HonestReporting’s work — ensuring truth, integrity and fairness, and combatting ideological prejudice in journalism where it impacts Israel and the global Jewish community — is increasingly being recognized around the world, with reporters citing our expertise with greater frequency.
In this respect, since we published our last impact report on December 6, HonestReporting was cited some 125 times by widely-read outlets, including, among others, Newsweek, Fox News, Estadão (Brazil), The Jerusalem Post, The Times of Israel, Israel Hayom, Israel’s Channel 13.
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Furthermore, we produced 42 widely-shared news critiques, 12 educational articles and seven videos, prompting major news organizations to correct inaccurate statements about the Arab-Israeli conflict.
For example, on December 14, The New York Times issued an editor’s note effectively retracting a glowing profile about Refaat Alareer. The “newspaper of record” had portrayed Alareer as a “contentious Palestinian professor [who] calmly teaches Israeli poetry,” but failed to mention his antisemitic statements.
HonestReporting, in a piece titled, “New York Times Guest Essayist Refaat Alareer Compared Israel to Nazi Germany Over 100 Times,” had exposed hundreds of antisemitic Twitter posts by Alareer.
"Contentious" Refaat Alareer has compared Israel to the Nazis over 100 times.
It's not "contentious." It cannot be described as "rages against Israel."
It's one of the most obvious forms of antisemitism, @NYTimes.
This is simply unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/4Slos2LC57
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) November 17, 2021
After the January 15 Colleyville, Texas synagogue attack, HonestReporting reached out to The New York Times and the BBC, requesting that they accurately reflect the anti-Jewish context of the incident. Following our intervention, both outlets in subsequent articles correctly characterized the events that transpired at Congregation Beth Israel as being antisemitic in nature.
With respect to the British public broadcaster, UK media regulator Ofcom on January 27 announced that it would launch an investigation into the BBC over its skewed coverage of an antisemitic incident that occurred in November of last year. HonestReporting had lodged a complaint with the regulatory body on December 14.
At the same time, we raised questions about the hiring by the Reuters wire service of Henriette Chacar. As highlighted, Chacar has a long history of spreading disinformation about Israel, including accusing the country of “blatant and systemic racism” and spreading demonstrably false claims that the Jewish state is upholding “apartheid” and “racist, segregationist policies.”
In response, Reuters reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to report from the Middle East fairly and impartially.
When Amnesty International on February 1 released its report falsely charging Israel with maintaining a “cruel system of apartheid” since the country’s creation in 1948, HonestReporting went on the offensive. We published two extensive articles debunking Amnesty’s claims (see here and here). In addition, together with the UK’s Jewish Chronicle, we revealed that Amnesty’s own staff members condemned parts of the report.
Meanwhile, we prompted The New Yorker Magazine to correct a crossword puzzle that mistakenly referred to the Negev as being located in “Palestine.” Also, Encyclopedia Britannica backtracked on its claim that Arabs cannot be called “antisemitic” after HonestReporting called the encyclopedia out on Twitter.
In August, The @NYTimes made a similar faux pas when it published a crossword puzzle that included a clue referencing the “largest city in the Palestinian state.” https://t.co/zvcsvislKX
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 3, 2022
On February 9, HonestReporting released a study on media coverage of hate crimes in the United States — revealing a pattern of antisemitism being grossly underreported. The study was featured, among other sources, by Fox News, Newsweek, The Jerusalem Post and The Times of Israel.
As a result, HonestReporting CEO Daniel Pomerantz on Friday is slated discuss our findings live on CBS News during the network’s noontime national broadcast.
After all, one of the best ways to influence news coverage is to be a part of the news coverage.
Also this week, British art curator Alistair Hudson was reportedly forced out of his role as director of the Whitworth Gallery after repeated complaints following a row over an exhibition that promoted anti-Israel libels and ignored Palestinian terrorism. HonestReporting had previously highlighted that the collection was spreading manifestly untrue claims.
Accordingly, our proactive approach is consistently garnering results, including as they relate to legislative initiatives.
On Wednesday, February 23, a Dutch lawmaker submitted parliamentary questions based on our work concerning The Rights Forum, a group with apparent links to EU-designated Palestinian terror organizations. HonestReporting on February 17 had called on Dutch authorities to launch a probe into the group.
Relatedly, HonestReporting this month launched a campaign to expose entities helping Hamas hide its secret foreign investment portfolio, reportedly worth some $500 million. Our work on Hamas’ secretive financial dealings quickly gained steam, and we are working to bring the issue to the attention of the British legislature.
As we continue our efforts to rebuild trust in media, we ask you to support our work by regularly visiting our website and signing up to receive our free IsraBites newsletter. We also encourage our readers to share our articles on social media, and notify us of anti-Israel bias in media reports.
You can also facilitate our mission by making a donation.
Together, we will continue to ensure that HonestReporting’s call for fair reportage on Israel and the Jewish people is realized.
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