Palestine Media Watch -- Spread the Palestinian point of view

Palestine Media Watch

CNN's blatant double standards: Palestinian victims do not get the same attention as Israeli victims

PMWATCH/Al-AWDA -- June 24, 2002 -- In the most blatant display yet of double standards in its treatment of innocent Palestinian and Israeli civilian victims of the violence in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, CNN has decided to air a five part special all this week focusing on the toll the violence has had on Israelis and Israeli society (See: http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/06/23/vot.terror.one/index.html ) without any sign that it has anything similar in the works about Palestinian victims.

In the page on its website announcing the series, CNN writes: "If you went to a baseball game tonight and looked around, and say, half the stadium was filled, you would see about 25,000 other fans. If you were living in Israel, it is likely that one of you would be killed in a terrorist attack in the next six months." See ( http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/06/23/vot.terror.one/index.html ). The page comes complete with heart-rending depictions of some of the innocent victims, personal information, their background, and two side-by-side pictures of 5 year old Gal Eisenman and her grandmother, Noa Alon, both victims in one of the latest suicide bombings.

What is important to note is that the new series comes immediately in the heels of a huge controversy sparked by Ted Turner, founder of CNN and vice chairman of AOL Time Warner, for saying in a June 18, 2002, interview to the Guardian (UK): "The Palestinians are fighting with human suicide bombers, that's all they have. The Israelis ... they've got one of the most powerful military machines in the world. The Palestinians have nothing. So who are the terrorists? I would make a case that both sides are involved in terrorism."

In response to the firestorm that ensued from pro-Israeli groups who accused Turner of equating Israeli actions against Palestinians with terrorism, CNN came out with the following statement on June 19th: "Ted Turner has no operational or editorial oversight of CNN. Mr. Turner's comments are his own and definitely do not reflect the views of CNN in any way." Mr. Turner himself "clarified" his statement by saying: "I regret any implication that I believe the actions taken by Israel to protect its people are equal to terrorism. ... I believe the Israeli government has used excessive force to defend itself, but that is not the same as intentionally targeting and killing civilians with suicide bombers."

However, it is clear that neither CNN's repudiation of Turner's comments nor Turner's penitent retraction have been deemed sufficiant by the pro-Israeli forces. Indeed, as reported on a June 23 Haaretz article (see full article below):


	After the founder of the 24-hour news network, Ted Turner, last week described 
	IDF actions in the West Bank as "terrorism," and reports emerged Sunday that the 
	YES satellite company was considering taking CNN off the air as a result, the 
	Atlanta-based company hastily dispatched a high-level official to Jerusalem
.
	Over the weekend, it also suddenly began airing a promo for a five-part series 
	on the Israeli victims of Palestinian suicide bombings. "A special CNN series 
	will take you inside everyday life in Israel and introduce you to the people 
	whose lives are turned around by the fear and the violence," the promo announces. 
	"In part one - living the nightmare of losing a loved one."

In addition to the five-part series, CNN has gone all the way and has published on its web site the names/pictures/bio of every single Israeli killed over the past two years, and a "special report" on Israeli victims of terror. See:

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2002/terror.victims/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2002/terror.victims/page1.html

In its attempt to convey the magitude of the impact of the violence on Israeli society, CNN notes: "One of every 26,392 Israelis has been killed in a terrorist attack in the past six months. The same ratio applied to the population of the United States would equate to 10,888 American citizens. That's more than three times the number of people killed in the September 11 attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and aboard United Airlines Flight 93."

The crucial next question now is: given that CNN cares deeply about the effect of violence and terror on ordinary, innocent civilians, will it have a five-part series on innocent Palestinian victims of Israeli shelling and killing, probe into the effect of such violence will have on Palestinian society, Palestinian childre, and will it have the equivalent web site set up for those victims? Will we see, for instance, the picture, name, and background info for every single Palestinian child, woman, and elderly killed, and male civilian who had nothing to do with the militant resistance?

Will CNN explain that "one of every 3,648 Palestinians (713 total) has been killed in an Israeli military attack or Israeli terrorist attack in the past 6 months. The same ratio applied to the population of the United States would equate to 78,773 American citizens. That's more than 26 times the number of people killed in the September 11 attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and aboard United Airlines Flight 93"?[1]

And will they note that: By the time the first Israeli was killed from a suicide bombing in March 1, 2001 -- more than 5 months into the second Intifada -- over 400 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli soldiers, police, and armed ‘settlers’?

