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Palestine Media Watch PO
Box 628 Southeastern, PA 19399 PH:
(610) 993 – 0608 pmwatch@zworg.com CNN’s Double Standards A report on CNN's refusal to air a series of
special reports and an on-line memorial on Palestinian victims of the
Mid-East conflict comparable to the June 24-28, 2002 series and online
memorial focusing on Israeli victims July
10, 2002 Prepared by: Palestine Media Watch – CNN Division TABLE OF CONTENTS III. CNN’s coverage of innocent
victims Appendix A: Endorsing Organizations Appendix B: About
Palestine Media Watch Appendix D: Radio-Television
News Directors Association Code Of Ethics Appendix E: “A
Gaza Diary” by Chris Hedges
I.
Executive
summary
From June 24 to June 28, 2002, CNN’s Wolf
Blitzer Reports featured a highly publicized week-long five-part special
series entitled “Victims of Terror,” whose stated purpose was to fulfill
CNN’s “commitment to sharing the stories of the victims of terror.” The series focused on Israeli victims of
Palestinian suicide bombings and the toll that such bombings have had on
victims’ families and Israeli society at large. In addition to the series, CNN.com established on June 24, 2002
an online “memorial to the hundreds of [Israeli] victims of terror attacks
this year.” The memorial currently
lists every Israeli suicide-bombing victim killed since January 2002, along
with his/her photograph, a short biography, and a description of the circumstances
surrounding his/her death. When Palestine Media Watch and other
pro-Palestinian rights organizations in the United States approached CNN with
the idea of airing a similar television series on innocent Palestinian
victims of Israeli violence, along with a web memorial to those innocent
victims, CNN responded that its current coverage is adequate and fair and
therefore does not need to be supplemented with similar “in-depth” and
“special” coverage for the Palestinians. In fact, in a July 3 appearance on PBS’s NewsHour, CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan made the following statements in an exchange with anchorman Terence Smith (full transcript is available at: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/july-dec02/media_7-3.html): TERENCE SMITH: Eason
Jordan, let me ask you what changes you've made in response to some of the
complaints. We mentioned a couple in the setup, the series that you did on
some of the Israeli victims. Are you going to do a comparable series,
for example, on Palestinian victims? EASON JORDAN: Well, I
think we've done many, many stories on Palestinian victims, and we will
continue to do so. Just in the week I was in Israel over the past couple of weeks, we
actually did a series of reports out of Jenin. There was a really tragic
incident where an Israeli tank fired on a marketplace. Some civilians were
killed. Israel said it was an accident. We reported it with that attribution,
as Israel said it, but it was a tragedy and innocent civilians were killed.
We did, of course, did a week- long series of reports on Israeli victims, but
there's a big difference, I would state, between what's happening in Israel
and what's happening in the Palestinian territories, because while it's
disputable whether Israel is targeting civilians, there's certainly no
irrefutable evidence of that in the territories. There's no doubt that
suicide bombers are going into Israel and intentionally killing civilians at
random. In other words, Mr. Jordan argued that (1) CNN's
current coverage of Palestinian suffering is as adequate and thorough as the
five-part television series and online memorial to the Israelis has been, and
there is no need for CNN to provide Palestinian victims any comparable
special attention; and (2) Suicide bombings intentionally target civilians,
while Palestinian civilians are not intentionally targeted by Israeli
military campaigns. Our aim in preparing this report is to raise CNN’s
awareness of its own coverage of the Middle East crisis. Our aim is not to characterize or label
CNN, but to encourage it to critically and honestly examine the quality of
the product if offers to a national and international audience. Accordingly, this report will argue
the following: CNN does not possess the moral authority to draw distinctions between Israeli and Palestinian victims, such as whether or not they are intentionally targeted for murder, or whether Palestinians have suffered just as much as Israelis. Furthermore, CNN’s assertion that “it's disputable whether Israel is targeting civilians” cannot professionally be used to justify disparities in coverage, and has in fact been strongly refuted by evidence compiled by a multitude of credible eyewitness reports from journalists on the frontline to human rights organizations on the ground. For a balanced and moral consistency towards its viewers, CNN is urged to provide: 1. A full and complete online profile of every Palestinian child, woman, and elderly man killed by the Israeli military and Israeli armed colonists, at least since January 2002. 2. A five-part special series on the Palestinian victims of Israeli military violence, terror, and occupation.
II.
Background
and context
Notwithstanding CNN’s official stand and
explanation as to why it decided to air a five-part Wolf Blitzer Reports
series and establish a web memorial for Israeli and not Palestinian victims
of violence, the widespread sentiment among not only Arab and pro-Palestinian
viewers, but also Jewish and pro-Israeli viewers, is that CNN’s decision was
motivated by a desire to placate CNN’s pro-Israeli audience both in the
United States and Israel. Indeed, it is important to note is that the new
“Victims of Terror” series followed immediately in the heels of a controversy
sparked by Ted Turner, founder of CNN and vice chairman of AOL Time Warner,
for comments that he made 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 of criticism
unleashed by pro-Israeli groups (who accused Mr. Turner of everything from
anti-Semitism to equating Israeli actions against Palestinians with
terrorism), CNN issued the following statement on June 19: “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 offered the following
clarification of his statement: “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 Mr. Turner's comments nor Mr. Turner's penitent
retraction were deemed sufficient by the pro-Israeli pressure groups. Indeed,
a June 23 Ha’aretz article reported as much: “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 [Israeli] 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.’ ” III.
