Subj: CAMERA: What You Can Do to Counter Unfair Reporting Date: 10/20/00 3:59:58 PM Pacific Daylight Time From: leahgreen@aol.com

Committee For Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America
www.camera.org

Shalom CAMERA E-Mail Team:

"I am so upset by the one-sided, anti-Israel reports in the news! The press has been really unfair. I want to do something about it, but don't know what would be helpful or effective." Does this sound familiar? No doubt you've encountered these same sentiments in talking with friends and family. To give guidance to those people who aren't familiar with responding to biased reporting, we offer the following suggestions. Please forward them to all who want to help!

With thanks,
Lee Green
Director, National Letter-Writing Group
CAMERA

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO COUNTER UNFAIR REPORTING ABOUT ISRAEL

1. CALL THE MEDIA
As soon as you hear a one-sided or inaccurate report, pick up the phone and call the news organization. It only takes a minute! You don't have to go into great detail. Just make it clear that you felt the report was not objective, that it favored the Palestinians or was harshly anti-Israel. If you can, provide some details. Was it inaccurate or one-sided? Was the report skewed by the use of terms or language associated with only one side's perspective? Was key information missing (lack of context)? Did the reporter editorialize in what was supposed to be an objective news story?

To find the phone number, call information, consult the CAMERA Media Directory, or go to the news organization's website. Here are Emails and phone numbers for major news organizations:

letters@nytimes.com (NY Times) 212-556-1157
foreign@washpost.com (Washington Post) 202-334-7512
letter@globe.com (Boston Globe) 617-929-3049
letters@suntimes.com (Chicago Sun-Times) 312-321-2502
letters@latimes.com (Los Angeles Times) 213-237-5000
forum@nando.com (Raleigh News and Observer) 919-829-4517
feedback@herald.com (Miami Herald) 305-350-2111
insight@orlandosentinel.com (Orlando Sentinel) 407-420-5070
letters@time.com (Time magazine) 212-522-3817
letters@newsweek.com (Newsweek magazine) 212-445-4585
letters@usnews.com (US News & World Report) 202-955-2000
editor@usatoday.com (USA Today) 703-276-3400
public.information@turner.com (CNN) 404-827-1500 404-827-1519
scott.woelfel@turner.com (CNN website)
peterjennings@worldnewstonight.abcnews.com (ABC World News) 212-456-7777
world@msnbc.com (MSNBC) 201-583-5000 NBC: 1-212-664-4444
michael.moran@msnbc.com (MSNBC International Editor)
Fox News Channel 212-301-3000 212-301-5226 212-301-3164
CBS News 1-212-975-4321 1-212-975-3019

2. WRITE LETTERS IN RESPONSE TO UNFAIR REPORTING

Same as above, but just put it down on paper! If you want to have your letter published in a newspaper or magazine, keep the word count to under 250.

To find the address, consult the CAMERA Media Directory, or go to the news organization's website.

3. JOIN CAMERA'S E-MAIL TEAM AND RESPOND TO ALERTS
If you would like to receive alerts/updates and participate in letter-writing and calling campaigns, please contact Leah Green (leahgreen@aol.com).

4. REGULARLY VISIT CAMERA WEBSITE
(www.camera.org) Check out our "New Material" link to learn about recent examples of media bias.

5. SPREAD THE WORD
Talk with your family and friends about events in Israel and emphasize that much of the media coverage has been distorted, damaging public understanding of events at this critical time. Give examples to raise their awareness of the disturbing problem of media bias. Forward alerts to them. Educate and organize members of your community (youth groups, synagogue and church social action committees, sisterhood/brotherhood groups, Hadassah chapters) to call the media to protest inaccurate and unfair reporting.

6. STAY INFORMED
To find in-depth coverage, go to the Jerusalem Post (www.jpost.com) and/or Ha'aretz (www.haaretz.co.il/eng). Ha'aretz is a left leaning Israeli paper and the Jerusalem Post is considered to be more centrist.

