Detailed Report on COLUMNS
dealing with the
Palestinian-Israeli
conflict
published in
Washington Post
between
October 6, 2000 and March
16, 2001
Palestine Media Watch
03/20/2001
1.
Introduction
This
report provides a breakdown of opinion columns on the Middle East crisis
published by The Washington Post between October 3, 2000 and March 16, 2001
(the period covered by this report).
This
report examines in some detail the content of these columns.
2.
The Editorial Board
The
members of The Washington Post editorial board are:
·
Fred
Hiatt – Editorial page editor
·
Colbert
I. King – Editorial page deputy editor
·
Ken
Ikenberry – Editorial page deputy editor
3.
The Columns
During the period that is the focus of this report, The Post published forty-five (45) opinion articles, the first of which was published on October 9, 2000:
|
Date |
Title |
|
|
|
|
October 9, 2000 |
“Avoiding a War” |
|
October 9, 2000 |
“Opting For Violence” |
|
October 10, 2000 |
“Joseph’s Tomb” |
|
October 10, 2000 |
“Don’t Fear Saddam” |
|
October 11, 2000 |
“Who Leads To Peace?” |
|
October 11, 2000 |
“A Feast of Retreats” |
|
October 11, 2000 |
“Talk To Me, Mr. Barak” |
|
October 12, 2000 |
“Afraid of the Truth” |
|
October 13, 2000 |
“Camp David: Bad Idea, Bad Result” |
|
October 15, 2000 |
“Be Honest About Evil” |
|
October 15, 2000 |
“Breaking the Cycle of Violence” |
|
October 17, 2000 |
“…A New Reality” |
|
October 18, 2000 |
“Stronger for having Sought Peace” |
|
October 18, 2000 |
“The Talking Cure” |
|
October 19, 2000 |
“Talking Peace With Thugs” |
|
October 20, 2000 |
“Arafat’s Strategy” |
|
October 20, 2000 |
“In the Middle East, Neither Side is Innocent” |
|
October 21, 2000 |
“No Partners for Peace” |
|
October 23, 2000 |
“Might Vs. Right” |
|
October 25, 2000 |
“Phony Truce” |
|
October 27, 2000 |
“Realities of War” |
|
October 27, 2000 |
“Israel’s Restraint” |
|
October 29, 2000 |
“Peace Begins at Home” |
|
November 7, 2000 |
“The Two Israels” |
|
November 8, 2000 |
“What We Want” |
|
November 26, 2000 |
“For Israel, Land or Peace” |
|
December 3, 2000 |
“Into the Next Mideast Whirlwind” |
|
December 4, 2000 |
“The Peace Paradox” |
|
December 13, 2000 |
“Peace With a Tall Fence” |
|
December 21, 2000 |
“God’s Property” |
|
December 24, 2000 |
“Racing the Clock on a Mideast Accord” |
|
December 28, 2000 |
“Or Forever Hold Your Peace” |
|
January 4, 2001 |
“Say Goodbye and Good Luck” |
|
January 9, 2001 |
“Clinton’s Last Try” |
January 12, 2001
|
“Middle East Madness”
|
|
February 3, 2001 |
“Arafat’s Mess” |
|
February 7, 2001 |
“Poolside Diplomacy” |
|
February 7, 2001 |
“Back to Familiar Territory” |
|
February 8, 2001 |
“Israel’s Answer to Arafat” |
|
February 9, 2001 |
“…Sharon the Enforcer” |
|
February 9, 2001 |
“Meet Barak’s Legacy…” |
|
February 23, 2001 |
“Israel’s Phony ‘National Unity’” |
|
March 5, 2001 |
“A Return to Cold War” |
|
March 10, 2001 |
“Israel’s Wrong Turn” |
|
March 13, 2001 |
“The Ugly Arab Press” |
4.
Op-Ed Authors
Author |
Published op-eds, 10/6/00-3/16/01 |
|
|
|
|
Richard Cohen |
5 |
|
Jim Hoagland |
5 |
|
Charles Krauthammer |
5 |
|
Stephen Rosenfeld |
3 |
|
George Will |
3 |
|
E.J. Dionne, Jr. |
2 |
|
Gershom Gorenberg |
2 |
|
Michael Kelly |
2 |
|
Madeline Albright |
1 |
|
Jimmy Carter |
1 |
|
Jackson Diehl |
1 |
|
Saeb Erakat |
1 |
|
Fred Hiatt |
1 |
|
Hussein Ibish |
1 |
|
David Ivry |
1 |
|
Henry Kissinger |
1 |
|
Daoud Kuttab |
1 |
|
Mary McGrory |
1 |
|
William Raspberry |
1 |
|
Peter Rodman |
1 |
|
Robert Satloff |
1 |
|
Dan Schueftan |
1 |
|
Nathan Sharansky |
1 |
|
Michael Tarazi |
1 |
|
Lally Weymouth |
1 |
|
Benjamin Wittes |
1 |
5.
Column Breakdown
In
the table below, pro-Israeli articles are identified as “pro-Isr” and
pro-Palestinian articles are identified as “pro-Pal.” Balanced articles are indicated as such.
