wfn.org | Episcopalians: Conferees seek fair coverage of Israeli-Palestinian issues

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

April 29, 2002

2002-104

Episcopalians: Conferees seek fair coverage of 
Israeli-Palestinian issues

by Carol Fouke

(WACC) Emphatic exchanges of contesting points of view about the 
Israeli-Palestinian conflict characterized an April 17-18 
conference in New York titled "Megaphones and Muffled Voices: 
What Constitutes Full and Fair Media Coverage of 
Israeli-Palestinian Issues?"

Some 80 secular and religious journalists and activists took 
part in the two-day effort, co-sponsored by the World 
Association for Christian Communication, WACC's North American 
Regional Association (NARA-WACC) and the (U.S.) National Council 
of Churches' Communication Commission.

Fourteen formal presentations by journalists and academics with 
such diverse affiliations as the Jerusalem Post and the 
Muslim Public Affairs Council provided both fodder and a 
"reality check" to a conference whose stated purpose was to help 
move news media, especially U.S. media, "a little closer to fair 
coverage," as NARA-WACC president and conference planning 
committee co-chair Linda Anderson put it.

At times, the debate seemed only to illustrate Tel Aviv 
University Professor of Communication Akiba A. Cohen's point 
that--in effect--"objectivity" and "balance" are in the eye of 
the beholder. Cohen described a sobering bottom line: 
journalists and their audiences alike vary greatly in what they 
pay attention to and how they perceive and remember it. The more 
complex, intense and insolvable a conflict is, the harder it is 
to cover, he said.

Accordingly, speakers disagreed openly about whether stories 
comparing a Palestinian teen suicide bomber with her Israeli 
teen girl victim enhanced or hindered understanding of the 
conflictwhether journalists should be denied or allowed access 
to locations during active fightingwhether to refer to 
particular piece of land as "occupied" or "disputed" or to a 
particular action as a "policy" or a "practice"whether it's 
easier to cover the Palestinian side of the story or the Israeli 
side and whose suffering is under or over-reportedwhether Camp 
David was about a "generous offer that Arafat refused" or 
not-yet-conclusive negotiations over land to which the 
Palestinians are entitled.

Nevertheless, conferees met their immediate goal--agreement on a 
close-to-final "Fair 
Practices Code" which applies basic tenets of good 
journalism to the extraordinarily complex Israeli-Palestinian 
conflict. Hartford Courant editorial page editor John J. 
Zakarian drafted the code, and he and the conference planning 
committee were charged with final editing and distribution of 
the code post-conference. 

As speakers gave examples of what they considered to be "good" 
and "bad" coverage of Israeli-Palestinian issues, they 
reinforced points in the code:

7 The best of journalists do not only report what they see, 
hear or are told by official sources. They dig beneath the 
surface. They strive to get the other side or sides of the 
story. Commented Ethan Bronner of the New York Times, 
"You don't have to accept the other perspective but you have to 
try to get and understand it."

7 Balance of coverage is not achieved only in providing equal 
space or time to each side. There is no balance when an 
articulate, moderate and charismatic person is asked to 
represent one side and an uncompromising, militant, fiery and 
inarticulate ideologist is offered as a representative of the 
other side.

7 Headlines should reflect the content of the story. Photographs 
should give a fair and accurate image of an event and not 
exaggerate an incident simply because the photograph is 
exceptionally dramatic.

7 As much as possible, journalists should understand the 
language, the history and the culture of the people they cover.

7 Covering such a sensitive, nuance-ridden subject as the 
Arab-Israeli conflict, journalists should be careful in using 
such loaded words and clichis as "terrorists," "gunmen," 
"Islamic bombers" and "fatalistic" Muslims.

Several speakers urged a harder and more dispassionate look 
at U.S. Middle East policy--especially the ability of the United 
States to mediate effectively given its financial and political 
support for Israel. And they urged journalists to hold all 
parties to a single standard, especially in respect to human 
rights violations, citing Human Rights Watch and Amnesty 
International, among others, as important sources, and to 
recognize international law, resolutions and conventions such as 
United Nations Security Council Resolution 242.

"The media have done a good job covering the Palestinian suicide 
bombings and Israeli destruction of Palestinian infrastructure," 
Zacharian commented. "What's lacking is context, background, 
nuances of language, an understanding of the forces of culture 
brought to bear. Our goal is not to take sides, but to help 
provide not only what happened yesterday but also why."

Accordingly, Sarah Eltanawi of the Muslim Public Affairs Council 
said reporters "need to provide basic history and context, the 
grievances of both sides and the reasons for the fighting, 
including the 35-year illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian 
lands and the illegal building of settlements' in the occupied 
territories."

Besides conference co-moderators the Rev. Dr. Rena Yocom and the 
Rev. Dr. Martin Bailey, conference presenters included reporters 
and editors for Kol Israel Radio, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 
Jerusalem Post, Jordan Times, Muslim Public Affairs 
Council, Palestine Media Watch and for several major North 
American dailies, including The New York Times, Newark Star 
Ledger, Toronto Star, Hartford Courant. Other presenters 
were from the United Methodist Church, Bethlehem, Columbia 
School of Journalism, Tel Aviv University and the Medill School 
of Journalism at Northwestern University.

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--Carol Fouke is communications director for the National 
Council of Churches.