CBS Exposed: Bob Simon’s “Theatrical Outrage”
April 29, 2012 10:39 by Pesach Benson
Thousands of concerned individuals have already written to CBS to express their disgust at Bob Simon’s report on Christians in the Holy Land on CBS’s 60 Minutes.
It’s not too late to add your voice and let CBS know what you think. Particularly when you see below how Bob Simon’s outrage at Ambassador Michael Oren has been exposed as nothing more than a cynical ploy.
Take action now and demand an apology! Send your considered comments to CBS through the following:
“60 Minutes”
Jeffrey Fager—Chairman of CBS News, Executive Producer of “60 Minutes”
E-mail: 60m@cbsnews.com
Online Form: Submit your comments on this “Contact Us” form. Please select “60 Minutes.”
Post comments on Jeffrey Fager’s CBS biography page here.
Bill Owens—Executive Editor of “60 Minutes”
E-mail: 60MinutesOT@cbsnews.com
Bob Simon—Reporter of “Christians of the Holy Land”
Post comments on Bob Simon’s CBS biography page here.
CBS News
Feedback E-mail: weekend@cbsnews.com
***
When reporter Bob Simon interviewed Ambassador Michael Oren, Simon’s outrage — that the ambassador sought to intervene in the 60 Minutes piece on Christians in the Holy Land — was sharp.
Turns out Simon was more theatrical than we realized. BuzzFeed obtained a copy of a letter Simon sent Oren politely inviting Oren to share his views on the status of Christians in the Holy Land — was courteously acknowledged by the ambassador.
“We didn’t realize it would become so controversial,” Simon said in his introduction to the story, which featured an on-air clash between him and Oren. “I’ve never gotten a reaction before from a story that hasn’t been broadcast yet,” Simon told the ambassador during the segment.
But Simon’s apparent shock — and high dudgeon — at Oren’s conduct were nowhere to be found in a letter he wrote the ambassador before the taping, and which was provided to BuzzFeed by a political operative not party to the dispute who said he shared it because he thought it illustrated CBS doubletalk.
“Fortunately, we are still in the process of reporting the story, so [CBS News Chairman Jeff] Fager and I want to give you an opportunity to express your views and correct any misrepresentations or omissions which you apparently believe might have occurred,” Simon wrote, in a courteous missive on personalized “60 Minutes” letterhead, dated January 4. “Thank you and best wishes.”
Oren responded to Simon on January 11 with an equally courteous letter, saying he was “indeed concerned” about the planned segment and that he would like to “respond to the allegations raised” once he knew what they were.
All this is fairly common in the dance between reporters and sources. It’s not unusual for reporters to seek difficult interviews with innocuous correspondence. Less common is the theatrical outrage Simon expressed on air, but not in the letter, at Oren’s interest in shaping a story about his country.
Despite Simon’s play for the cameras, the real outrage is this: If not for the Oren’s involvement, not one Israeli voice would’ve been represented in 60 Minutes’ hatchet job.
HonestReporting CEO Joe Hyams comments:
Bob Simon’s feigned outrage at Ambassador Oren displays a shocking level of cynicism unbecoming of a supposedly credible media figure. Simon’s report on Christians in the Holy Land was despicable enough. That and the underhand way in which he has manipulated Ambassador Oren’s understandable concerns demonstrates a clear antagonism towards Israel and exposes any pretense that Simon was attempting to produce a fair and balanced report.
At the very least, Bob Simon and CBS should apologize and issue a public statement acknowledging their unbalanced and deceitful behavior.
Take action now and demand an apology! Please send your considered comments to CBS and add your voice to the many thousands who have been outraged by Bob Simon’s unbalanced and unholy attack on Israel.
Michael
12:00 pm
Apr 29, 2012
Actually, I believe Arvi Sharvit was interviewed
Agree or Disagree:
3 
0
martin Broscholwitz
8:50 pm
Apr 29, 2012
Bob Simon has to earn his keep at CBS Therefore it follows that
he has to provide viewers for CBS
Muslim threats are well
known, so Simon tilts
the story to imply that
Israel is the problem
in order to engage
Christian fears
In spite of open fact that
Israel is only truly safe
home in mid-east for
Christians s well as Jews
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
67 
3
Scott
3:44 am
Apr 30, 2012
Go to Hell Simon!
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
38 
1
Shai
4:01 pm
Apr 30, 2012
In Bob Simon’s report “Christians in the Holy Land”, Simons embarrassed Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, by making it seem as if the ambassador complained about the vary damning report (towards Israel) before it was aired – and made it seem as if the ambassador tried manipulating the free press and trying to hide Israel’s alleged “mistreatment” of christians in the Holy Land.