CNN’s
coverage of innocent victims
CNN’s answer
to the point-blank question, “will you air a five-part series on innocent
Palestinian victims,” has consisted in pointing out, using Mr. Jordan’s
words, that “there's a big difference…. between what's happening in Israel
and what's happening in the Palestinian territories, because while it's
disputable whether Israel is targeting civilians, there's certainly no
irrefutable evidence of that in the territories. There's no doubt that
suicide bombers are going into Israel and intentionally killing civilians at
random.” To date, CNN
has yet to explain how this alleged “big difference” between the way innocent
Israelis and innocent Palestinians are killed could lead to different
policies in how these innocent civilians should be covered by an independent
media organization. Why should a Palestinian woman and 2-year-old daughter who are gunned
down on their way home from a wedding be covered differently from an Israeli
woman and 2-year-old granddaughter who are exploded in a bus bombing?
Why do the Israeli woman and child deserve to have their photographs and
biographies on CNN's website, but the Palestinian woman and child do not? What is in this alleged “big
difference” that would justify airing a prominent – and, as CNN has admitted,
“special” – series on Israeli victims, but not airing a comparable series on
Palestinian victims? A. Palestinian civilians have suffered just
as much, if not more, than Israeli civilians In its attempt to convey the magnitude of the
impact of the violence on Israeli society, CNN.com has posted the following: “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.” A similar statement applied to Palestinian victims
would be: “one of every 3,648 Palestinians
[713 total since January 2002] 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.” (Source:
Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, 2000 Census). Moreover, CNN is to be reminded that the first
Israeli to be killed by a suicide bomber in the current Intifada was on March
1, 2001 – more than five months into the second Intifada and after
more than 400 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli soldiers, police,
and armed colonists. According to
the Associated Press, there have been a total of 242 Israeli deaths
since January 2002 due to suicide bombers. In the month of March 2002 alone,
Israelis killed 248 Palestinians.
CNN should also note that according to a Palestine Red Crescent Society report released June 24, 2002, there have been a total of 1,626 Palestinian deaths and 19,549 injuries since September 2000. The report finds that of those killed directly by Israeli attacks, more than 234 have been children under the age of 18. “The clashes between
Israelis and Palestinians since October 2000 have been marked by systematic
violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Civilians have been the main victims of
the violence, and an immediate priority must be to bring such violations to
an end. At least 470 Palestinians have been killed, most of them
unlawfully by Israeli security forces when their lives and the lives of
others were not in danger. More
than 120 Israelis have been killed, most of them civilians deliberately
targeted by armed groups and individuals.
The death toll includes more than 130 children.” http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/07/isr-0706-ltr.htm
“Over the past two weeks
(28 February - 13 March), the intentional attacks on medical teams and the
prevention of medical teams from treating the sick and wounded have been
almost unprecedented. IDF soldiers have fired at ambulances,
killing five Palestinian medical personnel who were on duty,
wounded several members of ambulance medical teams, and damaging the
ambulances. In addition, the IDF prevented medical treatment to
the sick and wounded, even leaving people to bleed to death. Hospitals
have been unable to function because of the damage to the electricity, water,
and telephone infrastructure, and the blocking of access to some
of them. As a result, the hospitals are unable to receive the
wounded and sick, or obtain food and medicine. “These violations are an integral part of Israeli policy and are accompanied by other grave practices. The matters described in this report are another indication of the IDF's total loss of restraint.”
“Over the past two weeks
(28 February - 13 March), the intentional attacks on medical teams and the
prevention of medical teams from treating the sick and wounded have been
almost unprecedented. IDF soldiers
have fired at ambulances, killing five Palestinian medical personnel who were
on duty, wounded several members of ambulance medical teams, and damaging the
ambulances. In addition, the IDF
prevented medical treatment to the sick and wounded, even leaving people to
bleed to death. Hospitals have been unable to function because of the damage
to the electricity, water, and telephone infrastructure, and the blocking of
access to some of them. As a result,
the hospitals are unable to receive the wounded and sick, or obtain food and
medicine… These violations are an integral part of Israeli policy and
are accompanied by other grave practices. The matters described in
this report are another indication of the IDF's total loss of restraint.” http://www.btselem.org/Download/Ambulances_Eng.doc
“Physicians for Human
Rights USA (PHR) finds that the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has used live
ammunition and rubber bullets excessively and inappropriately to control
demonstrators, and that based on the high number of documented injuries to
the head and thighs, Israeli soldiers appear to be shooting to inflict harm,
rather than solely in self-defense...PHR's analysis of fatal gun shot wounds
in Gaza reveals that approximately 50% were to the head. This high proportion
of fatal head wounds suggests that given broad rules of engagement, soldiers
are specifically aiming at peoples' heads.” http://www.phrusa.org/research/forensics/israel/Israel_force.html
“An 11-year-old boy was shot in the head from short range while fleeing after he threw stones at Israeli soldiers who were posted at the roadblock next to the refugee camp where he lives. That is the version given by eyewitnesses. It took the boy a week to die, … A 15-year-old boy threw stones at a tank that was besieging the headquarters of a national leader. A soldier shot him in the head from short range, killing him… A soldier in an undercover unit gave hot pursuit to a boy of about nine who had been throwing stones, shot him from behind and killed him.”
“No one refused an order to take down a house. When they told me to destroy a house I exploited that in order to destroy a few more homes. On the loudspeaker [the Palestinian residents] were warned to get out before I came in. But I didn't give a chance to anyone. I didn't wait. I'm sure that people died inside of those houses. From my perspective we left them a football field, they should play there. The 100x100 was our present to the camp. Jenin will not return to be what it was.” [Note: After publication - and in spite of it - the unit to which the man belongs received from the army command an official citation for outstanding service.] http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/kurdi_eng.html IV.
Conclusions
Palestine Media Watch, along with the rapidly growing coalition of endorsing organizations listed in Appendix A, remain puzzled and trou |
