Israel's Media Watch
update report # 46

May 28, 2000

Contents:
-  IMW News
-  Words of Wisdom
-  Media News (Israel and Other)
- Leftist cultural and political elite has in Israel, when acts of Arab violence break out
- Information and Disinformation Department of the Prime Minister's Office
- Ehud Barak brokered an arms deal with China
- The secular Israeli press & the "final agreement with Syria."
- French judge orders Yahoo to pay damages on anti-Semitic charges
- Sri Lankan Government shut down an opposition newspaper
- US Court Voids Law Limiting Sex Channels on Cable TV
- A Book Review

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Our ability to continue to serve Israel's media consumers is severely impaired. 
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IMW News

1. In response to IMW's complaint about Zohair Bahlul, who exploited
the press review section of a television program to make his political views
known, as well as making an obscene comparison between two instances
of violence, IBA Director-General, Uri Porat, replied that Bahlul would no
longer be employed as a reviewer of the press on the TV.

2. Among other recent complaints by IMW were not allowing Justice Minister
Yossi Beilin the right to respond to an interview critical of his actions in the case of
MIA Ron Arad; the showing of a clip which included an obvious sex act as part of a film
review at 8:30 PM, outside the watershed hour; and the protesting an interview of a naked
actress on Channel Two's "Decollatage" program.

Words of Wisdom

1. (In a column entitled "Longings for Corelation", Doron Rosenblum writes
in Ha'Aretz of the trouble the Leftist cultural and political elite has in
Israel, when acts of Arab violence break out, thus leaving them without
any corelation between the desire for peace and the reality of Arab behavior.
At its end, he relates to a media issue.  YM)

"...nevertheless, it would be refreshing if only once in a while there would be some
corelation, a parallelism, between the negotiations and what is happening
in the field, between the surrendering and the developing awakening and
between the reality of what we're getting in return.  These desires for corelation may sound
fantastic or even childish.  After all, we can't demand the stars out of the heavens...if not
Palestinian restraint from shooting just on the day of the decision to return Abu Dis,
at least aiming at the feet or air instead of straight at the head.  We [the media]
used to demean, rightly so, the demogogic use that Netanyahu made of the term
"reciprocity", but its use wouldn't have been effective in the past (and not in the
future), had it not been grounded on an element of truth".
- Doron Rosenblum, Ha'Aretz, May 21, 2000, p. A2

2. "One of the Ministers recently was quoted as saying that the situation of
the coaliton is worse in the eyes of the public than what is reported in
the press.
For sure, a great deal of the Israeli media acts as if it is a section of
the Information and Disinformation Department of the Prime Minister's Office.
  And it is interesting to see how, in addition to the understanding and comforting
media, generals, professors and experts stand up for the government. 
Barak's doings are surely no better than those of Benjamin Netanyahu at the end
of his first year in office.
But Barak has the advanatage of a forgiving and appreciative media than
bears noresemblance to the deadly venom that bit Netanyahu.
- Nadav Haetzni, "Ma'ariv", May 23, 2000, p. 6, Second Section

Media News (Israel):

1. Two of the members of the Israeli troupe "Ping-Pong" who performed in the
Eurovision Song Contest were fired from their employment at Israel Broadcasting
Authority television.
The groups had stirred up controversy when they waved Syrian flags during
the singing and altered the song's refrain from the Hebrew "Sameach" to the
English "Be Happy".

2. Moshe Negbi, who is seeking to have the IBA's Plenum decision overturned so
he can return to broadcasting without any supervising editor, lost his case
this week at the Jerusalem Labor Court.  But he is appealing.

3. Kol Ha'Ir, the Jerusalem weekly, reports in its issue of May 26 that sexual
harrassment is rife in the production offices and studios of the IBA.

4. Office of Managing Director of Israel Broadcast Authority
Uri Porat response to inquiry about squelched story (as reported
by Hagai Huberman - Hatzofeh, 19 May 2000)

"Ehud Barak, after finishing his position as Chief of Staff and
before entering political life, brokered an arms deal with China, and
there were authorizations for it from the defense system.  No one
denied this fact, and there was nothing new in this item. 