It now turns out that this was a ploy, orchestrated by 60 minutes and/or your network; the ambassador was officially informed of the airing of the show and was even requested to respond.
This means someone in your network has been up to some very offensive trickery. In fact the program lies to the public.
I ask that in the interest of truth, fair journalism and the good name of CBS and 60 minutes, that you clear up this issue by issuing a public apology.
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
33 
1
Dany
4:04 pm
Apr 30, 2012
Bob you blew it and have become a liability to the prestigious news show I have been an avid listener for as long as it exist.
Bob, a free advise is of the essence, don’t ever say you have been doing this show for so long because this time you blew it for you and your reputation. 60 minutes has been always a place you could trust a genuine report, no longer is the case when you use theatrical tricks to turn the blame of an important report against the only Country in the whole of the middle east where Christians are free to observe their faith without being prosecuted as in most other Islam countries and especially in the PA where you originated this biased report.
ISRAEL has, is and will always welcome all faiths and allow them free access to their places of worship not what we JEWS have experienced in the past when our places of worship were closed to us by the same Islamists .
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
31 
0
Arlene Mittenthal
4:09 pm
Apr 30, 2012
Bob Simon, you were way out of line in your Christians leaving Israel. A strong apology is on order!
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
24 
0
Bonnie Prince Charlie
6:47 pm
Apr 30, 2012
Arlene Mittehnthal.
Bob Simon will never apologise because he believes that he is right. This belief is based on a combination of ignorance and bias. Why let the facts get in that way of a good story?
Agree or Disagree:
0 
0
William Morgenstein
4:13 pm
Apr 30, 2012
Sadly, 60 Minutes is not and never was a news program. It is an entertainment program and my guess is that unfortunately, many who watch it don’t realize that. 60 Minutes is going to look for shock stories and shock value. At times they expose something that is nefarious but what is uppermost for them is obtaining lookers, listeners and then ratings ieven if in the interest of packaging the time truths are left out.
It is also more than fair to say that CBS has a distinct Left Wing bias, as do most of their reporters. Some have had better journalisitc skills than others but again if you scratch their skin the bias comes out clearly..
Amazingly some like Bob Simon are “honored” by their peers. (maybe not so amazingly), even though their bile and hatred is self evident. Don’t know if this is a symptom of “self hatred” but whatever it is it IS hatred and always has been.
Shame on you CBS
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
17 
0
J Goldstein
4:19 pm
Apr 30, 2012
120430
Attn: Bob Simon, Jeff Fager, CBS
Bob:
We all need more mitzvahs on the plus side of the ledger, but I would suggest that you begin stockpiling them. It appears that you will need them to balance your report on Israel’s Christians. I hope you live a long life, since you will need the time to offset the damage you did.
Just a few things to consider:
1. Do you really need to be reminded about Palestinian treatment of churches in 1997 and 2002, representative of their overall disrespect for Christianity?
2. Pull out a map of the Old City. Which Quarter is the smallest? Under PLO or Hamas control, how would that map look?
3. If the world was not watching, how would Israeli treatment of Christians differ from PLO/Hamas treatment of Christians?
4. You find the wall that Israel erected surprising? How would you have responded if your family, G-d forbid, were maimed/killed by Palestinian attacks? Duh.
5. You were surprised that Ambassador Oren was concerned about a report concocted without contacting a single official Israeli agency? After proving him right to be concerned, you are still surprised? Duh. Duh.
On the positive side, I will no longer be watching 60 Minutes, and Myron Wallace no longer has to be concerned about his alma mater defiling its reputation.
J. Goldstein
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
23 
0
m
4:55 pm
Apr 30, 2012
Bob Simon is a smarmy smug faced anus.
His implication that Israel is responsible for the plight of Christians is typical leftist banter; blatantly false, but his minions will lap it up.
Fact is, if not SPECIFICALLY for Israel, there would not be one shred of Judaeo-Christian presence left in the entire shit hole region. The ONLY place Christians ARE safe, is IN Israel.
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
8 
0
Lynn Handelman
4:57 pm
Apr 30, 2012
I have not watched 60 minutes for years. Bob Simons is known for his bias against Israel, so why would this time be different?
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
8 
0
LUIS FROM MEXICO
5:07 pm
Apr 30, 2012
To be honest; I did not feel a strong antisemitism in this piece and I never heard a real accusation by the reporter about Israelis being responsible for Christians leaving their homes. As a matter of fact, he almost justified the building of the wall, and it was ridiculous that an arab girl said she went to school one morning and when she came back, the new wall was there!!!!…….by the way, this arab family has a good house and it seems the wall did not afect their bussinnes.
