Don't be fooled: 'media watchdogs' are Israeli propaganda tools

You guys might wanna visit the URL because it makes it much easier to read from the actual blog

http://windowintopalestine.blogspot.nl/2014/07/dont-be-fooled-media-watchdogs-are.html



Alastair Sloan

Consider yourself very lucky if you have never heard of "Comment is Free Watch" (CiF Watch), "BBC Watch", "HonestReporting" and "Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America" (CAMERA).
Statistics collected by the Institute for Internet Nonsense suggest that these four blogs account for "ninety per cent of web-based pedantry" and have been awarded "Most Boring Analysis" in the I Don't Care This Isn't Journalism awards, sponsored by Valium.
These blogs claim to be all about ensuring balance in the media. As such, they think, and tell their legion of pro-Israel supporters, that Western liberal editors are anti-Semitic and that criticising Israel online means that you hate Jews. They also scare-monger on their own websites that Western journalists are conspiring to paint Israel in a bad light. They impose this nonsense on the world through writing pedantic blog posts, sending mass emails to editors and celebrating every time they get one word changed in an "errant" newspaper article.
Unless a journalist has a Star of David tattooed on his or her forehead and has declared undying love for Zionism, she or he can become a target. However, all of these watchdogs are riddled with hypocrisy, deliberate falsehood, bullying and shoddy journalism. In fact, they're not about maintaining "balance" at all; they are propaganda tools, part of Israel's incredibly well-funded "hasbara" programme.

HonestReporting.com once boasted that it brought down CNN's email servers by sending six thousand emails per day to executives. In October 2004, the group co-ordinated around a thousand emails being sent to the British Medical Journal, which had published a critical piece about the Israeli army based on an academic study.
An analysis of the emails received by the BMJ showed that about a third of them issued blanket denials, without offering any contrary evidence; twenty-two per cent showed direct evidence of being derived from the HonestReporting.com website; and roughly half could not be published by the BMJ because they failed to meet the webmasters' criteria for public comments left underneath academic studies (which outlaw personal attacks and racial abuse).


Adam Levick, the managing editor and mastermind of these bullying strategies, has no professional background in journalism. He has spent his career working for various pro-Israeli think tanks, including NGO Monitor, a group that criticises charities which dare to speak out about Israel's human rights abuses.
A favourite moan of Levick and his friends concerns readers' comments beneath onlineGuardian articles, especially those which take an anti-Israel stance. They have a legitimate gripe as there are some genuinely nasty comments left on the Guardian's website, but HonestReporting [sic] always pushes for anti-Israel comments to be removed by site moderators.

Under my own published articles, I've been called a "well known crypto lefto fascist" (a title I'm secretly quite proud of), told that I have "blood on my hands" and that "judgement day is coming," (a bit more ominous). And finally that I'm "retarded". Did I ask for these comments to be removed from the website in question? No; I'm not nine years old and I can tell the difference between a lunatic with a keyboard and a lunatic with a gun.
Preachy CiF Watch mixes factual analysis and opinion on its own website, a practice known as "editorialising" and something which professional journalists frown upon. For example, its writers often use the term "radical" or "pro-terrorist" without any explanation; they are simply euphemisms to be deployed against any group or individual who is pro-Palestinian.
When they talk about award-winning journalist Robert Fisk, a figure who raises their digital hackles more than most, the bloggers use inverted commas around "award-winning" as if his awards for journalism are alleged or made up. The truth is that Fisk has won awards, but because CiF Watch resents this (and it hasn't won any), it sneaks in some snide punctuation.