After investigation and cross-confirmation between the manager
of the news division Rafik Halbi and the reporter Chanan Ezran,
Chanan asked that the item be dropped."
http://www.shemayisrael.com/chareidi/BCKkkla.htm

5. They See What They Want Us to See and Hear - by S. Yisraeli

It is no secret that the secular Israeli press considers itself to be the
guardian of the sacred task of "educating" the masses regarding the
righteousness of the left-wing cause, especially when it comes to the current
peace process.

But it is now becoming increasingly clear that Prime Minister Ehud Barak and
his cohorts have come to the conclusion that the left-leaning tendencies of
the press can be used to their advantage, even if it means fabricating
stories and "political developments" out of whole cloth.

A recent study by the Israel Institute for Democracy describes one such
episode, namely the euphoria that took hold of the Israeli regarding the
much-talked-about-though- never-realized "final agreement with Syria."

The media worked overtime loudly declaring that a peace deal was only days or
weeks away. Only when the lies of the headlines were shattered on the wall of
reality at the Clinton-Assad Summit meeting in Geneva did the scope of the
scandal become known.

"Well known journalists and experienced commentators fell prey to the
preferences of their sources and of themselves regarding the imminent success
of the Israeli-Syrian negotiations," writes Avner Hofstein of Yediot
Acharonot.

Almost without reservations, the press adopted the stance that an agreement
with Syria was completed, and that a withdrawal from the Golan had been
agreed to. All of the other delays, threats and hesitations were part of
predictable tactics. Throughout the entire period, and with the intention of
coming to the Clinton-Asad Summit meeting in Geneva, the reporters tended to
relate to peace with Syria as a fait accompli.

"The feeling that beneath the freeze, brisk activity is taking place, was an
outgrowth of the optimism which Ehud Barak's people had been expressing since
the summit meeting at Shepherdstown," Hofstein recalled.

This optimism was strengthened by the report of Amnon Abramowitz on Channel
One in the beginning of March: "I would say with the required caution, that
within approximately three to five weeks, the agreement with Syria which will
include the solution of the problem with Lebanon, will be put before the
Knesset, the government and the Israeli public.

"I would now venture to say that the agreement is complete, and already
packaged," Abramowitz continued. "I can say that the professionals have
completed their work; the details are clear; the draft is ready, and the time
to finalize the decision has come."

Three weeks later, when the Israelis were told about the arrival of Clinton
and Assad at the Summit meeting in Geneva, they considered it "clear proof"
that the supposition was correct, Hofstein pointed out.

The editors of Channel One news program were filled with professional pride,
especially on the background of the doubts the newspapers circulated on the
day following Abramowitz's sensational report. Again and again, they repeated
Abramowitz's remarks, and the editor of the program, Elisha Speigleman noted
with satisfaction: "We already told you this before."

However, when it became clear that no agreement was or apparently ever will
be presented to the government and to the public, Abramowitz and his editors
didn't think that it was necessary to explain themselves or to apologize to
their audience.

Hofstein notes that Abramowitz was not the only culprit.  Throughout the month
of March, the list of journalists, who were enamored with the idea of the
imminent agreement with Syria, swelled. These journalists gave added weight to the
"technical reactions" that testified that something was brewing.

At the same time, they brushed aside underlying hints such as Syria's refusal
to renew the direct negotiations, its defamatory remarks about Israel in the
Syrian papers, and Assad's intransigence regarding the right to swim and fish
in the Kinneret.

Meanwhile, Amnon Abramowitz refuses to admit that he erred. He noted that
those in the immediate circle of the Prime Minster indeed conveyed the
impression that the time for the decision was nearing, and that the meal was
ready, but that the question of whether Assad would agree to eat it, remained
open.

