Here is Episode 1 of The Daily News

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Welcome  to the ICJS program, called The Daily News on 96 1, Lion FM. with Ronit and Ralph.

ICJS stands for Issues of Concern for Justice and Society.  The issues that will be discussed during these programs are ones which we hope you will find interesting, informative and of  concern to the  community in which we live.  You may agree or disagree with our perspective but we hope to stimulate intelligent discussion and generate rational thinking on a range of topical subjects.  One of our major concerns, as Jewish Australians, has been the media's treatment of Israel, and one of the ways we at ICJS have set out to try to balance this is by providing a user friendly website which you can easily access at www.icjs-online.org.  Again that's http://www.icjs-online.org/.  The website  attempts to provide readers with balanced, insightful and honest information from a broad range of sources on issues of concern such as anti Semitism, US politics, goings on at the United Nations and media imbalance, among others. It makes provision for readers to make comments and share their ideas about the articles we post. Our program hopes to achieve the same goals as the website, and we hope you will find it interesting informative and topical.

Also on the program, Ralph and I are going to share some of our favourite music selections and we hope you will enjoy them.

Music Shuvi Elay

Before we get started on the serious topic of Media Imbalance, I would like to share with you one of my favourite pieces of music by Avishai Cohen.   It's called Shuvi Eli (return to me) and it comes from the album called Sensitive Hours. I love it because it is so exotic,and personally, it reminds me of Masada, the mountains surrounding the Dead Sea and the hauntingly beautiful colours of the desert.  Avishai Cohen is a composer who has explored his roots, and  history and the blending of his influences is  deep and very moving.  His music  draws its source from the earth of his home country, at the crossroads of many cultures. Arab-Andalusian and Hebraic, it tells the story of Bedouins of the desert and speaks of life, love, youth and freedom. I hope you enjoy shuvi elay.

You are listening to 96 1 Lion Fm and we are talking about media  bias

RALPH:  Media bias involves the media packaging a story, so they don't just tell the story as it is, but it's packaged in a form that's acceptable and interesting for the public, and in doing so, we assert that they introduce opinion into what should be direct reporting.

RONIT:  So  what you are saying Ralph, is that what we are seeing and hearing may not be what actually happened but rather what the journalist or correspondant thought was newsworthy.

RALPH:  Correct, and in fact its almost always true, there are very few cases of imbalance where actual falsehoods are made, although there are some pretty  famous cases where that's happened, but in general the way that the imbalance occurs is simply that things are  not contextualized.

Theory of Imbalance 6.35

Ralph - Imbalance - in a nutshell - occurs where opinion is subtly introduced into news. The listener or viewer doesn't notice that the opinion has slipped in. Let's just clarify that there is nothing whatsoever wrong with journalists having opinions. Indeed it would be impossible and misguided to prevent any presenter from having an opinion. But what IS achievable and necessary is for a journalist to keep those opinions from finding their way into a news report.

Ronit - What is also achievable, and we're focussing on this point - is that the listener / viewer can easily train himself to pick up on bias.

Ralph - Imbalance can also occur in opinion pieces, and it's a bit trickier to pick that up because we all accept that people are entitled to opinions. OK here is a start at listing some of the ways bias occurs:

Imbalance by omission. In a news item the reporter does not mention something which is present at the scene and relevant to the report. "The fence" - Reporters often depict the fence visually as an impenetrable solid wall, and it is so in one section. However that section is small and every photographer who is present at that section can clearly see that to his left, and to his right the "solid wall" tapers off to being a more conventional security fence.

Imbalance by inclusion of fringe views as mainstream. In simpler terms it's sensationalism. The Pastor Rev Terry Jones made international headlines two weeks ago for trying to burn copies of the Kuran. His tiny church does not represent any mainstream movement, yet every respectable newspaper ran his story on or near the front page. It sells. But it is also a way of deflecting the legitimate views of people who are concerned with Islamism. There are many ordinary people who have concerns about Islam on varying levels, and Rev Terry Jones is portrayed as representative of those people. It's a set-up, and it closes down debate!