CAMERA is the American parent organisation of CiF Watch (as well as the similar BBC Watch), but it focuses on the US media, something that it has done since the eighties. Fox News is an interesting case study regarding CAMERA's view of media "accuracy". Instead of having dirt thrown at them, Fox producers have been singled out for praise from the "watchdogs".
In fact, Fox is so good at producing balanced coverage, according to CAMERA, that they've never had to correct any of its content, something that cannot be claimed by almost every other major news outlet in America. That seems strange given that there have been at least seven academic studies looking at Fox News output and concluding that its audience is themost misinformed in America, presumably because of the fact-free reporting rather than them being stupid viewers.
At the time of writing, Fox is the subject of CAMERA's latest fawning post, being credited for inviting comments from two "refreshingly honest guests". Ex-mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg was one of them. In his interview with Fox, Bloomberg called for a disproportionate response to Hamas rockets and endorsed the high levels of civilian casualties. He also proclaimed that, "As Israel goes so will America."
"This is the only democracy in this part of the world," claimed Bloomberg. "This is an ally; we need them and they need us."
Bugling after him was Lieutenant-Colonel Ralph Peters, reportedly one of the best qualifiedand most admired strategic thinkers at the Pentagon. "The global media... Let's be honest about this," he said. "The socially acceptable form of anti-Semitism, of old fashioned, fourteenth century Jew-hatred, is to be anti-Israel, to criticise Israel. That's safe."


Yes, CAMERA targets, you naughty journalists are all "Jew haters". Such extreme views were reviewed positively on the CAMERA website: "remarkable", it purred.
CAMERA is disputing the veracity of the massacre at Al-Shifa Hospital, arguing that it was a Hamas stronghold so over sixty civilian casualties were justified. Its only source for this is an IDF spokesperson.
Five editors from CAMERA have already been sanctioned formally by Wikipedia for putting biased entries secretly onto the public website. An investigation into their dishonesty waspublished by Electronic Intifada in 2008 and was followed by an exposé in Harpers Magazinelater that year. The reports led to an investigation by Wikipedia's management. Commenting on the incident, Gershom Gorenberg, of The American Prospect, stated: "CAMERA is ready to exempt itself from the demands for accuracy that it aims at the media. And like others engaged in the narrative wars, it does not understand the difference between advocacy and accuracy." His piece was called "The Middle East Editing Wars."


Co-ordinators at CAMERA had even advised their members not to edit articles about Israel for a set period to evade suspicious site administrators, then bombard the site with pro-Israel edits. Even the Daily Telegraph in London, which is broadly pro-Israel in its editorial stance, covered the embarrassing incident.
In a YouTube interview with the blog "Elders of Ziyon" last year, the Chief Executive Officer of HonestReporting.com, British-born Boston resident Joe Hyams, tells viewers that he is trying to "raise journalistic standards." That's an interesting piece of condescending prattle, because Hyams has no professional background in journalism. He came from advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi, where he was a "strategic planner".
According to the official website of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, which maintains a profile page for Mr Hyams and sends him frequently on speaking engagements, he "trains Israel supporters in the planning of campaign strategy and evaluation." The managing editor of HonestReporting.com is Simon Plosker; he has spent time working in the Israel Defence Force's Spokesperson Unit, and continues as a reservist, presumably in the same role.
Why would ex-advertising executives and reservists in the IDF's Spokesperson Unit be appropriate guardians of media balance? Simple; this isn't about balance, it's about a "media war", as Hyams himself puts it, which explains HonestReporting.com's close alliance with the Israeli government. These watchdogs are simply another cog in the Israeli war machine.


In November 2012, during the eight-day Israeli offensive against the people of the Gaza Strip, CNN anchors interviewed forty-five Israeli officials, more than twice the number of Palestinian officials. Between 30th June and 9th July this year, CNNinterviewed seventeen Israeli officials and just one Palestinian.
In a study published by academic Mohammed El Masry in 2009, he found that the New York Times and Chicago Tribune coverage of the second Palestinian intifada was highly skewed in Israel's favour. Similarly, a 2003 study by academic Matt Viser published in the International Journal of Press/Politics found that the New York Times personalised Israeli deaths, largely ignored Palestinian deaths and relied heavily on Israeli sources. A 2001 study by academic Seth Ackerman showed that National Public Radio covered 89 per cent of Israeli child deaths and only 20 per cent of Palestinian child deaths.