Will they also note that according to the Associated Press, there have been a total of 242 Israeli deaths due to ‘suicide bombers.’ In the month of March, 2002, alone, the Israeli’s killed 248 Palestinians?

These questions are not a rhetorical, and they need to be asked honestly and urgently of CNN.

Below are phone numbers and email addresses for you to use in asking the question. You can also use the interface below to send your letter to all the main addresses in CNN (including the ones lister here).

For Previous alerts on CNN double standards:

CNN's pathetic pandering http://www.pmwatch.org/pmw/cast/cnnpandering.asp

Complain about CNN to The RADIO-TELEVISION NEWS DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION http://www.pmwatch.org/pmw/TOPEERS/RTNDA.ASP?TYPE=RTNDA

CNN's Paula Zahn is no objective journalist http://www.pmwatch.org/pmw/db/alerts/display_message.asp?mid=244

CNN's outrageous glaring double standards http://www.pmwatch.org/pmw/db/alerts/display_message.asp?mid=242

CNN's new policy: Gilo is a "Jewish neighborhood" http://www.pmwatch.org/pmw/db/alerts/display_message.asp?mid=205

CNN's true colors showing http://www.pmwatch.org/pmw/db/alerts/display_message.asp?mid=197

Some contact information:


	CNN Headquarters 
	Address One CNN Center, Box 105366, Atlanta GA 30303 
	Tel 404-827-1500 	
	Fax 404-827-1906 
	Email cnn.feedback@cnn.com community@cnn.com  


	CNN Washington Bureau  
	Address 820 First St NE, Washington DC 20002  
	Tel 202-898-7900  
	Fax 202-898-7923 
	DC Bureau Chief Kathryn Kross 
	DC Booking Unit (Political) Jill Neff 
	jill.neff@turner.com 202-898-7926/7667 , Mark Allen 


	Reliable Sources 
	Address 820 1st St NE, Washington DC 20002
	Tel 202-898-7620
	Fax 202-898-7611
	Letters reliable@cnn.com
	Anchors Howard Kurtz kurtzh@washpost.com 
	202-334-7535 , Bernard Kalb bernard.kalb@turner.com 
	Senior Producer Jennifer Avellinio

Palestine Media Watch http://www.pmwatch.org

Al-Awda http://www.al-awda.org

---------------------------------------------------------

Sources:

[1]

*The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Results of the First Palestinian Census, September 17, 2000, (21 May 2001).

*Palestine Red Crescent Society

*The World Bank (West Bank and Gaza Strip)

*Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator (UNSCO)-Gaza

*Ramallah Hospital

*Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza

*UNICEF

*B'Tselem

Your email address
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Subject
Your letter http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=182987&contrassID=2&subContrassID=14&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y Buried with chocolate in his hand The three children took their bikes to buy candy. A tank chased them and fired two rounds at short range. Two brothers were killed, and the third brother was severely wounded. It's all there on the video By Gideon Levy The video shows it all: Here are the three kids on their bikes, three black dots on the slope of the road, two on the right, close together, the third on the left, and a white car passes between them. A woman calls out something unclear, maybe a warning to the children about the tank; the car disappears down the hill, and then the tank suddenly appears from the corner on the left. First you see the tank's turret gun, then the base of the turret and then the tank itself, charging after three little kids on their bicycles a few dozen meters ahead. The picture freezes for a second to show the details better. Then suddenly the screen goes dark. Sound of firing. Boom. Lots of noise, dust and smoke everywhere, and that's it. The anonymous photographer stopped filming. And now, the bicycles lie there in the yard, covered by a heavy woolen blanket as if to preserve them from the night's chill. Three bicycles. The large black bike is Jamil's; the medium-sized red one is Tareq's; and the little purple one is Ahmed's. The seat on the smallest bike is bent awry, the rubber that covers the handlebars on the big bike is torn, and there's a hole in the seat-covering on the medium-sized bike. Damaged only slightly, one might say. Black-beribboned pictures of two of the children are stuck on the handlebars of their bikes, photographs of the dead Jamil and Ahmed. Tareq, who's lying wounded in the hospital, his body torn by shrapnel, was riding with them on that black Friday on the way to the grocery store. His bike has no picture attached. The boys' father sits in the house. A tall man with a mustache. For eight years, before the outbreak of the first intifada, he drove a bus for Egged, the Israeli bus company. Tears threaten to overwhelm him, again and again. On the table in front of him is a straw basket with a pile of the colored memorial placards with pictures of his two sons. A keepsake for every mourner. No organization's name is inscribed on these. The bereaved father refused to let anyone - Hamas, the Popular Front, Islamic Jihad, the Brigades - put their mark on the two innocent children riding their bicycles to the neighborhood grocery store to buy themselves some candy, during a break in the curfew, until the soldiers in the tank shot them from up close, killing two of them and wounding the third. They buried Ahmed with the chocolate bar he'd bought for himself clutched in his hand. A north Jenin neighborhood among the orchards, Al Basatin. Relatively well-kept homes in neglected surroundings. Yusef Abu Aziz, the bereaved father, was born in Rafiah to a family that fled in 1948 from Sidni-'Ali on the coast at Herzliya. His wife, Hamda, was born in Jenin and he moved there to be with her. Hamda, her face downcast, hurries to her room and closes the door as one of the children turns on the video to show yet once more the dreadful film of her children's death, and she doesn't come out again. Since leaving Egged, Abu Aziz has worked as a truck driver for UNRWA. The couple had seven children. Ra'ad, the eldest, a 22-year-old medical student at Cairo University, was called home when his brothers were killed. Ahmed, six, who was killed, was the youngest, born to his parents relatively late in life. Two sons work in construction in Ramallah, one had a stall at the market in Jenin, and the others are in school, except little Ahmed who was still in preschool. On Friday, June 12, just two weeks ago now, they got up in the morning around seven as usual. All the children were home; there was a curfew on. Abu Aziz would always keep the door locked during curfews to make sure the kids didn't go out. Around 11:30 A.M., someone knocked on the door. It was Abu Aziz's young nephew, Wahel, who arrived on his bicycle from the city's eastern quarter with the news: The curfew had been lifted for a few hours. The father, skeptical, hurried to look out the window of the next room on the second floor. Indeed, the street was full of people and there were cars moving again. Yusef told the children there was no curfew now. Ahmed asked for a shekel to buy some candy. The grocery store is about 200 meters from the house. Jamil, 13, and Tareq, 11, wanted some, too. Each of them received a shekel. Each one took his bicycle. "Buy it and come back quickly," the worried father instructed them, and went back to the television, where Brazil was playing England in the World Cup. A few minutes went by. It was Brazil 2, England 1, and suddenly the father heard a huge explosion from the direction of the street. Immediately there was shouting: "Get an ambulance, get an ambulance!" He rushed to the phone to call the Red Crescent. It never occurred to him that his children had been hurt, and he went back to watch the roundup of the game on television. This week he remembered only that Brazil had been playing, he didn't remember against whom. Another few minutes passed and someone from the street came to the door to tell him that his children were injured and had been taken to the hospital. No one mentioned deaths. Outside, the curfew was reinstated and it was impossible to go anywhere. Abu Aziz phoned a friend, an ambulance driver with UNRWA, to come get him out of the house and take him to the hospital, a few minutes' drive away. When he got there, Ahmed was already dead, his little body shredded. Jamil was in the operating room, his body also torn up. The father saw only Tareq alive. Jamil died a few minutes later, on the operating table. Tareq also underwent an operation. At three in the afternoon, the curfew was lifted again and Abu Aziz went home with the bodies of his two sons. Their mother and siblings took their leave of the boys. The two of them were buried that evening in the Jenin cemetery. Together. The children's ward at the hospital in Jenin: Tareq, 11, is in bed in a double room, tubes attached to his skinny, scarred body. No one was at his bedside when we arrived, accompanied by his oldest brother Ra'ad. Tareq has a hole in his abdomen and a hole in his lungs and a hole in his kidney, and a large hole in his left leg and a small hole in his right leg and another hole in his knee, and his spleen has been removed. Tareq speaks weakly. What happened? "The doctor's car ran away from the tank and the tank shot at the car and we were riding our bikes and the shell exploded and threw me and my two brothers. I don't remember the rest." Ten days afterward, Tareq still didn't know that his two brothers had been killed. His father and his remaining brothers warned us not to let that slip. Ra'ad strokes Tareq's hand. In the last three years they've hardly seen one another, because Ra'ad is studying in Cairo. Jamil loved soccer, books and computers. He wanted to study medicine like Ra'ad who says now that Jamil was smarter than he is. Ahmed was in kindergarten. Tareq just finished fifth grade. Friday of the previous week, Dr. Samer Al-Ahmed was released from the hospital and now he lies in bed in his spacious home, surrounded by friends taking advantage of a lull in the curfew to come and visit him. A week earlier, on that same black Friday, he was also in a hurry to get to the market and buy food, having heard that the curfew had been lifted. On his way home, he was stopped by two military Jeeps at the town's refugee camp, and he and two hundred other people gathered there were told not to leave the camp. After about half an hour, the soldiers permitted him to go. Ahmed thought he was safely on his way home - "The captain told me I could go home" - when suddenly he saw a tank rumbling after him, a few hundred meters behind. Just to be on the safe side, he turned right at the next corner. Shots were fired from the direction of the tank at his car and Ahmed saw that he was bleeding from the abdomen. He stopped alongside a house and threw himself from his car into the street, calling for help. The tank came closer. Suddenly he heard a deafening roar. More than that he doesn't remember. He saw the children on their bicycles before the tank fired, but not afterwards. He says the tank shot two shells in the children's direction. A look at his Opel Astra station wagon suggests that only a miracle saved his life: The driver's seat is completely bullet-ridden and there's blood all over it. The IDF spokesman, on the day of the incident: "An IDF force conducting house-to-house reconnaissance in the city of Jenin while looking for a munitions factory came upon a group of Palestinians disobeying the curfew and approaching them. The force fired two tank shells as a deterrent. Three Palestinians were killed by these shells and ten more wounded. An initial investigation reveals that the force acted in error. The IDF investigation of this incident is continuing." The IDF spokesman, this week: "The incident is still being dealt with." Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer issued an apology. No one from the IDF came to the family's home; no one even bothered to watch the video.