On the other hand, Shalom Yerushalmi a Maariv reporter, felt that his sources
misled him. At first he reported in his column in the local tabloid Zman
Yerushalayim that the deal was sealed, but later on apologized to his
readers, and laid the blame on the doorstep of the Prime Minster and his
aides, who, as he said, "spread high hopes among the commentators and
reporters, tempting us to believe that we had substantial information at our
fingertips."  [note:  on IMW's Sunday radio program, he admitted that the
media had been misled and on Channel Two's "Media File" program,
named Danny Yotam as the culprit - YM]

"A week after I published my column, I spoke with a reliable source in the
Office of the Prime Minster," Yerushalmi said." And he told me that not only
is everything finalized, and that they are coming to sign in Geneva, but also
that they are about to schedule a date for the meeting between all three
sides. In other words, the check is ready, and all that has to be done is to
sign it. That is how he expressed himself."

Yerushalmi divides up the blame: "It could be that we are to blame, because
of our blind acceptance of whatever the Office of the Prime Minster says, and
our failure to develop alternate sources, not among the Arabs or the White
House. But perhaps the chevra in Barak's office also acted inappropriately.
After all they have a responsibility. This story undermines many of the norms
by which we work. Next time, even if I receive information from the horse's
mouth itself, I won't trust it."

Oded Granot, a Maariv commentator on Arab issues, told Avner Hofstein: "I
have a bad feeling that some of my colleagues were victims of the
dis-information campaign, which presented the agreement as completed and
ready. There is no doubt that promises like that, which announce the advent
of an agreement, serve the interests of the Office of the Prime Minister, and
help it advertise its activities.

"The problem is that it is impossible to correlate things," he said. "With
whom can a correlation be made? The Foreign Affairs Ministry is out of the
picture. The Americans made a conceptual mistake, and the difficulty to
penetrate Assad's mind is genuine. Unlike with Egypt and Jordan, in this
case, there is no one we can call."

Ron Ben-Yishai claims: "They used me, without a doubt. The story was leaked to
me, as part of the maneuvering of a negotiation which was meant to create a
certain ambiance and to convey a message: we're amenable. But then that's
legitimate, since the facts were basically correct." Amnon Abramowitz
doggedly insists on not admitting the mistake he made at the outset. "I don't
accept the determination that this was an instance of manipulation. Those in
the Prime Minister's circle made the impression that they had conveyed a
correct portrayal of the situation.

Actually they were far more cautious than Clinton, Mubarak and Arafat, for
whom everything appeared rosy.

The write-up in Ha'Ayin Hashevi'it ends with the reaction of Dr. Eyal
Zieiser, the head of the Syrian desk in the Dayan Center. Dr. Zieser believes
that the media exaggerated all along.

"The press served as a piece in a game. A few weeks before the summit, when I
saw that the Syrian media was speaking about the banks of the Kinneret as
their land, I understood that they were referring to an inviolate condition
from Assad's point of view."

Media News (Abroad)

1. French judge orders Yahoo to pay damages on anti-Semitic charges

A French judge ruled Monday that Yahoo! had broken French law and
committed ''an offence to the collective memory'' of the country by
conducting an online auction selling neo-Nazi objects in cyberspace. 

The court ordered the California-based Internet portal to pay $1,390
each to the Union of Jewish Students and an anti-racism group.
Yahoo responded to the court's decision Monday by saying it ''condemned
all forms of racism'', but that the case raised other significant
questions such as ''whether a French jurisdiction can make a decision on
the English content of an American site, run by an American company ...
for the sole reason that French users have access via the Internet'',
Yahoo attorney Christophe Pecnard said.   
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20000522_1116.html  - ABC News / AP

2. 'Silence' stops presses
The Sri Lankan Government shut down an opposition newspaper yesterday
for trying to get round sweeping new censorship laws by the unusual
method of pretending that there was no story.