Far from defending Israel valiantly from anti-Semitic attacks or anti-Israel editorial bias, which these groups like to pretend is widespread, HonestReporting, CAMERA and their ilk are aggressors on the media scene, determined to push a skewed version of events taking place in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories to the audience and readership in America and Britain. The poor record of CNN and other media outlets is quite possibly a successful result of their efforts.
General awareness of these groups, and their activities to influence media coverage, is relatively low other than amongst the super-engaged minority who focus on Israel-Palestine issues. Although there's some cynical amusement to be gained from picking apart their pedantry, ultimately their role mirrors that of the Israeli military in pretending that Israelis are in mortal danger as a pretext for attacks on civilians, while spinning propaganda that distorts reality and supports Israel's war crimes.


http://windowintopalestine.blogspot.nl/2014/07/dont-be-fooled-media-watchdogs-are.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+blogspot/LkRU+(Window+Into+Palestine)

These are pure facts! No crazy conspiracies over here!

Free Palestine / End Zionism the real subliminal terror that slowly fucks the whole world up...So in that case actually, Free the WORLD !

Spread the word please...On every fucking website you can think off..have a great one my fellow Audiosexers.

Also worth reading (and revealing): http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/israelgaza-conflict-the-secret-report-that-helps-israelis-to-hide-facts-9630765.html

 

That song is awesome thank you for sharing Xsize, this is really hurting and affecting me you know, im of North-African descent but i'm residing in europe. I kinda feel like these little angels and women, elder people that just got slayed in a satanic way are like my own people.This is ethnic cleansing..above 1000 deaths and 2700 injured of wich 80% are Children, Women And Elder people in the last 7 DAYS add about 500 arrests with that (You know their going 2 get tortured or beaten or whatever A Israelian proffessor even talked about raping or victimizing palestian mothers to get information out of them..A women of a political party in Israel called "Knesset" called up on FB for genocide on the Palestinians.. SO MUCH MORE SHIT, Their running out of water and food too..And in some way i slightly kinda feel threatened too. I'm not paranoid or anything..I'm just so impressed..like very impressed how the media are helping the people to state their opinion. Innocent people CHILDREN got slayed, and people love it, i just can't believe it. On the other hand i know who i should see as a friend or not. This helped me to open my eyes.

It's like their trying to send a message

 

Man this has got 2 stop, even if the third world war has to begin because of this evil. The whole world is affected by "this" or "him" or "them" I dont know if its Zionism or the Devil itself. Cancer and chemicals in your local food products, exposure to radiaton. fucking mind control on tv. People are animals nowadays...Im for civilization and a modern world..but not a subliminal controlled one.. These fucking mindgames man i swear.... And i thought people where crazy with all that illuminati junk. That illuminati junk got taken way out of context..But i really see some of these claims happening, And who are you going 2 call for this injustice?? the police??

 

You're 100% Right Xsize, thanks for the insight. If you don't mind me asking, may i ask in what terrible situation you were involved with? If you dont mind me asking ofcourse.. I can understand if its hard or if you wish to remain anonymous about it.

 

For some reason Xsize, I already assumed you were eastern European because of what you said. That must've been a disgusting expirience...Sorry to hear that man but i guess you can be glad you're still here. Fuck the NATO..I hope Russia won't work with the US in the future..

 

I knew about the bombings in 1999, i saw it on the news during that time. But i didn't understand it at all cause i was like 5 years old.. But i did some research later on. Serbians and Bosnia people are some strong mofos , i had a serbian colleague for a while and i gotta say he's one of the coolest guys i met. War with Russia is a nightmare for U.S i guess they could take the heat but Russia is just too large, If they bundled their powers together.. It would kinda be a nightmare for anyone who is opposed to them..suicide..Relationship wise If anyone could know about theirs, i bet you could know so i guess i'll just take it from you. The majority of the people in Russia kinda dislike or even Hate USA anyway.. (i don't have anything against Murica instead, i actually like their culture, and country. But at the same time i hate this backwards evil they got going on)

 

ALL RIGHT NOW SIRS!!!!!!

