Neil MacDonald, What’s the Israel Connection?
April 17, 2011 8:20 by Pesach BensonTo expand on a story, journalists will sometimes tie in an extraneous item into a report. It might be a line mentioned in passing by an interviewee, or a throwaway line by the reporter himself. When done effectively, the reporter opens the door to a bigger picture without sidetracking the story.
The result is somewhat tangential, but brief and justifiable.
But some tie-ins are unfair. And in the case of CBC reporter Neil MacDonald, reveal a pattern of hostility.
HonestReporting Canada flagged the veteran correspondent’s recent report from Ajdabiya, Libya. MacDonald interviewed a Libyan civilian whose uncle was allegedly gunned down by Gaddafi loyalists. Holding up a bloody robe, the man speaks in Arabic, and MacDonald translates, “Does this look like a military uniform?”
As the man continues speaking in Arabic, MacDonald says in a voiceover:
“Gaddafi is like the Israelis,” says (the Libyan civilian), summoning the worst insult he can manage. “He kills whomever he likes.”
Click image to watch video.
Although it’s very irritating — Israel has nothing to do with this conflict , and in no way compares to the Gaddafi regime — I can understand an editor including the comment. This is how the Arabs, unfortunately, express themselves. But that’s not why I’ve had it with MacDonald.
It’s part of a pattern.
February, 2011: MacDonald equates repressive Arab emergency laws with emergency laws in Israel and the US.
January, 2005: MacDonald gives former CIA official Michael Sheuer the soapbox of a one-on-one interview to claim that the US relationship with Israel is costing American lives.
May, 2004: The CBC apologizes after MacDonald quotes Palestinian propagandist Eugene Bird of Israeli involvement in Abu Ghraib‘s torture scandal.
December, 2004: After an Al-Qaida attack on the US consulate in Jeddah, MacDonald quotes Alan Keiswetter, of the Saudi-financed Middle East Institute, blaming US-Israel relations.
December, 2004: Commenting on a wave of suicide bombings and terror, MacDonald writes:
If Palestinians have committed terror, the Israelis have certainly committed war crimes.
The sentence was amended when readers complained.
June, 2000: MacDonald refers to the “ferocious appetite of Jewish settlers for Arab land.”
The Libyan’s comment certainly fits in with MacDonald’s world view. And that’s reason enough to reinforce the viewers with a message that Israel is no better than Gaddafi?
HonestReporting Canada concludes:
It is clear and well-established by now that, wherever MacDonald is posted – be it Jerusalem, Washington, or Libya – he will continue to denigrate Israel using sources and handpicked “experts” who gratuitously involve Israel in stories it has nothing to do with. Macdonald is guilty not only of the appearance of bias, but of bias itself. As we have argued in the past, “If CBC news executives are interested in maintaining the national broadcaster’s credibility, they will recognize that Macdonald’s reporting is no longer consistent with their mandate of pursuing accuracy and fairness. It is time for him to go.
Bernard Leichtag
9:01 pm
Apr 17, 2011
When he was posted in Israel,a few years ago, I complained to the CBC about his biased reporting and asked them to post him to some arab country instead. They gave him a plum assignment in Wahington instead. Please do whatever you can to have him dismissed.
He probably has some long term contract so that it may not be that easy.
Regards,
Bernard Leichtag,
Montreal
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Phillip John McGibbony
9:15 am
Apr 26, 2011
My email to CBC is as follows:-
When will you fire or quarantine the openly hostile attitude of Neil MacDonald to Israel. When ever he report on the Middle East he somehow, always manages to bring Israel into matters that don’t involve them. He seems to go to great lengths to constantly paint the Jews and/or Israel in the worst possible light. It is so obvious that he is anti-Zion, anti-Jew and anti-Israel, but it doesn’t appear to bother the CBC. You are permitting dishonest reporting whenever you wrongfully accuse Israel. By all means if they have done wrong then report it, but keep the issues to the subject at hand and not paint the entire nation or people as MacDonald consistently does. You correct response to this complaint should be to bring MacDonald into line or fire him. Personally I think he should be fired as he is a serial offender and just doesn’t let up.
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sick of this nonsense
1:05 am
Mar 06, 2012
Is your outrage because you deny that:
- the Israeli army kills whoever it likes
- the US and Israeli emergency laws are repressive
- the US’ relationship with Israel is costing American lives
- the Israeli army has committed war crimes
- the Israelis have a ferocious appetite for Palestinian land for it many, many settlements
(If so, what planet do you live on?)
Or is it because you just don’t want it reported?
(If so, why is it your call to decide what the rest of us get to read about?)
It would be a lot easier for Israel to maintain its public image if it simply did not engage in these behaviors to begin with and therefore didn’t have any need for damage control to begin with.
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