Palestine Media Watch -- Spread the Palestinian point of view

Palestine Media Watch

CNN's pathetic pandering

PMWATCH - April 14, 2002 -- Those of you who have been watching CNN the last few days could
not avoid noticing their wall-to-wall, gavel-to-gavel, coverage of the suicide bombing on Friday
in Jerusalem. Indeed, CNN was live for 6 hours NON-STOP about the bombing on Friday alone, and
ever since has been running images of the panic in the market and the mayhem that ensued. Compare
this to the spotty coverage of the Israeli massacres of Palestinians, their non-coverage of the
Jenin atrocities, and maybe you can begin to appreciate the extent to which CNN's coverage of
this crisis has been journalistically abysmal.

But if you want to really understand what makes CNN tick, I invite you to read the following
note sent to us by a pmwatcher (see below interface). It vividly illustrates the extent to which
CNN is scared stiff of the pro-Israeli pressure groups, and how very hard they are trying to
compensate for even the half-hearted coverage that they are giving to the Palestinian massacres
-- coverage that falls way short of communicating the horror on the ground.

Note especially how they go so far as to undermine their own reporter, Rula Amin, in their
attempt to appease criticism from the pro-Israeli voices.

Now, what must also be noted is that NEVER is a note of comparable detail ever sent to
pmwatchers complaing about pro-Israeli bias. Their complaints, it seems, deserve only the usual
automatic reply.

Please drop a note to CNN by filling the info below and clicking send. Address your note to:

Mr. Rick Davis

Your note will be sent to the following:



eason.jordan@turner.com
tom.johnson@turner.com
rick.davis@turner.com
community@cnn.com
Viewerservices@foxnews.com
Walter.Isaacson@turner.com
Brad.Turell@turner.com
public.information@turner.com
allfeedback@cnn.com
Paula.Zahn2@cnn.com
Larry.King.Live@turner.com
wolf@turner.com
crossfire.cnn@cnn.com
Christiane.Amanpour2@cnn.com


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SENT TO PMWATCH - APRIL 12, 2002 --

I would like to share with you, and anyone else in this world who needs to know, the true side of CNN. I have been writing them regularly through Palestine Media Watch (www.pmwatch.org) about their biased reporting. I have never received a response other than thank you for contacting CNN.

Yesterday following the bombing attack in Jerusalem which the showed over and over again as IDF forces kept a black out on Jenin so they could and can most likely cover their tracks, I wrote a letter beginning by saying it was a terrrible waste of life. I then went on with my complaint. I guess they didn't read further or got confused for they wrote me a very defensive letter which I have attached.[....]

>From: CNN NSP

>Date: Fri, 12 Apr 2002 18:10:22 -0400

>Thank you for your comments about CNN's reporting . CNN and CNN International broadcast live 24 hours a day. We think it is important that you see the full complement of CNN's reporting just over the last few days.

>In just the last week, CNN has provided separate news reports from CNN correspondents about:

>* The impact of the suicide bombings on the people of Israel: its businesses, tourism, children, schools >

>* The increasing fighting at the Lebanon border and the growing threat from that direction, >

>* The meaning of remembering the Holocaust in the midst of this newest conflict, >

>* Even a story on those young people who have decided they will carry on with their lives, go out at night to be with their friends. >

>* Saddam Hussein's support for the suicide bombers and their families

>* The people of the town of Bat Hefer, who live behind 12-foot concrete walls to stay safe from their Palestinian neighbors

> >* Protests in the U.S. in support of Israel >

>* The security guards in Israel who put their lives on the line to stop suicide bombers from blowing up shops and restaurants >

>* The personal story of a victim of the Netanya bombing who donated his kidney to a Palestinian woman from East Jerusalem who had waited two years for a transplant, the donor a man of peace, his son saying his father would have been happy to know a life had been saved >

>* A personal story from this week's Haifa suicide attack : At 18, Noa Shlomo was the youngest of three daughters. Noa and a close friend Keren Franco were on their way to work as border guards at Allenby bridge, when a suicide bomber blew himself up in their bus, killing them and six others. >

>* Israeli reaction to international criticism, marches and emergent anti-Semitism.

>And we aired a profile of the Israeli families who live near the front lines and welcome the soldiers, as well as a profile of the fear that the people of Israel live in day in and day out. These are just some of the stories we have aired in the last WEEK.

>And of course, we reported extensively both Tuesday and Wednesday on the ambush and killing of the IDF soldiers in Jenin and again with Breaking News and follow up on the Hamas suicide bomber who murdered eight innocent Israeli civilians in Haifa. >

>We are committed to accurate and balanced reporting. We aren't perfect. We take constructive criticism seriously. And we want to answer your questions about our coverage. >

>Rula Amin's live report from the town of Rummaneh outside Jenin was based on interviews she did with many of those who had just returned from Jenin. Her report was about those many first person accounts, accounts Ms. Amin said could not yet be independently verified. Her report was similar to other reports filed by news organizations today who also had reporters there yesterday. >

>One of those is the account by New York Times' Joel Greenberg (listed below -- please read it) who filed from the same town of Rummaneh from which Rula Amin aired her live report. In fact, you will notice that Mr. Greenberg provides details of the claims of the Palestinians about the Israeli Defense Force that go way beyond what Rula Amin did in her account. This report is just one of many in the New York Times today regarding the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians -- just as Rula Amin's report is just one four minute account within a whole CNN reporting day. Nonetheless, every one of the New York Times articles must be accurate. So should CNN's. But it is so irresponsible to characterize CNN's thorough and wide-ranging reporting on this story based on how someone views any one report. > > >

>Rula Amin's live report did not include the IDF response as to why the IDF needed to conduct the Jenin offensive in the way it did. As you can see, Mr. Greenberg included Israel Defense Force statements describing why actions by the IDF troops were necessary. His filing deadline was later than Rula's live report. CNN included those same IDF comments later on CNNI when we got them from the IDF. >

>Some of you criticized an answer Rula Amin gave to a question by the news anchor: "In this latest clash in the refugee camp some 13 Israeli soldiers have been killed. What are you hearing about that particular clash. Does it appear that it was a well orchestrated ambush on the Israeli soldiers?" Rula Amin's response was based on what she was hearing in the town of Rummaneh, outside of Jenin. She attributed her answer to those that she talked with in Rummaneh. In hindsight, since Rula Amin was not in Jenin and didn't speak with anyone with first hand knowledge of the event, it would have been better that she answered that she was not in a position to get reliable information regarding the ambush. But during the live question and answer, she answered the anchor's question specific question -- "what was she hearing?" Later, appropriately, she said that the fighting there continued on between both sides in a vigorous way -- something she knew because she could hear it. >

>We have provided this response to you because we wanted you to know that CNN is committed to providing the most comprehensive and immediate and balanced reporting on this conflict. We hope this explanation answers some of your questions about CNN. Please forward this on to others who might have been on an email list of your friends or family. Thank you.