Just
Say No to NPR
by Andrea Levin
October 4, 2002
Recent boycotts of media outlets, launched mostly by grassroots groups concerned
about anti-Israel bias, have prompted criticism from a few establishment Jewish
organizations that have argued that because the Jews and Israel have been the
victims of boycotts, the tactic is illegitimate and immoral. But these arguments
ignore certain basics.
First, to state the obvious, the current campaigns bear no resemblance to the
protracted, global economic, diplomatic and cultural exclusions Israel has
suffered or the ferocious campaigns against Jewish businesses in Nazi-era
Europe. Those anti-Jewish boycotts, dictated by ruling regimes, were rooted in a
hateful bigotry and aimed at the elimination of a people and a state, not the
redress of an offending policy.
The protests against The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times,
Philadelphia Inquirer and others are initiatives by individuals, not
governments, and are freely joined by anyone who accepts the arguments of the
campaigners. No one is compelled to end their subscriptions to the publications,
just as no one, surely, is compelled to continue them.
Boycotts in the American context have long been a tool of consumer complaint and
social policy activism, sometimes an effective one -- often not -- and Jews,
including Jewish organizations, have participated in them. For example, was the
Central Conference of American Rabbis wrong in 1985 to call on 1.2 million
Reform congregants to boycott nonunion California grapes in support of Cesar
Chavez's campaign?
From another perspective, to say that boycotts should not be used by Jews
because Jews have been the victims of boycotts makes no more sense than to
assert that because guns and soldiers have been wielded against Jews and Israel,
Jews should forego their use, no matter what the provocation, in order to
present a more pure moral face to the world.
Although the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA)
has not initiated or sponsored boycott campaigns against any national or
regional newspapers, there has been a call to suspend financial support for one
media outlet until its harmful anti-Israel bias ends. That institution is
National Public Radio (NPR).
The network receives tax support, both directly and indirectly, via the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and aggressively solicits financial gifts
from listeners and underwriters (who are actually business and institutional
advertisers). A matrix of local and national boards cultivates supporters and
helps advance NPR's fundraising efforts.
Are Jewish listeners under obligation to provide both the involuntary support to
NPR, entailed in their taxes allotted to the network, and additional donations
in response to the constant entreaties by station managers and NPR officials?
Are Jewish listeners duty bound to send checks to help finance programming in
which grave allegations are routinely leveled at Israel without a single Israeli
given the right of response?
The many examples of distortion are far too numerous to recite in detail. A July
1 program, for instance, charged that Israel continuously shoots at innocent
sewer repairmen in Gaza, thwarting efforts to assure healthy conditions for
Palestinian civilians. So relentless are Israeli snipers, according to NPR, that
international "activists" must position themselves, physically,
between the shooters and the repairmen. Palestinian "human rights" and
medical workers all join in attesting to the allegedly malevolent role of
Israel.
But not a single Israeli is permitted to answer the charges. Israel Defense
Forces (IDF) spokesmen categorically denied the NPR claims to CAMERA and said,
moreover, NPR had never contacted them about the story. The IDF spokesman also
noted that the network's reporters rarely call to fact check allegations made
against the military. Under public pressure in this instance, NPR posted a note
on its Web site expressing "regrets" for failing to include any
Israeli spokesman.
The regrets were not broadcast on-air where a substantial audience might hear
them, nor was there a follow-up story presenting the Israeli version of events.
The "regrets" were evidently insincere since one-sided, accusatory
coverage continues unabated.
An especially incendiary story on Aug. 31 by Anne Garrels included six
Palestinians leveling charges against Israel for allegedly depriving them of
needed water in West Bank towns. No Israeli or pro-Israel voices were included.
Garrels herself added to the deceptions, twice stating that only half of West
Bank towns have tap water. What she neglected to mention is that all towns were
given the option of being connected to the National Water Carrier to tap water,
but some refused on political grounds, refusing to recognize Israel's presence
in any guise.
That excluded bit of information would have radically altered Garrels' story of
blameless Palestinians victimized by stone-hearted Israelis. But her reports are
typically short on factual accuracy and long on emotive editorializing.
Troubled at rising public dismay over the coverage, NPR executives have
responded, not by rigorous attention to assuring every broadcast is balanced and
accurate, but by hiring a PR firm to help spin their image in the Jewish
community. All the while, the distortions continue. A media outlet unwilling to
address serious substantive complaints through the normal channels of
interaction for more than a decade, which is the case with NPR, cannot expect
the Jewish community to underwrite unfair and damaging distortions.
What self-respecting people supports its own defamation?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Andrea Levin is executive director of CAMERA, www.camera.org.
© 1996-2001 The Jewish Journal, All Rights Reserved
Top
The
Jewish Advocate
(Boston)
October 18-24
Op-Ed: NPR doesn't merit support
by Karin McQuillan
In the 1930s and even during the Holocaust, the most influential
American media decided Nazi anti-Semitism was not news and chose to ignore it,
and even rationalize it. Today, our most influential radio station,
tax-supported National Public Radio, has a policy of not reporting official
Palestinian anti-Semitism, and even rationalizing it. The rebirth of
neo-Nazi anti-Semitism in Arab guise is the most important, most dangerous
unreported story of the Middle East conflict.
