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July 5, 2002/Tamuz 25 5762, Vol. 54, No. 42
CNN seeks balance in Mideast coverage
GARY ROSENBLATT
The New York Jewish Week
Does the top brass at CNN care about criticism from American and Israeli Jews about an alleged pro-Palestinian bias?
Most assuredly.
In a 90-minute exclusive interview with The Jewish Week, Walter Isaacson, the chairman and CEO of the all-news cable TV network, offered a spirited defense of CNN's Middle East coverage while acknowledging that a conscious effort was made three months ago to focus more on the victims of Palestinian terror.
Implicit in his remarks was that he and other CNN executives were seeking to correct an imbalance in coverage of the Mideast conflict, though Isaacson conceded only that "there is a misperception" among some viewers of such a bias against Israel. He maintained that CNN's coverage has been "very fair."
What has changed, Isaacson said, is that after the Sept. 11 attack on the United States, and more specifically after the Passover bombing at a Netanya seder that killed 29 Israelis, CNN recognized the need to "emphasize the personal toll of these (Palestinian) bombings" on Israelis, in addition to its reporting of the military and diplomatic aspects of the undeclared Mideast war.
Isaacson insisted this decision was not in response to outside criticism or any slipping of CNN's ratings but rather was internal, based on an editorial evaluation that "the situation had changed and the personal toll of the bombings had become a crucial element.
"Our coverage evolves as the story evolves," he said.
Whatever the motive, it is clear that CNN, long criticized in Jewish circles as biased against Israel, has taken steps to improve its image among Israelis and American Jews. These include:
An on-air effort to highlight the plight of Israeli civilians, offering a more personal and sympathetic view of their lives in the wake of 21 months of uninterrupted Palestinian violence against them; the launching, in recent days, of a major section on CNN's Web site (www.cnn.com) featuring victims of terror, including photos and brief bios of the hundreds of people, mostly Jews, killed by Palestinian bombings; and a five-part series in June, hosted in Jerusalem by Washington-based Wolf Blitzer, on the victims of terror, interviewing close relatives of Israelis killed by Palestinian bombings.
So it was not surprising to receive a call from Isaacson's office last week offering a meeting and interview with the top CNN official. The public relations official who made the call said it was part of an effort to meet with Jewish opinion makers in the wake of Ted Turner's recent controversial comments equating Palestinian and Israeli violence.
Turner, the founder of CNN, was quoted in a British newspaper as saying, "aren't the Israelis and Palestinians both terrorizing each other?"
CNN executives, including Isaacson and Eason Jordan, who heads the network's international news division, noted that Turner "has no operational or editorial oversight of CNN."
Isaacson said he recognized that many viewers felt "we were telling the Palestinian story" more sympathetically than the Israeli story, while stressing he did not agree.
Perhaps more newsworthy than any specific comment Isaacson made during our discussion was the fact that he felt the need to make CNN's case to the American Jewish community, where "CNN Lies" bumper stickers are not an uncommon sight. At the same time, Jordan had flown to Israel (on his 50th trip in 20 years, according to Isaacson) to meet with political leaders and media figures and apologize for lapses in coverage that may have appeared overly sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.
Pro-Israel watchdog groups and American Jewish leaders credit Isaacson with being a serious, responsible journalist who has been responsive to their calls and complaints, and shown a willingness to improve CNN's coverage of the Middle East. But they are careful to point out that corporate cooperation does not always filter down to on-air reporting, with which they still have problems.
"I agree CNN has done a better job since Walter came," says Andrea Levin, who heads the pro-Israel media watchdog group CAMERA, a frequent and outspoken critic of CNN coverage over the years. She described Isaacson and Jordan as "good guys" with whom she talks frequently and who are "people of goodwill trying to take care of an issue."
Levin also said she was pleased to see the network's "heightened sensitivity to and awareness of the victims of terror, giving context to Israel's actions of self-defense."
But she noted CNN is a major operation - it has 4,000 employees worldwide - and "there are still problems in the field," such as correspondents editorializing in their reports or making factually inaccurate statements.
Two weeks ago, she said, CAMERA found several reports "very objectionable" and encouraged several thousand of its members to send e-mails to CNN complaining about a report by Christiane Amanpour. The network's chief international correspondent is widely considered to be biased in favor of the Palestinians, and the recent objection was to her making several references to the legitimacy of Palestinian complaints and distinguishing between American and Israeli efforts to combat terrorism.
"She may be a star, but we've long had objections to her reporting, and she interjects her opinions all the time," Levin said.
Another pro-Israel media watchdog, HonestReporting.com, reported this week that after recent meetings with top CNN executives in Atlanta, it found "a genuine sensitivity to Israeli concerns" at its headquarters. But it also complained of problematic reporting by several of CNN's correspondents in the Middle East.
"It's fair to say he's trying to do a better job," said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, when asked about Isaacson.
Isaacson seemed more frustrated with pro-Israel activist e-mail campaigns against CNN than with other forms of criticism. He insisted they were largely inaccurate, unfair and based on hearsay. He challenged the truthfulness of private statements reportedly made by Andrea Koppel, a CNN reporter, while visiting Israel in which she was said to have commented on her limited knowledge of the Middle East and her belief that Israel would not survive the next 50 years.
Sounding clearly irritated with the unfairness of it all, Isaacson mirrored the sentiment of many pro-Israel viewers of CNN who have come to believe the network favors the Palestinians over the Israelis. Be fair, he was saying; give us a break.
That's what Jews in Israel and the U.S. have been saying to CNN for years. Maybe now both sides will do a better job of hearing each other.
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