Imbalance by body language. The body language of an interviewer, or a host, can communicate a world of information to the audience. You see an example of this in an ABC program called Q&A where they have a spectrum of different guest commentators speaking about current affairs. The host will react neutrally for most of the guests, but when one of the guests challenges some assumption the host's expression says "You can't be serious". This type of imbalance is very difficult to object to because the host has not used any words to convey his message.

Imbalance by selecting articulate spokespersons from one side and incoherent spokespersons from the other. In the Israel / Palestinian media coverage there seem to be a large number of mediocre spokespeople on both sides. Very rarely does one see or hear an inarticulate spokesperson from the Arab side. Very r....

Imbalance by pre-supposing a narrative. In the Arab Israeli conflict there is often a pre-supposed narrative that the Israelis came in as invaders and seized Palestinian land, depriving them of their rights. Each new action by the Israelis which impacts negatively on the Palestinians is a continuation of this original crime and fits nicely into its slot, and each act which impacts positively on the Palestinians is "totally insufficient" to redress the original crime. Therefore every action by Israel, and every action by Palestinians fits nicely into this narrative, making it difficult to refute. However - don't be fooled. A narrative is a story.

Now this false narrative is disastrous for middle east peace if you think about it; there is absolutely nothing that Israel can do which could make Palestinians happy other than to get out of the Middle East. All the peace talks in the world can't satisfy Palestinian requirements.

If you are one of those sucked in by this story, the easiest way to see that it's wrong without reading lots of books is to ask yourself why the world wants the Israelis and Palestinians to get together to negotiate for a peace settlement. The leaders of the world want a two state solution which presupposes that Israel IS entitled to be there.

Imbalance through making false symmetries. This is also difficult to object to because it has the outward appearance of perfect balance. How does it work? Typically you get an Israeli spokesperson on your program describing the Palestinian Authority textbooks which carry incitement against Israel. This is well documented, and the guest makes a convincing case that incitement in Palestinian textbooks needs to be stopped sooner rather than later, because it affects the attitudes of the next generation. The reporter or host, just at the end of the interview throws in a line that Israel does exactly the same in its textbooks. No explanation, no ability to refute. And it's simply untue. The reporter congratulates himself on having demonstrated the required amount of balance.

Imbalance of the left with underdog / privileged stereotyping. The reporter makes an unquestioned assumption that all conflict can be analysed in terms of the "haves" and the "have nots". If you can't understand the nature of the conflict all you have to do is to see which side is richer, and which side is poorer. The poorer side is the good guys, and the riched side is the bad guys.  I suspect that the tradition of the Left, committed ideologically to redistribution of wealth lends itself to this type of imbalance.

Music - Yad Anuga

Ronit:  This is 96 1 Lion FM and Before we continue with some examples of bias from the media  here is another of Avishai Cohen's haunting songs from the Sensitive Hours album.  This one is called Yad Anuga which means "a delicate hand".  It's origins are unknown but it is known to be a Canaanite/ Bedouin melody.  The words come from a text written by Zalman Shneur in the 1920's. It tells of  an unattainable love whose beauty and grace cannot be matched.

Why is media balance so important

RONIT:  You are on 96 1 Lion FM,

First let's talk a little about why it is important to recognise media bias:

It's important because the media plays a central role in shaping our understanding of the world. It is mainly through the media that we are informed and it is from the media that we get many of the images and analyses that help to determine how we see the world.  It would be social suicide if we would allow what is arguably the most influential and important social institution in our democratic society, that is, the free press, to fall into that illogical post modern doctrine which states that there is no such thing as big T Truth, that, in fact, everything is relative, otherwise known as moral relativism Bias is the introduction of opinion into what is purportedly a news item. We believe that there are universal human values that must be respected, protected and enhanced by our social institutions and the law.

How do we recognise bias?  The news we hear and read is not necessarily what happened.  Rather, it may be what the journalist or correspondant thought was newsworthy.  So it is important for people to judge and analyse what is being reported.  There are good and bad journalists.

RALPH:  They have subtle ways of making up the readers' mind on his behalf. 