Of curse, the only ones openly blaming Israel for everything were arabs, and this shouldnt surprise us.
The Ambassador did a good job defending Israel, but he hesitated a few times when confronted by Simons.
Agree or Disagree:
1 
3
DAVID KAPLAN
5:17 pm
Apr 30, 2012
What people don’t realize about this so-called investigative show is that the conclusions are reached in the beginning phases of the program development and then the “facts” are created/manipulated to “prove” the case. It is a travesty of what journalism used to stand for but no longer does.
It is no more than manipulative, deceitful infotainment.
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
5 
0
Sanford Evans
5:37 pm
Apr 30, 2012
Simon lives with his family in Netanya. I don’t agree with his point of view but I don’t believe for one second that Bob Simon has a bias against Israel. He choose to raise his family there. If he had the hostility toward Israel you’re suggesting, why wouldn’t he just move to another country?
Agree or Disagree:
1 
5
LUIS FROM MEXICO
6:01 pm
Apr 30, 2012
Sanford…..It comes to me as a surprise that Simon lives in Israel, and if this is true, I agree with you that he could move to another country if he was anti Israel or anisemitic; and he has the right to disagree with certain things he sees in Israel and still want to live there.
Another matter is if he ir right about this particular piece!!
Agree or Disagree:
0 
0
zblarochelle128
5:43 pm
Apr 30, 2012
shame on you CBS
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
5 
0
William Morgenstein
6:03 pm
Apr 30, 2012
Netanya is where he is based. Doubt that is his first choice to live.
Let him try moving to Bethlehem and try reporting against Palisinitans. Don’t think so???
Agree or Disagree:
3 
0
M.Sphardi
6:31 pm
Apr 30, 2012
I’m all for the reporters doing their own stories, but in Simon’s case, his character has become well etched on his face and established in his wicked smirk at least as revealed in this story and its underlying malice.
In all these years, has 60 minutes ever done a piece on the “two Nakbas”? Have they ever pointed out that 850,000 Arab Jews were driven out of the Muslim world from 1948 on in revenge for the defeat of the invading British Jordanian and other Arab armies in 1948-49. The injustice done them is probably much greater than any done to the Palestinians. Those ArabJews now constitute more than half of Israel’s Jewish population and they don’t get UNRWA money for millions when there are actually only 50,000 actual Palestinian “refugees” still alive.
Agree or Disagree:
3 
0
Bosse
6:33 pm
Apr 30, 2012
Bob Simon is an ugly anti-Semitic.
Agree or Disagree:
0 
0
Bonnie Prince Charlie
6:34 pm
Apr 30, 2012
This feature proves beyond all reasonable doubt that CBS and 60 minutes are well on the way to raising the quality of their investigative journalism to that of The National Enquirer.
Regarding Mr Morgenstein’s point, I think Mr Simon is far too much of a coward to voice any criticism of Islam or the ‘Palestinians’. They might respond with deadly physical force – as we see almost on a daily basis – instead of just words.
Agree or Disagree:
3 
0
William Morgenstein
6:38 pm
Apr 30, 2012
Bonnie,
That’s exactly my point. He wouldn’t last the day.
Agree or Disagree:
1 
0
Migdal Eden
6:49 pm
Apr 30, 2012
As a Jewish Israeli who was married to a Greek Orthodox Arab Hadassah doctor (We lived in Jerusalem) who grew up in Nazereth and whose parents came from Bet Jallah (next to Bethlehem) and whose grandfather was a famous architect who built a well known church in Jerusalem (Old City) I believe that I am more familiar with the native Christian community than Bob Simon is or ever
intended to be and I say catagorically that it’s nonsense what he says about Israel “hurting” native Christians in any way. And as far as Israel hurting non native Christians…I was a good friend of Father Marcel Dubois well known Christian and head of the Philosophy department of Hebrew University for years; decorated by both the French and Israeli governments for offering himself up as a hostage during the Entebbe crisis as well as other all faith understanding acts…I say catagorically that you should have investigated the historical separation of Arab Christian and Arab Muslim communities. Intermarriage between the 2 groups is so frowned on that parents automatically disown any children that do so. Something that did not happen when my Greek Orthodox Arab doctor’s childhood friend who was a Muslim(but this kind of friendship is rare) married the Jewish daughter of a Kinneset member(said daughter also worked for a while with Al Jezeera news) …all in all I think that I know what I’m talking about on this subject than Mr. Simon.
Agree or Disagree:
0 
0