The
terms were defined as follows:
Pro-Israeli:
A pro-Israeli column is one that analyzes the conflict solely from an Israeli viewpoint, without significant mention of Palestinian suffering or Israeli human rights abuses. Such columns might include those that define Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s Camp David positions as generous, those that criticize Palestinians for using violence without taking note of disproportionate Israeli violence, and those that advance appeals to ethnicity or religion as a basis for analyzing the conflict.
Pro-Palestinian:
A pro-Palestinian column is one that analyzes the
conflict solely from a Palestinian viewpoint, without significant mention of
Israeli viewpoints.
Balanced:
A balanced column is one that recognizes, in one way
or another, that both Palestinians and Israelis have a set of positions and
opinions regarding the conflict that Americans must analyze before reaching any
conclusions.
Date |
Type |
|
|
|
|
October 9, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
October 9, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
October 10, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
October 10, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
October 11, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
October 11, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
October 11, 2000 (Tarazi) |
Pro-Pal
|
|
October 12, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
October 13, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
October 15, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
October 15, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
October 17, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
October 18, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
October 18, 2000 (Kelly) |
Balanced
|
|
October 19, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
October 20, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
October 20, 2000 (Raspberry) |
Balanced
|
|
October 21, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
October 23, 2000 |
Pro-Pal
|
|
October 25, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
October 27, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
October 27, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
October 29, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
November 7, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
November 8, 2000 |
Pro-Pal
|
|
November 26, 2000 |
Pro-Pal
|
|
December 3, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
December 4, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
December 13, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
December 21, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
December 24, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
December 28, 2000 |
Pro-Isr |
|
January 4, 2001 |
Pro-Isr |
|
January 9, 2001 |
Pro-Isr |
January 12, 2001
|
Pro-Isr |
February 3, 2001
|
Pro-Isr |
February 7, 2001
|
Pro-Isr |
February 7, 2001
|
Pro-Isr |
February 8, 2001
|
Pro-Isr |
February 9, 2001
|
Pro-Isr |
February 9, 2001
|
Pro-Isr |
February 23, 2001
|
Pro-Isr |
March 5, 2001
|
Balanced |
March 10, 2001
|
Pro-Pal |
March 13, 2001
|
Pro-Isr |
|
|
No. columns (of 45 total) |
Percentage of total |
|
|
|
|
Pro-Israeli |
37 |
82 % |
|
Pro-Palestinian |
5 |
11 % |
|
Balanced |
3 |
7% |
|
|
No. weeks |
|
|
|
|
Longest gap between
pro-Israeli columns |
4 |
|
Longest gaps between pro-Palestinian
columns |
15 |
6.
Analysis
The
February 27, 2001 edition of The Village Voice reported that in a meeting with
Khalil Jahshan, vice president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination
Committee, Mr. Hiatt, editorial page editor at The Post, stated: "I don't think it's my job to match
opposing political views column for column, but I do think that we should try
to have other points of view represented on the page."
This
report has demonstrated that WP op-ed pieces failed to represent all points of
view in the Mideast conflict, opting instead to deliver thirty-seven (37) of
its forty-five (45) opinion columns during the time period examined by this
report in a distinctly pro-Israeli voice.
During
the 23-week period beginning October 6, 2000 and ending March 16, 2001, The
Washington Post dedicated more than seven times as much space in its op-ed
pages for pro-Israeli columns than for pro-Palestinian columns. Furthermore, pro-Israeli columns were given
fifteen (15) times more space than columns that qualified as “balanced” in their reporting.
The
ratio of pro-Israeli:balanced:pro-Palestinian columns was a lopsided 37:5:3,
with the longest gap the WP allowed between any two pro-Israeli pieces being
just four (4) weeks. At the cut-off
date for this report, the longest gap between pro-Palestinian pieces was
fifteen (15) weeks.
This
disproportionate allocation of space in the op-ed pages of the WP is clear
evidence of imbalanced, uneven reporting.
Particularly in the first two weeks of the crisis – which are critical
to the public in helping them formulate their opinions on the conflict – there
were two op-ed pieces sympathetic to
the Israeli side published each day for
three consecutive days (October 9- 11), with no Palestinian perspective at
all. On October 11, the WP published
the first pro-Palestinian column to accompany a pro-Israeli one, but the
subsequent two weeks saw nothing but pro-Israeli columns (October 12-13). It was a whole two weeks until another
Palestinian perspective was published; meanwhile, nine (9) pro-Israeli pieces
appeared.
This
report leaves no question that The Washington Post has failed to provide its
readers with a balanced offering of opinions on the Middle East conflict. The few attempts it has made at providing
the other side of the story (or at providing an objective, balanced
perspective) have been drowned in the overwhelming mass of one-sided commentary
it has published to date. Overall, a
narrow point of view was consistently presented to readers with minimal efforts
to give voice to the opposite standpoint.
7.
Conclusions
The
Washington Post should offer its readers as many diverse opinions on the Middle
East crisis as it can spare in its opinion pages. Readers have the right – and indeed, the expectation – to hear
all arguments from all involved parties.
In the future, The Washington Post should work to provide its readers
with equal exposure to the pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli perspective, as well
as the objective, balanced point of view.