STORY...The use of emotional language instead of precise objective

Examples of bias - John Lyons story

Ronit:  In an article that appeared in the Australian last week, it was written as a matter of fact that the Jewish settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law. Furthermore, it implies that the settlements are an obstacle in the current peace negotiations. This is inaccurate and misleading. The facts are as follows

Fact number one:  Jews have lived in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since ancient times.  The only time Jews were prohibited from living in the territories was during Jordan's rule from 1948 to 1967.  Now this prohibition in itself,  was anti semitic and contrary to the Mandate for Palestine adopted by the League of Nations.

Fact number two: UN Resolution 242 gives Israel the legal right to be in the West Bank...it allows Israel to administer the territory it won in 1967 until a just and lasting peace in the Middle East is achieved.

Settlements are not, I repeat, not an obstacle to peace.  Why? Because

from 1949 till 1967 when Jews were forbidden to live in the West Bank, and there were no settlements, the Arabs refused to make peace with Israel.  From 1967 till 1977  when there were only a few strategic settlements in the territories  the Arabs refused to make peace with Israel.  In 1994  when Jordan signed a peace agreement with Israel, settlements were not an issue.  If anything, the number of Jews living in the territories was growing.

There are those who believe that the Geneva Convention prohibits construction of Jewish settlements in occupied territories.  The fourth Geneva convention actually prohibits the forcible removal or transfer of people of one state to another state that it has occupied as a result of a war.  But how many people are actually aware that the settlements do not displace Arabs living in the territories.  The media sometimes gives the impression that for every Jew who moves to the West Bank, hundreds of Palestinians are forced to leave.  The truth is that the vast majority of settlements have been built in uninhabited areas and even the handful established in or near Arab towns did not force any Palestinians to leave.

Furthermore, the very idea that Jews must evacuate all Jewish settlements before a peace agreement is achieved with the Palestinians is anti semitic.  Imagine a world in which Jews were not permitted to live in Paris, New York or London...this would rightly be considered the height of anti semitism.  It is equally true in the territories. Remember that thesse areas  comprise the cradle of Jewish civilisation.  Why does nobody challenge the idea that in order for there to be peace, the territories need to be free of Jews?  Arabs live in Israel why can't Jews live in a Palestinian state?  Surely any real and lasting peace would require a normalisation of relations between Palestinians and their neighbours, the Jews.

OK so those are the issues and I've presented facts which are borne out historically and can be sourced from primary documents.   This is the other side of an unbalanced story.  And how different it is from the narrative presented in the piece I read in the Australian last week where Fiction was presented  as fact without allowing for the possibility that there is another explanation for the difficulties in the current negotiating situation.  Israel was presented as the bad guy but the facts simply do not bear out the narrative.

Ralph leads  Complaint against Mike Carleton

I'd like to talk about an ongoing complaint against the Sydney Morning Herald which was dismissed last week. So it's not a success story. In later programs we might have a chance to talk about the Jenin complaint - also not a success story. But this complaint related to Mike Carlton's column on 5th June this year. He criticised Israel's actions in dealing with the flotilla. His column carried these words (about Jews Netanyahu and Israel):

... It might be well, therefore, to remind the Jewish people of their own history. .... Beneath that silvery, Harvard-educated veneer there lies an unprincipled thug addicted to the use of Israeli military might and impervious to world opinion. Endlessly repeating the errors of history, Israel now engages in a savage repression of the Palestinian people and their right to a homeland of their own.

Notice how Carlton's language slips easily into blaming "the Jewish people", Netanyahu, and "Israel". Which is it that he is criticising? He received many critical emails for this characterisation. A week later he opened his column with

It is a ferocious beast, the Jewish lobby. Write just one sentence even mildly critical of Israel and it lunges from its lair, fangs bared....The Israel lobby, worldwide, is orchestrated in Jerusalem by a department in the Prime Minister's office.