Background / CNN blinks first in battle with Israeli officials

June 23, 2002

By Peter Hirschberg, Ha'aretz Correspondent

After months of gnawing agitation over what they perceive as the pro-Palestinian bias of the international media, Israeli officials, and not a small portion of the public, were able to rub their hands with some glee Sunday as the mighty CNN news network appeared to be succumbing to the latest round of anti-media pique in Israel.

After the founder of the 24-hour news network, Ted Turner, last week described IDF actions in the West Bank as "terrorism," and reports emerged Sunday that the YES satellite company was considering taking CNN off the air as a result, the Atlanta-based company hastily dispatched a high-level official to Jerusalem.

Over the weekend, it also suddenly began airing a promo for a five-part series on the Israeli victims of Palestinian suicide bombings. "A special CNN series will take you inside everyday life in Israel and introduce you to the people whose lives are turned around by the fear and the violence," the promo announces. "In part one - living the nightmare of losing a loved one."

Ahead of his scheduled Sunday evening meeting with Eason Jordan, CNN's chief news executive, Communications Minister Reuven Rivlin announced that he would not object if Israel's cable companies submitted a request to remove the BBC - considered by many Israelis to be the most hostile of the TV networks - and CNN from the basic broadcasting package, with the stations being offered only to those viewers willing to pay extra for them. Later, Rivlin said the satellite broadcaster YES was in fact planning to submit a request to the Cable and Satellite TV Council to cease airing the BBC and CNN.

"CNN's reports are not only anti-Israeli but also encourage terrorism," Rivlin said. "If Turner had made these foolish remarks in Israel, he would have been declared persona non grata, and we are considering what to do about the network's correspondents."

Seizing the opportunity, other politicians also weighed into the international media Sunday, with Tommy Lapid venting his wrath on the British press - considered by many Israelis to be the most antagonistic toward the Jewish state. "Newspapers like the Independent and the Guardian are working in the service of the Hamas," Lapid remarked.

IDF spokesman Ron Kitri insisted all the networks were guilty of uncritically presenting the Palestinian viewpoint. "When Saeb Erekat accused Israel [on CNN] of massacring 500 Palestinians in Jenin, no questions were asked," he said. "But when we said that a few dozen were killed, we were immediately asked to back up our claim."

