southern Lebanon. So says Meir Uziel, the founding
editor of Makor
Rishon, in yesterday's Ma'ariv. Interviews conducted by
Voice of Israel's
military correspondent Carmela Menashe, as well as on the
television news,
consistently feature soldiers who favor an IDF withdrawal.
Uziel also
noted the graphic video clips aired on Monday night after a
Hizbullah
attack on an IDF outpost that killed one and seriously injured
four other
IDF soldiers. "These images are aimed at weakening the
public will, in an
effort to convince the viewers of the need for capitulating to
Hizbullah,"
Uziel told Arutz-7. "There are many, many IDF soldiers
and officers that
would like to see us hit even deeper into Lebanon, and smite the
terrorists
more forcefully, in short - to win this war. But you don't hear
their
voices [on radio or television]. Anyone who would air these
views would be
accused of brainwashing by those in charge of the
demoralization campaign."
Chief Military Censor Brig.-Gen. Yitzchak Shani said today that
the
broadcasting of the interviews with the soldiers was not
submitted for
approval before being aired - in violation of the relevant
regulations.
Uziel was critical of the comparison increasingly being made in
the press
between Israel's presence in southern Lebanon and America's role
in the
Vietnam war. "This is a ridiculous equation, and it
testifies to a certain
short-sightedness on the part of those who make it," he said.
In addition
to the fact that Israel shares a border with Lebanon while
Vietnam was
thousands of miles away from the U.S., Uziel noted that the end
of the
American involvement in Vietnam did not bring peace to that
region, but
rather to "greater losses and to the strengthening of the
North Vietnamese
forces."
Some of the opinions expressed by IDF soldiers regarding their
continued
presence in southern Lebanon have been picked up by Arab news
services. An
article in today's Jordan Times, entitled "Israeli soldiers
appeal for end
to Lebanon bloodshed," states as follows:
"Israeli soldiers on active service in Lebanon issued a
personal appeal on
Wednesday for an immediate withdrawal from the battlefields
across the
border after the death toll in their ranks over the past two
weeks rose to
six...'I don't want to be the last soldier killed in Lebanon,' a
member of a
parachute unit told public radio as he headed towards his
position in the
occupied buffer zone in south Lebanon... 'What's the good
of staying in
Lebanon and putting our lives in danger when the army has its
hands tied
for political reasons and cannot act as it should," [another
soldier] said."
Former IDF Chief of Staff Shachak related to this issue as well
during his
talk with Arutz-7 today. When asked how is it that our
soldiers don't
believe that they can defeat Hizbullah in battle, Shachak
answered, "I
don't agree with what they said, but I'm glad that soldiers can
say what
they feel, even if what they say happens to please Hizbullah."
"Three Fathers" critical of Israel Radio's private agenda
(IsraelWire-2/11) IsraelWire's
special correspondent spoke with Nissim
Cohen, activist affiliated with the "Three Fathers"
Movement, in connection
with his concern that the state-sponsored radio, Kol Yisrael, is
displaying
partisanship in the political debate over the IDF presence in
Lebanon.
Wednesday morning, the radio's military reporter, Carmella
Menashe,
broadcast interviews with three soldiers who spoke of their
desire to leave
Lebanon as quickly as possible. In addition to the fact
that the interview
was lopsided, and claimed to be representative of the entire unit,
Cohen
inquired of the Military Censor and discovered that despite the
legal
obligation of Menashe to receive approval to broadcast interviews
with
uniformed soldiers, her piece was not authorized. Cohen also
spoke of the
bias against his group compared with the pro-retreat group,
"Four Mothers".
Cohen noted that the Four Mothers group received broad coverage,
especially on the Shelly Yechimovicz talk show of Kol Yisrael.
Media in History - "De Relationibus Novellis"
In 1690 Leipzig saw the first media
analysis. In that year,
a student at the university of Leipzig with the name of
Tobias Peucer submitted a PhD dissertation on the character and
impact of
news reporting, the first media analysis we know of.