 

I think during these years, alot of people from ages 50 to younger (aside from children). Are going to wake up and realise what they have been doing for the last 20 years of our lives. In order to succesfully broaden their agenda and plans..they would have to shut down global communication possibilities between the people. God bless us all. And we shouldn't be bothered by the unknowing people and naive ones...it's a waste of energy

 

Unfortunately guys, unless we're all united and stand as one against these tyrants, regardless of what race, status, religion or nationality we are, then the establishment will get away with whatever it is they plan to do, as they always have done throughout history

All they have to do is give the order and their brainwashed employee sheep, without thinking, will do as they're told, just so that they get their monthly computer credit that helps to keep a overpriced roof over their head and barely feed their family

Protests, strikes, civil wars, revolutions, whatever, they don't work, never have done, never will do, all that will happen is everyone will end up dead, and the same people will be in power

Unless we understand this as a species, then I'm sorry but, it's fucked, nothing will work

The reality is now, is that whatever happens in the world, the vast majority of the world doesn't give a fuck really do they?

They're just grateful that it's not happening to them, the rest of the world can relieve their conscience by donating $20.00 every now and then

It's a fucking disgrace and we should be ashamed to call ourselves human beings, myself included, but that's the way it is these days, to make matters worse, we're actually fucking paying for it through taxation

Too many people are divided over too many issues, and after 00's of years of indoctrination, they don't know their arse from their elbow

I mean, for fucks sake, most of the world can't even agree on whose invisible man in the sky is the best, and they're killing one another over whose invisible man said what, you know?

Do you see the size of the problem?

Unless we're united, we're fucked

 

Very well spoken Xsize, wow. I got it from the first read but i had to read it a few times. I actually agree on anything kearnsy posted, i really do, except for the "invisible man" mention. God and people who serve god in the right way and interpret the holy scriptures the right way and really believe in god. Wether you're muslim or christian or whatever, they are already at peace within their selves. I heard about this guy who was once a unbeliever, he nearly made the decision to kill himself and he was a addict aswell. Long story short, he converted to Islam (not the islam you see on CNN & FOX), got clean, got married, is in peace within himself and he got children now. This other guy was involved with the crips in L.A during the 80's/75. (They where notorious during that time)Lived with self-hatred and guilt because of all the filth he had done to other people. He converted and quite never got rid of his guilt. But atleast he can sleep now and enjoy life. What i'm trying to say is that a godless earth is not a place i want to live in. Cause in that case there is no reason to feel guilty about ending a life, people would look at it as if we're just animals in this cycle of life that has no meaning. For what do we have these emotions if there is no god? That's just an example. If you really can't accept these views then you should look at it this way. People in the middle east or in the poor regions of europe or wherever have something. They actually have nothing..no food nor water nor money..But without god they have absolutly nothing!! This is a reason why you shouldn't see religion as one of the problems this earth has. I agree with you on people who kill eachother because of religion..But thats something this darkness/organization caused into this world..Dont take mainstream media as a reliable source..And dont blame a whole religion on devilish people that do evil deeds in the name of god..you should blame the individuals that do so.

 

I just hope before all hell breaks loose..that we die a natural death lol.. I'm kinda jealous of my grandfather and my grandmother..

 

I know man its crazy..just like that Alex Jones guy or that Bilderberg crap..Their flawless with it..Its right in front of you but at the same time you cant see it.. People need to evaluate their brains lol..they made Alex to make people like us who use our thinking ability..to look like some fucking jackasses

 

Yeah sorry if i offend you with the invisible man thing guys, religion just isn't for me you know?

I've looked into it most of my life, seen no evidence that leads me to believe what any of it says is true, just a load of old stories that don't make any kind of sense, so that's what i call God...the invisible man, which he is, no-one has ever seem him/her/It

 

Gee it's funny how Christians have committed some of the greatest atrocities known to man yet I never seem to see an article about that or how Christian organizations manipulate the media. I would like to see how you would react when people are shooting missiles at your homeland by terrorist organizations, you're acting like these are all peaceful innocent bystanders...please. I am very objective in these types of matters because really both sides are full of shit so it is ridiculous to say that one or the other is completely at fault. It takes two to tango and this is a dance that has been going on since the beginning of time.