Facing curbs on its coverage of the country's civil war, the English
language weekly Sunday Leader, based in Colombo, reported claims of a
Tamil Tiger assault on Jaffna's military airport with the front page
headline ''Palali not under attack''.
The report read: ''Heavy fighting was not raging in northern Jaffna
peninsula and Tigers were not pounding Palali air base with heavy
artillery and mortars for the fourth consecutive day. In the so-called
attacks no soldiers were killed nor wounded and several buildings within
the base had not suffered minor damages (sic).''
Source:
http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/2000/05/23/x-timfgnasi01001.html
- The Times

3. (note: please see IMW item above)
Court Voids Law Limiting Sex Channels on Cable TV
By DAVID G. SAVAGE, LATimes Staff Writer

     WASHINGTON--The Supreme Court struck down a federal law Monday that
was intended to shield children from seeing the fuzzy images of sexually
explicit programs on older cable television systems not equipped with
signal blocks.
     Noting that few parents had asked their cable operators to block the
channels entirely, the justices concluded that the problem does not warrant
a law that bars tens of millions of adults from seeing the Playboy Channel
and similar programs during daytime hours.
     The decision frees cable TV operators to carry signals of sexually
explicit channels all hours of the day. But unaffected by the ruling is
another provision of the law that requires cable operators to make
available to subscribers without charge devices that will block unwanted
signals.
     Sen. Dianne Feinstein, (D-Calif.), who sponsored the legislation
struck down by the court, said that the decision "simply ignores the
reality of parenting in the 21st century. Parents often do not see what
their children are watching and it is unrealistic to assume that parents
will realize that there is a problem."
     But the court majority argued in a 5-4 decision that the 1st Amendment
protection of free speech outweighs the laudable cause of protecting
children from pornography.
     Upholding free expression often means defending "speech that many
citizens find shabby, offensive, even ugly," the court said.

4. A Book Review Article on Recent Media Concerns:

Why the new media won't save the world - or even
displace the old media
By David Futrelle

"Virtuous Reality: How America Surrendered Discussion of Moral
Values to Opportunists, Nitwits and Blockheads like William Bennett"
By Jon Katz
Random House, 205 pp.

"Wired Style: Principles of English Usage in the Digital Age"
From the Editors of Wired, edited by Constance Hale
Hardwired, 158 pp.

"A Reporter's Life" By Walter Cronkite
Knopf, 416 pp.

"One Man's America: A Journalist's Search for the Heart of his Country"
By Henry Grunwald
Doubleday, 658 pp

Media criticism hasn't changed much since Spiro Agnew's 1970 denunciation
of the "nattering nabobs of negativism," the effete media elites who look
down their noses at the "silent majority." Oh, sure, there's a lot more
media criticism today, professional and amateur. But whether the critic
hails from the right, the left, or the center - or affects some postmodern
political mishmash that won't even fit on the charts - the complaint is
largely the same: that the media is out of touch, imposing its own,
possibly pernicious, agenda on the rest of us. Noam Chomsky believes that
the people hunger for news about East Timor The New York Times doesn't see
fit to print; right-wingers believe the press is hiding the truth about
Vince Foster.
Over the past several years, a new breed of media critic has begun to
emerge, one that sees the perfidy and obsolescence of the old media as the
inevitable outcome of its old-fashioned ways and out-of-date technology.
For salvation, these critics look to new communications technologies,
especially the Internet.

In the pages of Wired, hot-button novelist Michael Crichton announced the
imminent death of the old-media "Mediasaurus," which he described as an
obsolete institution that, like Detroit in the 1970s, seems intent on
producing a "product of very poor quality" with "too much chrome and
glitz." And in HotWired, journalist Josh Quittner announced the birth of
the "way new journalism," in the process coining a term that became an
instant clich?.

These were but the opening salvos in what has become a barrage. In "Wired
Style," a new media manifesto disguised as a style guide for way new
editors, Wired's Constance Hale celebrates a new kind of writing that
"jacks us in to the soul of a new society" - which sure sounds cool,
whatever it might possibly mean. And Jon Katz, in both his "Media Rant"
column on HotWired's Netizen site and in his new book "Virtuous Reality,"
has attempted to spell out in detail a new kind of journalism and a "new
code of media ethics" for the interactive age. (Katz's book, it should be
noted, is primarily an attack on moral-values bullies like William Bennett;
his evangelizing for new media slips in the side door.)