Peucer observed rightly that news reporting is associated with a
certain
usefulness and attractiveness, and that this thirst for
information made
people ask each other (Quid) ecquid novi? (Peucer, 1690: XXIV).
Peucer also
establishes the commercial interest of news reports, which in the
20th
century would have led to mega-advertising income for newspapers...
the
curiosity of people and partly the desire for gain, both of those
compiling
news and those selling newspapers (Peucer, 1690: VIII). Therein
lies not
only Peucerâ€Ts dilemma, but also that of all modern and
future serious
newspapers: since news reports have to tell the truth and obtain
this truth
from history, can the expectations of the public for curiosity (or
sensation) be satisfied, when commercial gain is taken into
account? To be
able to do this, Peucer argues, journalists have to transmit many
rumours:
They (the journalists) do not think their work can be approved
and become
popular, unless they sprinkle them with lies (Peucer, 1690: VII).
Ethics of News Writing
For Peucer the most important motivation for the news reporter
should be the
ethical dedication to good faith and truth. He acknowledges that
news
writers have more freedom than historians, since they are not
always present
in news situations, as well as when they are unable to lay their
hands on
trustworthy documents concerning such events from distant shores
(Peucer,
1690: XIV). But unlike some of his contemporary colleagues,
Peucer is
adamant: ... it is never permitted to lie or to tell falsehood
which would
result in another being deceived or filled with untrue report.
Verification
is the keyword, and if verification is not possible, it must be
so noted.
Peucer (1690:XIV) then gives advice on how to handle unverifiable
news:
Hence, it should be seen to that, when some recent event is
reported
simultaneously from different places, it should be confirmed by
the
testimony of the majority.
Source: MEDIA MONITOR INTERNATIONAL NO. 4 October 1999
From The Office
of The Islamic Association of Palestine
IAP Feb 17/00- In a very recent internet posting, Khalid Amayreh,
editor-in-chief of the newly formed Hebron Times, wrote that the
Palestinian Authority (PA) intelligence called him in for
questioning and
threatened to close down the newspaper for criticizing the Oslo
process
and voicing views that are compatible with those of the PA
opposition.
"At one point, they told us they would burned us down if we
continued
raising questions about PA policy," said Amayreh.
Amayreh was interrogated by both the Israeli and PA intelligence
for two
hours each time on the paper and its editorial policy. "Both
sides wanted
us to practice self-censorship," said Amayreh.
He further stated in his posting: "I protested the flagrant
violation of
the law by the GI, but to no avail. I told him I felt
embittered by the
fact that I was being summoned by the Israeli and Palestinian
intelligence
services on the same issue of press freedom. However, simply told
me
"forget about press freedom, press freedom is meaningless
here." Another
GI operative, who was present, said half-jokingly "this is
how things work
in the first seventy years of statehood."
Amayreh stated "I will not flinch from doing the right thing
irrespective
of what the PA and Israel think." Furthermore, Amayreh
called all human
rights organizations and international bodies to defend the
principle of
press freedom and to show solidarity with him by exerting
pressure on the
PA and Israel to put an end to this persecution and harassment.
"The struggle for press freedom is at the forefront of the
struggle for
democracy and true peace in Palestine. And we must win,"
said Amayreh.
The Islamic Association For Palestine condemns outright the
actions of the
PA intelligence. Although this can be expected from the Israelis,
it is
shocking that the PA would behave in this way against their own
people who
they are supposed to be defending and not harassing. This
incident is a
violation of the 1995 Palestinian Press Law which says: "that
no security
agency has any right to question, interrogate, detain,
incarcerate or
arrest a journalist on matters pertaining to his work."
In our opinion
the most essential right is that of communication. Without the
freedom to
communicate, all other rights eventually deteriorate. Dissenting
opinions
must be given the right to be heard even if the powers that be do
not like
those opinions. We call on the PA to respect this right and
stop
harassing journalists in doing their work.
Contribution.
If you think that IMW's work is important and helps maintain a
democratic civil society in Israel and aids in providing a couter-balance
to the pervasive and powerful influence of an unchecked media,
you are invited to make a contribution. In Israel, our address is
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