Newsweek publishes a regular “Tel Aviv Diary” by columnist Marc Schulman who gives his personal take on life in Israel. In his latest column he writes about the current controversy caused by an Israeli investigative report which revealed Israeli hospitals accommodating Jewish mothers who wished to be put in separate rooms to Israeli Arabs.
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The issue was exacerbated by comments from MK Bezalel Smotrich and his wife that were roundly rejected by politicians from both left and right, including Education Minister Naftali Bennett, the leader of Smotrich’s Jewish Home party.
Given the unpleasant nature of the issue and the potential damage to Israel’s image in the wider world, Marc Schulman, to his credit, wrote his Newsweek piece in a fair and balanced manner.
This did not, however, extend to the headline:
By the second paragraph of the article, Schulman makes it clear that separating Jews from Arabs “was taking place even though it violated the official policy of the Ministry of Health and the officially stated policy of the administrations of each of the hospitals.”
This and the ensuing public storm is enough to demonstrate that “apartheid” is certainly not an official state policy, nor is it supported by the Israeli people.
The headline apparently generated a storm of its own aimed at Marc Schulman, who responded on his personal blog (emphasis added):
I think I did a reasonable job in laying out the facts of the story without being overly critical of too many of the players and even presented a relatively flattering view of Minister of Education Naftali Bennett. Thus, I was surprised by the comments that the article unleashed. On one hand the minute I saw the headline, I should not have been surprised. I should note- I have no control over the headline, something that critics of various correspondents do not seem to recognize. We write a story and our editors or the headline writers choose the headlines. Their choice is based on some connection to the story and a headline that they feel will get readers to click on the article and read it. In the days when media was mostly conveyed on paper medium, the headline was considered important, a way to get the attention of the reader. Today it’s much more important, readers do not read almost any publication linearly like they once did, but instead pick and choose the stories that strike their fancy, usually based on a quick look at the header.
While I disagreed with the choice of headline “Apartheid Arrives at the Maternity Ward”. It was an effective headline and at least reflected aspects of the story. Of course, effectiveness is a function of the results and this article certainly generated the readership and level of interaction that a mostly web based news organizations desire. So much so that the Editor and Chief of Newsweek wrote me an E-mail thanking me for the article. Is it a fully accurate headline? No its was not- Israel within the 1967 borders is not an apartheid state- Arabs are free to take any jobs go anywhere, live anywhere they desire. Is there racism and discrimination in the Israeli society? Yes as there is in almost any society. Is it codified in the laws? Something that is required to be apartheid, the answer is no. Of course, the situation is completely different on the West Bank but that is a different article. What is true however, is that in our state of perpetual war, it is too easy to fall into the trap of becoming an apartheid state.
While he is not responsible for the actions of Newsweek’s editors, Schulman has essentially acknowledged that, despite the facts to the contrary in his article, Newsweek’s priority was to misuse “apartheid” in the headline as a means to get readers to the story. The use of the word “apartheid” is inflammatory and a blatant attempt, by Schulman’s own admission, to attract web traffic at the expense of accuracy.
HonestReporting rejects this unethical and unprofessional practice and believes that Newsweek’s headline should be changed.
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