7. JOIN CAMERA
Support our ongoing efforts to fight media bias against Israel. Become a member and tell your family and friends about us! All members receive CAMERA's Media Directory, which lists the address, fax, phone and email for all the major news media. Call 617-789-3672 or go to www.camera.org. $30 for students and seniors. $50 for regular membership.

WHEN YOU ENCOUNTER BIASED REPORTING, DON'T JUST GET UPSET, TAKE ACTION!

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Subj: CAMERA Alert: Journalists Doing PR for PA Date: 10/21/00 2:15:24 PM Pacific Daylight Time From: LeahGreen@aol.com

Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America
www.camera.org

Shalom CAMERA E-Mail Team,

Although there are hundreds of reporters covering the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, it is rare to see reports that seriously probe Palestinian wrongdoing or cast Arafat in an unfavorable light. More than just pro-Palestinian bias may be at work here.

The experience of reporters covering the brutal lynching of two Israeli reservists in Ramallah is indicative of the violent intimidation by Palestinians to which journalists can be subjected. Reporters from a number of media outlets were attacked and had their film taken or cameras smashed when the Arab mob saw the killings were being recorded. An Italian television crew eluded the rioters and their video footage was soon broadcast around the world, but death threats against Italians ensued. Indeed, the Italian reporter and her camera crew who taped the event have all returned to Italy, as have reporters from Italy's state-run television network RAI.

Unfortunately, the physical assaults and intimidation in this episode, and others like it, have been largely concealed by the media.

Please read a CAMERA Update for more details and examples of the PA's intimidation of journalists and the widespread media silence about this urgent story. Go to the CAMERA website (www.camera.org), click on New Material, and then click on "In the Palestinians' Pocket: Journalists Doing PR for PA."

ACTION ITEMS:

1) ABC correspondent Nasser Ata was present during the Ramallah lynching and was himself a victim of the mob when rioters roughed up his crew and prevented them from filming the violence. Nevertheless, in reporting on the gruesome killings, ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings included Nasser Ata in the broadcast, but presented him as an unscathed observer of the events without ever saying he was physically attacked. Jennings has long been in the habit of distorting or omitting Palestinian actions that reflect badly on their cause. This egregious broadcast appears to be yet another example.

Please contact ABC World News Tonight to protest Jennings' deceptive and biased coverage. Call 212-456-4040 or email peterjennings@worldnewstonight.abcnews.com.

2) America's newspaper of record, the New York Times, has also thus far not covered this important story, despite daily, intensive reporting and analysis on the region.

Please contact Foreign Editor Andrew Rosenthal to urge that the paper give prominent and serious attention to the attacks on journalists trying to film the Ramallah lynching and the issue of Palestinian intimidation of journalists as a whole.

Call the Foreign Desk at 212-556-7416 or email andyr@nytimes.com

3) CNN's failure thus far to cover the assault on journalists in Ramallah and the death threats against the Italian journalists fuels the widespread view that the network tilts openly against Israel in favor of the Palestinians. Was a CNN crew present in Ramallah? Many networks were there because a Palestinian funeral had preceded the lynchings. And present or not, why has the network remained silent on so critical a matter as the violent intimidation of the media?

Call Will King, CNN's Vice President of International News Gathering at 404-827-1519 e-mail: will.king@turner.com

For members in Israel, please call the Jerusalem Bureau of CNN: 538-1782 (From America, dial 01197225381782)

4) Finally, National Public Radio has also failed to report on the story, despite continuous and daily reporting of events in the region. NPR's failure to report on the PA's intimidation of the media is consistent with its frequent suppression of information damaging to the image of the Palestinians.

Call NPR Ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin at 202-414-3246 to protest the omission or email him at jdvorkin@npr.org

Also it is ESSENTIAL to send a copy of your complaint to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting which keeps track of public concerns. Email to CEO Robert Coonrod at rcoonrod@cpb.org or call the public comment line at 1-800-272-2190. (In fact, call this number whenever you hear objectionable NPR broadcasts.)

Only through forthright and continuous coverage of the PA's intimidation tactics will there be public pressure on the PA to rein in such dangerous assaults.

With thanks,
Lee Green
Director, National Letter-Writing Group
CAMERA