 

The numbers speak for itself Catalyst...Just look at the numbers..If you're an Israeli authority and you punch a 12 year old child in the face repeatidly until his face nearly breaks off, while your country is "the only democracy in the middle east" how can you not be in the wrong here? If you are a teenage civilian laying down in a pile of dirt because your home got destructed by a rocket, and get sniped to death while laying down. What kind of excuse could you use for that? Ive even seen a video where two little kids got arrested..I've seen enough shit and i did my research. They are socalled authorities not terrorist organisations so they should know better right? There is no excuse to bomb a school or a appartment with civillians and little children in it. They infiltrated their way in from the beginning. Israel exists since 1967 I look at it as who blew the first punch? They did. If they wanted Hamas exclusively they could 100% get them with the latest technology in the world. If they want to avoid civillian deaths they could do so. And believe me, if my family got slaughtered or my little brother or sister then i would be damned not to fire a rocket at the other side. its not only that..Israel controls the import/export and they close the borders so people cant escape..Their violating international law and the US is backing them, slaughter kids and get away with it. The thing here is..if some crazy middle eastern people cheer "death to jews" on the street, in no-time youll see it in the NYTimes or CNN. But if a women in a POLITICAL party calls up for genocide of the Palestinian people on FaceBook..It will not appear anywhere...My point is their targeting civillians on a large scale.. With the intention to target civillians. And their a socalled democracy like the US...Its pure hate

 

And what frigging excuse is there to bomb a energy central so the whole area have no electricity??

My point is catalyst:







And no im not using crocodile tears or play the victim role this is reality

 

They just have more money. You could post the same kinds of pictures about any country on the map that has a reasonable army. Why don't you choose pictures of Hamas shooting rockets or people detonating bombs in the middle of busy business areas killing people that have nothing to do with this. And by the way there are actually plenty of Jewish people that are opposed to the actions of Israel but you wouldn't know that from this ridiculously one sided diatribe. I think people tend to forget that Israel is a country made up of different people that all think differently just like America is a country where people all think differently. The tendency is to lump people in a category and then demonize it. You will never find truth that way. You have to objectively look at a situation and in order to do that you would have to actually live there and experience both sides, read books, question everything. Go talk to some Israelis and Palestinians, see what their views are on the situation or their experiences. Things like that. I think you'd find that there are the people leading the continued insanity on both sides but many seek to find a way to make some real headway and aren't as militant as those leading the assault. I think a lot of it is because both sides are living in reaction to each other and this makes any kind of lasting change difficult.

You could post pictures like that of Russia making a grab for Ukraine. Same shit different countries. How come nobody is bringing that up? Media manipulation? Russia is número uno on that front, they were even recently caught trying to manipulate a Wikipedia entry but changes get logged so it was discovered. Every country manipulates the media, hello we are still living on planet Earth right? They make it seem extra sinister like Israel is doing something that other countries aren't. Sure Israel has it's share of bullshit, for example Ehud Olmert the Israeli Prime Minister was just convicted of corruption. I'm not saying that's not the case but that doesn't mean that they aren't trying to have a regular life just like Palestinians are trying to just have a regular life and both sides should be able to experience such a thing. However that can't happen when people think in terms of us and them. That's what the damn Pink Floyd song is about.

 

What they are doing in Ukraine is Horrible..I feel for all people around the world that are getting violated. Why i felt like i should put emphasis in this matter is because these murders are caused by a "democratic" power..Its a little USA in the middle east. Wich is supposed to be the biggest developed country and should stand for equal rights aswell as humanity..I do not take sides i actually feel for the non-zionist jewish widows and lovedones that lost their families..And i know real judaism doesn't condone this..I'm not anti-semite or whatever Its just ridiculous that obama made a speech telling he's feeling for the Israeli famillies that have to deal with their lostones..But do not show any sympathy or mourning nor putting emphasis on the Palestinian children and lost ones, i truly do feel like i don't have to be over there to be aware of what is really happening..there is no excuse, literally no excuse for the shit that they are doing and caused over there....As far as the people living over there..I dont know. Ive seen a documentary about immigration in israel on the treatment of the sudanese refugees..and ive seen people on beach chairs clapping everytime a missle lands, i see israeli youtube commentators and facebook that post disgusting lies and pro-israeli propoganda but that could be the JIDF. But i guess there is a large part of the community over there that oppose those actions aswell...I do understand your point though Catalyst

 

Point duely noted