At this week’s OSCE Conference on Anti-Semitism in Cordoba, Spain, Sander Gerber of the U.S. delegation delivered a speech on ‘Anti-semitism and the media’, citing HonestReporting as his first example of an NGO that’s committed to ensure responsible coverage of Israel and the Mideast conflict:
There are several NGOs that monitor and assist journalists to ensure accuracy of Middle East reporting. We often hear that the solution to “bad speech” is “good speech.” However, an individual often does not feel empowered to speak out, and a lone voice is not heard. There are NGOs who enable aggregates of public opinion to speak out.
For example, the NGO, Honest Reporting, offers a grassroots collection of 120,000 readers who are committed to drawing attention to unbalanced stories a platform to speak. When a reader notes a particular case or general pattern of overt anti-Semitism, the editors either privately contact the authors, or draft a pointed critique of the item and send the critique via email to 120,000 readers worldwide. Readers can use this critique as a basis for their own personal comments to the media outlet in question, thus encouraging journalists to become more balanced.
For example, the London Times website had a photo of a woman wearing a headband emblazoned, “KILL JEWS.” The photo was captioned simply: “A university student protests against the war in Iraq.” After several letters, the Times apologized and corrected the caption.
That particular incident, from March 2003, is documented on our site here. Gerber noted that
Generally, in free democracies, an individual will form an opinion based on what he or
she has seen and heard in the media. That presents a special challenge to the media to
provide its audience with material that can serve as the basis for an informed opinion.
The power of the media is such that slanted reporting can have an enormous impact on
public opinion.
Indeed. Other NGOs recognized by Gerber for promoting fair coverage of Israel in the western press: MEMRI, the ADL, Israel 21c, and CAMERA. View Sander Gerber’s speech here.
