Israel's
Media Watch
update report # 44
May 21, 2000
Contents:
- IMW News
- Words of Wisdom
- Media News (Israel and Other)
- Chaim Yavin
- Rafik Chalabi, be suspended following his investigation by the
police
- Nakdi Document
- Eitan Oren as a member of the journalists ethics committee !!!!
- Reply to IFJ IFEX (International Freedom of expression
community): The journalists [were injured] by Palestinian armed
police
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IMW News
1. IMW was informed that following our
complaint against TV's Channel One
news anchorman Chaim Yavin that he had added words of personal
expression
in support of Education Minister Yossi Sarid at the end of a
report, that a note was
entered into Yavin's personal file.
The Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) ombudsman Amos Goren
wrote that
Yavin's statement was "unfortunate".
2. IMW has responded to the reply of the Yossi Sias show
production team which
was conveyed to us by the Second Radio & Television Authority
(SRATA)
ombudsman, Yoel Rekem. IMW had complained that the show's
content (a discussion of
divorce, a couple where the husband was a porno film producer and
another couple who had
met only after they found out that their respective spouses had
been committing
adultery with each other) was unsuitable for the 3PM viewing hour.
IMW noted that the person replying was not telling the full truth
and ignored
elements of our complaint. Furthermore, even though
inapproriate language was
not used and that IMW does not oppose discussions of "love",
the fact that
a child watching would be forced to ask a parent what does the
word 'erotic' and
'pornographic' mean was indicative that the "watershed hour"
principle be enacted in this
case.
3. IMW was mentioned in an article on the role of Radio Kol
Yisrael news editors.
The article, by the weekly "Makor Rishon" reporter Eran
Rivlin, appeared on
May 12.
4. IMW received another laconic reply from the office of the
State Prosecutor
following our reminder that we are still waiting for the decision
regarding our
demand that TV Channel One news director, Rafik Chalabi, be
suspended following his
investigation by the police and their recommendation that he be
indicted.
We replied noting that we first complained in July 1999 and that
five
months have passed since the police recommendation was made.
We also noted the
eyebrow-raising decision of the Attorney-General to freeze the
internal IBA tender for the
position of TV Director so as to allow Chalabi a chance at being
appointed.
5. IMW spoke with the Tel Aviv Journalists' Association director,
Tuvia Sa'ar,
this week to ask about our complaint against the appointment of
Eitan Oren as
a member of their ethics committee. While referring us to
Moshe Nestlebaum
(who has not yet replied), he noted that his own advice for the
assocaition
would be to wait until our High Court of Justice hearing to have
Mr. Oren indicted
is finalized. IMW recalled to Mr. Sa'ar that Oren had already
been suspended for a year
in 1988 from dealing with political issues due to unethical
behavior regarding a
report of the Jewish residents of Hebron which had nothing to do
with his
suspected staging of the Eyal swearing-in ceremony.
6. IMW was forced several times this past week to make complaints
on the use
of the term "West Bank" on the IBA's television and
radio programs.
The "Nakdi Document", the professional ethical code,
specifically prohibits
the use of "West Bank", noting that this is a geo-political
term of
Jordanian origin.
The code suggests that when referring to Jewish communities in
the area, that
the term "Judea and Samaria" be applied. For
variety, except in a direct quote
of someone, the term "territories" is to be preferred.
7. IMW's director expressed solidarity with the Independent Forum
of
Producers who demonstrated outside Romema's "Television
House", home
bas of the IBA's studios. The object of the demonstration,
conducted on
Wednesday. May 17, was to demand more funds to be channelled for
original
drama, historical documentaries and local cultural themes.
While IMW's director was aware of the different cultural agenda
of the
Independent Forum, he stated his identification with the genral
aim of forcing
the IBA to reprioritize its budget goals and spend its funds in
the interests of
the public not the ruling clique of the professional management
of the IBA or
even the Independent Forum people.
8. Arutz 7 News, May 18, 2000
IFEX REPORT :
A report yesterday by the International Federation of Journalists
in
Brussels strongly implied that Palestinian journalists were
injured in
Monday's hostilities by Israeli soldiers - when in fact it was
Palestinian
fire and rocks that wounded the journalists. Yisrael Medad
of Israel's
Media Watch wrote a letter of protest to the IFJ/IFEX ("News
from the
international freedom of expression community"; www.ifj.org/), in which he
noted, "Your recent report fails the professional test.
