The Jerusalem Report
Ehud Ya'ari
Yasser Arafat and company have managed to cripple free coverage of the Palestinian Authority and to gain leverage over the kind of reporting the journalists do
It is not only Israel's chronically bumbling efforts at hasbarah - "explanation" in Hebrew and the term used for the way the government puts its policies across to the world - that is losing us dear points in the wrestling ring of international public opinion. Beyond the ongoing failure of the Foreign Ministry to put up sophisticated spokespeople against Hanan Ashrawi, and the useless attempt to place the onus for hasbarah on the shoulders of the army, along with everything else it has to deal with, there is also an important structural change under way in the media's methods. This is currently Israel's main problem when it comes to shaping its image abroad.
The essence of the change: Palestinians have effectively taken control of the reporting on the intifada and events in the territories. For several months now, the vast majority of information of every type coming out of the area has been filtered through Palestinian eyes, or often, has actually been composed in the first place by Palestinians.
By my own estimate, over 95 percent of the TV pictures going out on satellite every evening to the various foreign and Israeli channels are supplied by Palestinian film crews. The two principal agencies in the video news market, APTN and Reuters TV, run a whole network of Palestinian stringers, freelancers and fixers all over the territories to provide instant foot-age of the events. These crews obviously identify emotionally and politically with the intifada and, in the "best" case, they simply don't dare film anything that could embarrass the Palestinian Authority. So the cameras are angled to show a tainted view of the Israeli army's actions, never focus on the Palestinian gunmen and diligently produce a very specific kind of close-up of the situation on the ground.
These pictures are purchased by various customers and are edited for reports broadcast by local correspondents. It is extremely rare to see a TV channel screen any pictures other than the daily diet served up by AP and Reuters.
The same is true of the wire service reports. Most of the wire services are working increasingly with Palestinian journalists. Anyone glancing at the bylines of the intifada reports will see that much of the material has been written by Arabs. And with all the supervision and standards adhered to by the news agencies, the tendency in the leads and the emphasis in the text are definitely critical of Israel.
Foreign media bureaus in Israel are taking on more and more Palestinian assistants to escort correspondents in the territories, to help with setting up appointments and to provide timely updates. Again, their agenda needs no guessing, and even the most professional among them are careful not to raise the ire of the Palestinian Authority.
At the same time, the PA has made it clear that the Israeli media is non grata in Zone A of the territories, the Palestinian cities that fall under its full control. Israeli journalists can now only venture in if they are invited, and accompanied by a suitable minder who looks after not only their safety, but what they see as well.
Several leaflets issued in recent weeks by the Tanzim, Fatah's militia, have warned Israeli journalists against daring to set foot in PA territory. Certain journalists have received personal telephone threats after stories they published in the Israeli media didn't find favor with some senior members of the PA. Entry into the Palestinian side of Hebron, Nablus or Bethlehem has turned into a complicated operation for Israeli journalists necessitating detailed coordination and laden with risks, and they tend not to go there much. So even the Israeli media finds itself relying to a large degree on Palestinian sources for information, or at least on Israeli Arab staffers. Our state radio, for example, broadcasts items from the Palestinian dailies all morning on the hour as if they were hot news - every newscast, a different item.
That's how Yasser Arafat and company have managed to cripple free coverage of the PA and to gain leverage over the kind of reporting the journalists do. They have instituted an informal stick-and-carrot system to persuade journalists and photographic crews to avoid "causing damage," and it's not working badly.
The reports of Palestinian correspondents to Arab TV channels have sharpened significantly of late in tone and content. Some of them verge on crossing the boundary between reporting and incitement, under pressure from the PA to stir up public opinion across the borders. They always give a platform to PA propagandists, and no longer give appropriate air time to Israeli spokespeople to respond.
Even before Ms. Ashrawi goes on the air, others have already gone a long way toward completing her task. The very least Israel could or should do is make sure these facts are clearly understood by the clients of the information that this system provides.