At first glance, these critics would seem to share little with one another,
beyond their hatred of old media and their Wired connections. Crichton, for
his part, is tired of all the "flashy chrome trim" one sees every night on
the network news; he wants the facts, just the facts, and lots of them.
Today, he argues, "the news of television and in newspapers is generally
perceived as less accurate, less objective, less informed than it was a
decade ago." Though he has a lot of them himself, Crichton doesn't want to
have to hear the glib opinions of others. He wants raw data and "good
information;" he wants a news service "in which all the facts [are] true,
the quotes [aren't] piped, the statistics [are] presented by someone who
knew something about statistics."

Katz, by contrast, likes opinions - his own and those of others. Like most
writers on the Web (including those in Salon), he is primarily a
commentator, not a reporter. To Katz, media "objectivity" is part of the
problem. Hale, in Wired Style, agrees. "We celebrate subjectivity," she
writes. "As far as we're concerned, it's OK to have fun with facts."

But Crichton and Katz have more in common than you might think: both prefer
the raw to the cooked. They seek a journalism free of intermediaries, one
that erodes the distinction between news "consumer" and news "producer."
Crichton would like, essentially, to do his own reporting - to dig up facts
and assemble his own interpretations from them. He wants to "remove [the]
filters" between himself and the raw data of the news, freeing himself from
such encumbrances as "Dan Rather, or the front page editor, or the reporter
who pruned the facts in order to be lively and vivid."

Katz, too, argues against too much filtering. What he wants is journalism
as he imagines the founding fathers practiced it, back in the days when
"there was almost no distinction between citizens and journalists," before
editors and elite media stars set themselves up as "gatekeepers" for the news.

In a series of developments that Katz argues have "shaken the old order
down to its wingtips," new technologies have made possible a return to a
truly democratic kind of journalism, based on the notion of almost
unlimited interactivity. Katz finds the very notion exhilarating. "The idea
that we can question and talk directly to one another, without relying on
journalists as intermediaries," he writes, "transforms the notion of culture."

All it takes is a computer and modem and a few rudimentary HTML skills:
virtually anyone can compete directly with media giants like Time Magazine.
"Now anybody with a VCR, cable box or computer is a miniature media tycoon,
a little Bill Paley," Katz writes. "Millions of Americans are faxing,
e-mailing and calling voice-mail boxes to sound off on every conceivable
issue. Tens of thousands of idiosyncratic Web sites and home pages have
sprung up on the ... Internet. This is more freedom of the press than
journalists conceive of in their worst nightmares." Indeed, so convinced is
Katz of the power of interactivity he refuses to write for publications
that won't allow him to attach his e-mail address to his prose.

For Katz, as well as for Hale, this opposition to filtering extends into
the realm of style. For Hale, "rough-edged ... over-the-top" writing has
much more appeal than well-burnished prose. Hale and Katz hope that the new
journalism can draw upon the raw, frantic energy one finds in e-mail and
Usenet postings, filled with prose bashed out without pause and without
correction. The "new fractured language" said to emerge is "definitely not
as elegant or polished as English used to be, but in a way, much more
vital," Katz explains.

In a section of "Wired Style" called, with typical neo-adolescent bravado,
"Screw The Rules," Hale tells her readers that "[p]rovocative writing
demands out-of-the-box thinking, a calculated willingness to break many of
journalism's cardinal rules." And what exactly does this mean? Letting your
writers explore the limits of their four-letter-word vocabulary. A refusal
to edit away their grammatical errors. Hale likes the idea of "preserv[ing]
every odd comma and random reference in a writer's stream of
consciousness," demanding that editors, when faced with energetically lumpy
prose, "resist filing it down, polishing it, editing it away." Katz, too,
wages a kind of guerrilla war against editing, chastising The New York
Times for having the gall to polish his writing and praising his editors at
HotWired, who more or less let him be.

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