Jeffrey Dvorkin, NPR's ombudsman, admits that NPR reporting on the
Arab-Israeli conflict is one-sided and politically motivated: "We haven't
moved beyond the simplistic view of a Third World liberation movement against
oppressive Israelis." (Nov. 6, 2001 meeting)
Loren Jenkins, NPR's foreign editor: "Face it, those Jews are
colonizers."
NPR is entitled to free speech. It is not entitled to financial
support by Brandeis or by anyone who cares about responsible, fair and accurate
journalism.
Since Oslo, the Palestinian Authority has invented a new, broader
form of Holocaust Denial. Not only did the Holocaust never happen,
but Jews were never in Israel, and the Temple never existed on Temple
Mount. Instead of reporting on this ominous trend, NPR is tailoring
its reporting to support the denial.
Mike Shuster, NPR's Jerusalem correspondent: "Jews believe
there was a Temple. Jews say that the Temple Mount was the site of two
ancient temples in the Jewish tradition." (Oct. 6, 2000) This is like
saying Jews "believe" there was a Holocaust or Americans
"say" there was an American Revolution.
Official Palestinian Authority televised sermon: "Have no
mercy on the Jews, no matter where they are, in any country. Fight
them, wherever you are. Wherever you are, kill those Jews and those
Americans who are like them." (Oct. 13, 2000)
Number of NPR stories on Palestinian anti=Semitic sermons: zero.
WBUR Program Director George Boosey: "If an imam preaches hate
every week, it's not news." (meeting with delegation from Temple
Emunah, a Conservative congregation in Lexington, on Nov. 6, 2001)
The PA official map shows no Israel. It has been wiped
off the map. Its school textbooks teach that "Palestine"
stretches from Jordan to the sea. The new schoolbooks extol
martyrdom to "recover" even one inch of Israel. School
children are not taught that Jews ever had any history in Israel, even in
Biblical times.
NPR reporter Linda Gradstein whitewashes the Palestinian textbooks
as trying to teach "civic responsibility."
Dvorkin insists that Palestinian Authority maps do include
Israel. His source? "Linda Gradstein asked the
Palestinian Minister of Education." (Nov. 6, 2001) When mailed the
URL of the PA website that shows the official map with no Israel, Dvorkin does
not reply.
The PA has institutionalized neo-Nazi hate in its schools, summer
camps, and children's TV. Children are taught to fear and hate
Jews. "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," teaching that
Jews form an evil worldwide conspiracy, is a best-seller. Blood
libel is accepted as fact. Hitler is publicly praised, and the
Holocaust denied or celebrated.
Number of NPR stories on Palestinian institutionalized
anti-Semitism: one, in which it gave equal time to claims anti-Semitism is
justified, and ended with an image of an Israeli tank.
WBUR General Manager Jane Christo when asked to report on
institutionalized hate education: "You can't criticize us for what we don't
report." (Nov. 6, 2001)
There have been many complaints to NPR by outraged individuals, by
the media watch group CAMERA, by Jewish federations in Cleveland, Atlanta, and
elsewhere. Our complaints of incomplete, politicized and inaccurate
NPR reporting have fallen on deaf ears. NPR's advocacy reporting
against Israel is not in error. It is their policy.
Every radio station has a free speech right to broadcast its own
political agenda, but not funded by taxpayer money, and not using the legitimacy
of being National Public Radio. The funding law requires NPR to be
fair and balanced. The rest of us have a responsibility to use our
free speech to expose NPR's abuse of power and to counteract its anti-Zionist
propaganda. It is our free speech right to tell people we know not
to send them money, and to speak to our Congressmen and ask them to meet with
NPR chief Kevin Klose and require that NPR change its biased editorializing or
lose federal money.
Let us remember the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:
"When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews. You are talking
anti-Semitism." (speech at Harvard University in 1968)
Top
Commentary by Ed Koch
Bloomberg
Radio Commentary
December
7, 2002
We
are now going through the most virulent anti-Semitic period since Hitler and
Stalin Nearly 60 years after the end of World War II almost every country on the
European continent, including England, France, Germany, Holland, Belgium and the
Scandinavian countries, has seen major outbreaks of physical violence against
their Jewish citizens, and against Jewish institutions, including synagogues and
cemeteries At the same time, open hostility toward the State of Israel is at an
all-time high.
Only
in the United States have we seen a full acceptance of Jews as citizens and the
Jewish State treated as a friend and ally by an overwhelming number of fellow
citizens. In the US, Jews have been permitted to rise and fall based on their
individual talents, virtues and faults. In one elite bastion after another, Jews
have been selected to head institutions heretofore seen as beyond their reach.