While Kitri said he was opposed to pulling the plug on CNN and BBC, he did offer alternative punitive measures: "If I have an exclusive interview to offer," he said, "I can give it to one network and not to another."

The YES satellite company denied the reports Sunday it was planning to submit a request to the Cable and Satellite TV Council to cease airing the BBC and CNN stations, but immediately after Turner's comments were published last week, it did add Fox News - perceived by many to be unabashedly pro-Israel - to its menu of news stations.

Army Radio ran a recorded section from a Fox program in an effort to illustrate the contrast between Fox and CNN: "Two suicide bombings in Israel in the last two days," announced the anchor. "Where do the people who do these horrible deeds get the money to do these horrible deeds?"

For all the refined talk about journalistic ethics and balance, it also emerged Sunday that the cable companies acute sensitivity to the public's dislike of the news networks coverage appears to have a strong economic component - their sense that they are paying CNN an astronomical sum for broadcast rights. "We pay CNN millions of dollars every year," said Ran Belnikov, the director-general of the cable companies. "This sum is over the top and unjustified." Belnikov did submit, though, that linking the two issue "might be a little problematic."

CNN's Jordan, though, did pick up some ammunition over the weekend which he might well choose to utilize in his meeting with Rivlin. In his meetings with Palestinian officials over the weekend, he discovered, residents in the West Bank appear to be as peeved with CNN as their Israeli counterparts.

Asked about how he views CNN coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Ahmed Sief, a lecturer in communications at Bir Zeit University, offered an explanation that sounded uncannily like the Palestinian version of Rivlin: "CNN covers the Israeli point of view and tends to ignore the suffering of the Palestinian people. The Palestinian side is considered less important from the news point of view and the language of the broadcast is pro-Israeli.

The Guardian article is below. The link, if you'd find it useful, is http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4435748,00.html

------------------------------

CNN Chief accuses Israel of Terror

Oliver Burkeman in New York and Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem

Tuesday June 18, 2002

The Guardian

Ted Turner, the billionaire founder of CNN, accuses Israel today of engaging in "terrorism" against the Palestinians, in comments that threaten to lead to a further decline in the news network's already poor relations with the Jewish state.

"Aren't the Israelis and the Palestinians both terrorising each other?" says Turner, who is vice-chairman of AOL Time Warner, which owns CNN, in an exclusive interview with the Guardian.

"The Palestinians are fighting with human suicide bombers, that's all they have. The Israelis ... they've got one of the most powerful military machines in the world. The Palestinians have nothing. So who are the terrorists? I would make a case that both sides are involved in terrorism."

His remarks were last night condemned by Ariel Sharon's government, which called them "stupid". Andrea Levin, director of the American pro-Israeli media watchdog Camera, said the comments were a "reprehensible" attempt to "blur the line between perpetrator and victim".

In his first British interview since the September 11 attacks, Mr Turner - who broke philanthropic records in 1997 when he donated $1bn to the UN - argues that poverty and desperation are the root cause of Palestinian suicide bombings.

But Daniel Seaman, a spokesman for the Israeli government, said: "My only advice to Ted Turner is if people assume you are stupid, it is just best to keep your mouth shut rather than open your mouth and confirm everyone in that view."

Mr Turner also admits that he was wrong to call the September 11 hijackers "brave" in a speech in Rhode Island that sparked outrage. "I made an unfortunate choice of words," he says, adding that his ownership of the Atlanta Braves baseball team meant the word was never far from his mind. "Look, I'm a very good thinker, but I sometimes grab the wrong word ... I mean, I don't type my speeches, then sit up there and read them off the teleprompter, you know. I wing it."

Mr Turner is moved to tears at one point in the interview by the "depressing" combination of conflicts like that in the Middle East and the state of the environment, which he says demands massive global attention - "or, you know ... it's goodbye".

A senior minister in Yasser Arafat's cabinet told the Guardian he welcomed Mr Turner's comments. Many Palestinians complain just as bitterly of a pro-Israeli bias in CNN's coverage - mocking it as the "Zionist News Network" - as Israel complains of a pro-Palestinian one.