The journalists
[were injured] by Palestinian armed police. In addition, an
Israeli TV
reporter, Benny Liss, was injured by Arab stone throwers at
Jalazoun."
[the reply we received] :
Please note that although the IFEX Clearing House distributes the
alerts
received from IFEX members, it is the members themselves who have
put
together the information. I am therefore copying your message to
the
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), http://www.ifj.org/
who as the originators of the alert on Palestine will best be
able to
respond to your comment.
regards Marianna Tzabiras IFEX alerts
Words of Wisdom
1. You should always believe everything you read in newspapers,
as
this makes them more interesting. - Rose MacCaulay
2. "You can't appear 90 seconds after the Maccabi
basketball victory over
Bolonia, in a live broadcast, and not appear immediately after a
day of
Katyusha rockets [on Kiryat Shmona]. Your "contract"
with the media
is not limited to happy events alone".
Adam Baruch addressing Ehud Barak, Maariv, "Shishi",
May 12, 2000
3. "The modi operandi of the media Barak learned many years
ago...a political
columnist described Barak's methods and also revealed the
nakedness of the
journalists: 'even then [when he was a young senior officer] he
understood that
it was easy to entice us. A good word, a slap on the
shoulder, the telling of
a secret, the princess of intimacy, that gets results".
Yaron London, Yediot Ahronot, May 5, 2000, Political Supplement,
p. 15
4. "The government will not deliberate matters that are
raised by the media".
Ehud Barak, July 27, 1999, op. cit.
Media News (Israel)
1. Menashe Raz, a Channel One TV veteran, who quit his position
on February 28, 1999 and the very day became Information Officer
of the
Center Party for the elections, won a victory at Tel Aviv's
Labour Court.
Raz had claimed that he didn't resign but had requested leave-without-pay
and when, after a 24 hour wait, he received no reply, he had
assumed that
his leave was authorized.
He therfore claims that he should have been allowed to
participate in
the internal tender for Channel One television director (which
has been
held up, see item 4 above in IMW News section). The IBA had
replied that he
was eligible for the external tender only but noted that as he
had no academic
degree, he would not be considered as a candidate.
Nevertheless, the judge
ordered the IBA to supply him with tender forms.
2. The ruckus surrounding the "Ping Pong" group that
appeared at this
year's Eurovision Song Contest took an interesting twist when it
was learned
that one of the group's members, Guy Assif, is employed by the
IBA as a
free lance editor of a TV show on Israeli culture. Not only
is there a problem
concerning the prohibition of employees of the sponsoring
organization from
appearing in the contest but it is thought that many of the
members of the
song selection committee knew the group persoanlly and even had
advance
knowledge of the song's content.
Media News (Abroad)
1. Longtime UPI correspondent ~blackballed" a Jew, report
says
NEW YORK, May 17 (JTA) Longtime UPI White House reporter Helen
Thomas
"blackballed" New York Times columnist William Safire
several years ago from
a journalists' club because of his pro-Israel views, according to
the online
magazine Slate.
Thomas, who is of Lebanese descent, responded to Slate's report
by telling
the magazine that she wanted to "let bygones be bygones,"
adding that she is
pleased Safire, who is Jewish, is now a member of the club.
In addition, the Zionist Organization of America is claiming that
Thomas, who
helped to create the Ten Most Wanted List of Terrorists, ignored
its letters
calling on her to speak out against Palestinian terrorists who
killed
Americans abroad.
Thomas, who retired this week from her job at UPI, is scheduled
to receive
the Abram L. Sachar Silver Medallion at the annual conference of
the Brandeis
University national Women's Committee on June 2.
The ZOA is calling on Thomas to use the award ceremony as a
platform to speak
out against the terrorists. The group is also asking Brandeis'
president to
urge Thomas to speak out on the issue.
Efforts to reach Thomas were unsuccessful, and Brandeis
University had no
comment.
© Jewish Telegraphic Agency Inc.
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