Again deftly slipping between Jewish and Israeli. He also slipped in a dose of "Some of my best friends are Jewish", including: "My Jewish friends would confirm that I am not a sadistic, anti-Semitic, hate-mongering Holocaust denier"

A Judy Maynard complained, eventually taking the complaint to the Australian Press Council. Now the Press Council guidelines say that "material should avoid placing gratuitous emphasis on a particular ethnicity, religion or nationality". The Press council held that this principle was not breached by Carlton.

Ronit leads 2 mins 18 sec - Jewish Leaders condemn the Age

Next item from the news is about a month old...it comes from the Age.  The Age took what was  (presumably) syndicated article from the Daily Telegraph which said something in what we would call a more balanced way and changed it so that it became much less balanced.  Here's an example of what we  were speaking about earlier and they are exemplified perfectly.

First here is the original quote from the Daily Telegraph which is more balanced :  Netanyahu will come under fierce pressure from Obama  to extend a 10 month freeze on Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Now, The Age version which said " Netanyahu will come under fierce pressure from Obama to extend a ten month freeze on illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.  So they added the word illegal and they added the word occupied.  These are examples of loaded propaganda words illegal settlements and occupied west bank and they have no purpose other than to create imbalance, and they don't happen accidentally as you can see in this case because the original article did not use these words.  So they must have been added in deliberately by The Age.  And they precipitated quite a strong media statement from Victoria's Jewish community leaders who have been spending considerable time negotiating with the Age, having discussions with the Age about their bias.  the Age has been asserting that it's unbiased and the Jewish community leaders are asserting that it is biased and we think that this is a pretty good example here.

Ralph  - An ancient case of bias from Barry Rubin

I came across an article by Prof Barry Rubin a day or two before sukkot. It summarises some of the points we have been trying to make here in this first program. You are listening to Lion FM 96 1.

A New York Times Pulitzer Prize winning reporter in 1953, Harrison Salisbury, made a gross blunder when he covered Stalin's funeral. Salisbury wrote:

"The new Soviet leader [georgi malenkov] appeared to have the support and enthusiasm of Soviet citizens of all walks of life. His words have sent a surge of hope through the Soviet listeners."

This quotation shows some common characteristics of American or Western journalists and analysts to this day:

I paraphrase Rubin : Journalists are sucked in in the hype of the moment. They sincerely believe when they see crowds of people cheering a dictator, that maybe the dictator is not so bad after all.

You see this today with reporters in Gaza assuring us that Hamas is very popular there. It's a false conclusion. All dictatorships have means at their disposal of deploying rent-a-crowds at short notice.

Another thing which Salisbury does in 1953 which the journalists are still doing today in Gaza is a systematic reinterpretation of radical statements into moderate ones, simply refusing to believe that anyone could really be an extremist and mean it. They consistently fail to report at all on extremist statements and inciting rhetoric. Why? - says Rubin - Because the reporter or analyst assumes that all ideology is just meaningless words since everyone is essentially pragmatic.

This systemic problem is what Rubin calls the concept of "lying for peace" and it always fails, as in the whitewashing of Palestinian behavior in the belief that doing so will make it easier to resolve the conflict. The truth, of course, is that the reality of underlying ideology, tactics, goals, and politics will come back to bite those who ignore them.

Rubin summarises brilliantly:

Nothing should be more obvious than the following: The job of reporters and scholars is to report accurately, not twist things to fit their own views or what they think is beneficial for society to know. The task for political leaders is to get the most accurate possible data even if it doesn't fit their preferences. Otherwise, their adversaries will make Salisbury Steak out of them.

What is international law?

Disproportionate force

Un Resolutions

Conclusion and song;  Rios, 3min 33 secs

Ronit:  Ralph and I would like to thank you for listening to the   ICJS  Daily News today on 96 1 Lion FM and hope you will join us again in future discussions of topical issues. If you would like to contact us you can do so by emailing us at lion at icjs-online.org, that's lion at icjs-online.org

To take us out today, I have chosen another song, this time from an album called, Parking Completo, by David Broza,  a talented Israeli musician.  He sings a song  in Spanish  called Rios.  I chose it simply because it always makes me feel happy.  I hope it does the same for you.