"I feel it reflects a more consistent approach," said Ghassan Khatib, Mr Arafat's newly appointed labour minister and until recently director of the Jerusalem Media and Communications Centre, a Palestinian media monitoring unit.

"One of the problems in trying to reduce the violence has been the focus of so much international attention on Israeli rather than Palestinian civilian deaths, although four times as many Palestinians have been killed."

CNN has been a punchbag for both sides. A widespread perception of bias among some Israelis and US supporters of Israel has prompted several boycotts by pressure groups, urging viewers to switch to Rupert Murdoch's Fox News channel. But three months ago, in an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Mr Arafat slammed down the phone after accusing her of anti-Palestinian bias. "You are covering with these questions the terrorist activities of the Israeli occupation and the Israeli crimes," he said. "Be quiet. Be fair. Thank you, bye-bye."

June 23. Israeli radio 7 a.m. report:

The chief news executive and news gathering president of CNN cable television network, Eason Jordan, will meet with Communications Minister Reuven Rivlin today. He will hear from Rivlin about Israel's complaints regarding the nature of the coverage the network gives to events in Israel. Jordan said that that CNN correspondent Wolf Blitzer was assigned the preparation of a five part series on the victims of terror attacks Israel. Yesterday, Minister Rivlin said that he would not object to taking CNN off the air, if he receives such a request for financial reasons or according to requests by viewers. He said that the Yes satellite company is about to submit a request to the Cable and Satellite Broadcast Board to remove BBC's news channel from its basic viewing package. In a radio interview, the communications minister said that should he receive such a request, BBC executives will be called in for a hearing, and his ministry would not object to removing the channel. Rivlin said he would consider allowing people who wish to watch the channels to pay for it separately.

LISTENING TO VIEWERS

CNN: WE WON'T BROADCAST PALESTINIANS' SUICIDE TAPES

Ma'ariv (p. 12) by Hagai Krauss and Gabby Kessler -- Executives at CNN have asked the correspondent Wolf Blitzer to prepare a series of programs that will present the stories of five families who were hurt by terrorism.

CNN executives are deeply concerned about the public mood in Israel regarding their coverage of events in Israel and the territories. Network executives have taken very seriously the threats by the cable companies to stop broadcasting their channel in Israel, claiming that such a measure would be in response to viewers' requests.

The director of the network's news division, Eason Jordan, is to arrive in Israel today. Jordan is to meet with media and public relations executives in Israel in the course of his urgent meetings. The reason for his visit is the complaint about a lack of objectivity in the network's coverage of the events and the statements made by the founder of the network, Ted Turner, who equated between IDF activity in the territories and the suicide bombers. Jordan is also to meet with Communications Minister Ruby Rivlin this evening. Rivlin said yesterday that the possibility of taking the BBC off the air was also being examined. He said that any subscriber to cable television would be able to receive the BBC as part of a package.

Prior to his departure, Jordan announced that CNN would not broadcast any more video cassettes left behind by Palestinian suicide bombers before their mission. Jordan said: a distinction needs to be made between being fair and being balanced when youre talking about terror. Naturally, all the parties need to be given an opportunity to be heard, but we won't give terrorists and their supporters the same air time we give the victims of terror, said Jordan.

Jordan instructed his editors not to broadcast the tapes left behind by suicide bombers or the reactions of their relatives unless there is an unusual reason. CNN officials said that similar instructions were received about bin Laden's tapes.

The satellite television operator, Yes, began to air Fox News on Thursday. Fox is considered to be pro-Israel and is particularly appreciated by American Jews. Fox is considered to be CNN's most bitter enemy and, for the first time since going on the air in 1996, last January its ratings exceeded those of CNN.

RIVLIN TO WORLD JEWRY: BOYCOTT CNN

Yedioth Ahronoth (p. 11) by Eran Hadas and Itamar Eichner -- Communications Minister Ruby Rivlin called this weekend on the Jews of the world and on anyone with a conscience to boycott CNN, to refrain from advertising on it and to refrain from paying subscription fees to watch it.

"The network's broadcasts are hostile to Israel. Its position vis-a-vis Israel is immoral and it does not meet journalistic criteria," Rivlin told Yedioth Ahronoth.

Rivlin said that he asked all the government ministers to agree to be interviewed by CNN only in live broadcasts so that the network will not be able to edit the statements and distort them.