Today the presidents of Harvard and Yale Universities are Jews, as are recent
former presidents of Columbia and Princeton. Having been elected three times as
mayor of the City of New York, I have been the beneficiary of this country's
generosity and freedom from bigotry, and I will be eternally grateful.
Americans
traditionally make New Year resolutions. Before I list my own resolutions,
I want to thank President George W. Bush and his advisers, Vice President Dick
Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell
and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice for their support of the State of
Israel. They could easily have jettisoned Israel as a liability in their efforts
to forge an international coalition against worldwide terrorism. I will be
forever grateful to them, and I hope that many other supporters of the State of
Israel will recognize and appreciate what they have done.
Fortunately
for Jews and the State of Israel, American support of the Jewish nation has been
bipartisan. Particularly helpful has been the Democratic leadership in
both houses including Senator Tom Daschle, outgoing Minority Leader Dick
Gephardt, as well as former President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Clinton.
There are many others on both sides of the political aisle who deserve similar
praise.
Regrettably,
there have been many clergy who have unfairly attacked Israel for attempting to
defend itself against near-daily terrorist acts against its citizens. We were
made privy to the true thoughts of Rev. Billy Graham caught on tape telling
President Nixon his real feelings about Jews and Israel. He has since
apologized, but what is an apology without contrition and efforts to right the
wrong done? Worthless.
Now
to my personal New Year resolutions. I will avoid France as a place to
vacation. France leads those countries in the Security Council who are the
enemies of the State of Israel. So too is Mexico, joining as a consistent
supporter of resolutions unfairly denouncing Israel at the UN Security Council.
I
will not support National Public Radio in any way. NPR reporters and management
delight in unfairly attacking Israel.
I
will no longer lend financial support to New York Channel Thirteen public
television station. That station recently showed a documentary that was
blatantly biased against Israel and has refused to acknowledge the bias or to
try to correct it.
I
will not watch ABC World News Tonight anchored by Peter Jennings.For many years,
Jennings has specialized in vicious and unfair portrayals of Israel intended to
injure the Jewish State and lionize Palestinians.
BBC
News is horrifically anti-Israel and I will shun it completely.
Susan
Sontag will occupy the Ninth Circle of Hell for her outrageous assaults on
Israel. I will no longer read her works.
Regrettably,
there are many others whom I could include on this list, but I will leave that
for another day. I must confess I got enormous pleasure from the defeat of
Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and her father in the recent primary elections in
Georgia. In my view, both are anti-Semitic and anti-Israel. No
longer able to feed at the public trough, I doubt that either will make a
comparable living in the private sector.
I
must close now to get ready for my Chanukah and Christmas shopping. I
enjoy celebrating those holidays with Jewish and Christian friends whose
goodwill and affection I will always cherish
Top
Terror Rules at NPR
On CAMERA Column
by Alex Safian
March 10, 2003
An Islamic extremist explodes a bomb amidst a crowd of civilians on March 4th,
killing more than 20, including himself. Less than a day later another Islamic
extremist explodes a bomb on a civilian bus, killing more than 15, including
himself.
Parallel stories, but not covered in a parallel way on National Public Radio.
In consecutive news segments on the March 5th broadcast of NPR's Morning
Edition, the first attack was described as a "terrorist bombing," with
"Muslim insurgents" the likely perpetrators. The report offered no
explanation why the attack might have occurred, and in particular nothing that
might have been construed as justification.
The second attack was reported without using any form of the word terror, and
included nothing about who the likely perpetrators might have been, describing
them only as "militants." Moreover, the attack, and similar attacks in
the past, was implicitly justified as a "campaign against occupation."
Why the gross disparity, with straight news reporting in the first case, and
clear advocacy in the second? Of course, the answer is that the first attack was
in the Philippines, and was carried out by the separatist Moro Islamic
Liberation Front, while the second attack was in Israel, targeted Israeli
civilians, and was carried out by Palestinians.
Because Palestinians are virtually a protected class at NPR, the perpetrators
of the attack in Israel are described not as Islamic extremists, or Muslims, or
even Palestinians, but as "militants," who are said to be pursuing a
"campaign against Israeli occupation." The fact that Hamas, which
carried out the attack, considers all of Israel to be "occupied" was
not deemed worthy of mention by NPR, nor the fact that the Palestinians had
rejected at Camp David and Taba Israeli offers to end anything that could
reasonably be called an "occupation."
NPR's March 5th news report is yet one more example of the truism that at NPR
facts take a back seat to a European-style anti-Israel agenda which is pursued
with an almost religious fervor.
Transcript of NPR's March 5th news at 8 AM on Morning Edition:
Newsreader Nora Raum: ... The president of the Philippines today ruled out any
combat role for US soldiers in her country, as the Philippines fight Muslim
insurgents. Yesterday a terrorist bombing killed 21 people including an American
missionary; more than a hundred people were wounded.
A bus exploded in northern Israel today. Police and witnesses in the city of
Haifa say at least five people were killed and several were injured. Militants
have carried out a series of suicide bombings as part of their campaign against
Israeli occupation. This is NPR news.
*End transcript
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