Media watchdogsWatching the media on Israel's behalf is mostly, though not only, a Diaspora occupation, with some organizations monitoring the national (and international) media and others more interested in dealing with local media outlets.A few watchdog groups are listed below: The granddaddy of Israel-oriented media-watchdog groups is CAMERA, the Committee for Accountability in Middle East Reporting in America. Driven by the notion that "public opinion ultimately shapes public policy," CAMERA operates an active Web site and archives, runs ads in major media markets and makes its complaints known directly to journalists and publishers (and urges its members to do the same). Some praise its aggressiveness, others describe that it as overly shrill. It is accessible by Internet at world.std.com/~camera, or by mail at Box 428, Boston, MA 02456. HonestReporting.com is a project of the Aish HaTorah yeshiva organization. Using e-mail, it alerts its thousands of subscribers worldwide to media reports it considers biased against Israel and asks them, if they agree, to write their own letters of protest. The volume of mail thus generated has made some editors feel under assault. The Philadelphia branch of the Zionist Organization of America monitors and analyzes bias in the Philadelphia Inquirer and area media and publishes a bimonthly column on media bias in The Jewish Exponent, a weekly newspaper in Philadelphia. www.netreach.net/~zoa Israel-mediaimage, founded in October, shortly after the current Palestinian uprising began, is an e-mail group (accessible through www.yahoo.com) "for people concerned about Israel's media image." Informal and decentralized, the group shares information on what it considers inaccuracies and bias in the media and cultivates friendly dialogue with journalists. Palestinian Media Watch (www.pmw.org.il), based in Jerusalem, monitors Palestinian television, radio and newspapers and provides well-researched reports on trends and culture, from the stepped-up use of violent footage in televised propaganda to the common use of anti-Semitic "clues" in newspaper crossword puzzles. For those interested in knowing what the other side is saying, MEMRI (the Middle East Media and Research Institute, at www.memri.org) offers translations and analysis of reports from the Arab media. And for a completely different point of view, try FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, www.fair.org or 130 W. 25 St., New York, NY 10001). Though not solely concerned with the Middle East in its "criticism of media bias," when it turns its sights on Middle East reporting in the United States, it generally sees an unfairly pro-Israel, anti-Palestinian tilt. |
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