;.cSummary of mb 9/27--8 Oct
;.l1,6,60,66,1,0,10,75,192,2,15,20,25,127,10,0,
;.l2,15,75,192,2,20,25,127,15,0,
;.l3,20,75,192,2,25,127,20,0,
MEDIA BIAS
TO:    David Bedein, Israel Resource, Bet Agron
       David bar-Ilan, re: Eye on Media, Jlem Post
FROM:  Steve Amdur, Kibbutz Haon, Jordan Valley, 15170 Israel.
       Telephone:  972-6-6656-572; FAX:  972-6-6656-554
DATE:  09 Oct 96
RE:    SUMMARY OF MEDIA BIAS NOTED 9/26/96--08 Oct 96
REF:   =mb100396 (The American); =mb1006a (all others) 
CC:
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REF:   The American, 29 Sept.--Oct. 5 96
The American:  The World's only Sunday Newspaper for Travelers andResidents Abroad.  Israel NIS 16.    Published 52 Sundays a Yearby the American, LLC, 110 Mill Road, Westhampton Beach NY  11978USA.  President and Publisher:  Hesh Kestin.   Tel:  +1-516-2884622; FAX:  +1-516--288-4622; E-Mail:  newstaff@sundayamerican.com

SUMMARY:  Before this trivial, derivative weekly folds, HeshKestin, former Editor-in-Chief of Israel's The Nation (ca. 1988right-wing alternative to the then-Histadrut JP), ought to beasked to treat Israel better.  The wire-service article on Israelshows industry-standard anti-Israel bias, and Israel is notincluded in the tourist listings of 23 European nations.

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SUMMARY RE:    Israel Radio News 07:00  Sunday 6 Oct 96]

In a report that sounded as if it was not merely read but writtenby a dyslexic weekend sub for VOA, a new reporter soi-yclept benDolphin, who evidently has not been in the country long enough topronounce Hebron (HEE-bron) (nor Arabic, nor Spanish), seems tohave departed far enough from the stoically upbeat formulae onedepends upon before one's third cup of coffee, to give thebroadcast a pro-USA and left-of-Sarid slant.  His script cited theembarassment at the closure by "author David Grossman", reported arally at Zion Square  as having occurred at the same site wherelast year an anti-Piece-process rally displayed "a poster ofRabin in an SS uniform".  No mention that, as of last spring, themedia had concluded that this poster (actually a handbill, shownto TV cameras) had been made and displayed by an agentprovacateur.  Nonetheless, one hears many references to itnowadays.  Drawing this conclusion is left as an exercise for thereader.                           
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RE:    USA Today International Edition Weather Map (eg 23 Sep 96)

The West Bank is drawn as part of Jordan; the Golan is drawn aspart of Syria, and Gaza is drawn as part of Egypt.                 ------------------------------------------------------------------
RE:    Berlitz Arabic Phrase Book:  Map 
Israel simply ain't mapped nor mentioned.

This phrase book is copyright 1989, 1975 by the Berlitz PublishingCo. Ltd., Peterley Road, Oxford OX4 2TK, "United" Kingdom.;Revised editiion, 6th printing, 1995.  Distributed bySteinmatsky's.      
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RE:    VOA or U.S. Armed Forces Radio, 9/27/96 
OBJECTIVE REPORTING:  Jim Lederman, despite a few hints from theanchorman, gave a very clear, candid explanation that theHasmonean Tunnel  does not encroach on nor go under Moslem holysites.
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RE:    CNN Headline News, on METV, 20:00 9/26/96
Overall, the anti-Israel bias was too unsubtle to detail: standard one-sided anti-Israel human interest bathos.  
A reporter from Ramallah said the "overwhelming majority offatalities were on the Palestinian side", and gave a heart-rendingaccount of mothers waiting anxiously to see if their sons would bethe next to be brought in.   As I recall, there was no coverage ofIDF casualties.
The Tunnel was said to be "under Temple Mount".  
	Wolf Blitzer, who surely should know better, said it was"under the Al Aksa Mosque". 
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RE:    Miscellaneous -- Tours of Refugee Camps
The Al-Arab Hostel,  Khan el-Zeit St., Old City, POB 20754 Jlem,Tel: 02-628-3537, offers to arrange tours of the Refugee Camps.  
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REF:   NYT Weekly Review 29 Sept 96 (Serge Schmemann)
Misleading photo captions:  "Durng the upheaval in the West Banklast week, a [many others did likewise] Palestinian policeman,encouraged by other Palestinians, shoots towards [more preciselyaims at] Israeli soldiers in Ramallah."   "An Israeli soldierreturns fire toward a Palestinian at Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem."
[was the Israeli then firing toward, not from, the holy site?].
Also: "Police cleared the Wailing Wall when Arabs above it threwstones.  One Jew stayed. "

Serge Schmemann, duly and dully anti-Israel, affects an eulogiac,Solomonic tone -- "and there is nothing new under the sun" --appropriate to the self-image of the NYT.  Like, we're talking1840's Manhattan Yekkes; the Ox muzzles itself.   The bias [whichI detail in =mb1006a] is subtle; but subtle can be insidious.
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RE:    NYT Weekly Review, Editorial 29 Sep 96
                          
"Mr. Netanyahu should make clear that Israeli forces will not besent back into Palestinian-ruled towns except in the most extremeemergencies."
	Apparently the NYT did not take the mob capture/desecration of a Jewish holy site (Joseph's Tomb), including holding thedefending soldiers as POWs/hostages, and the military ambush of apatrol sent to rescue them, as an 'extreme emergency'; nor theapparently planned ambush of an IDF general in Gaza.
"Israel's current [all underlining my emphasis added] sovereigntyof Jerusalem is secure and does not require the opening of a newentrance [more precisely, an exit --sa ] to an archeologic tunnelthat runs alongside [relevance?] some of the holiest sites toMuslims and Jews.
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REF:   Thomas E. Friedman NYT Weekly Review 
       29 Sept ("Bibi's Moment of Truth") & 6 Oct 96

From Tom E. Friedman at the King David Hotel, clueless inJerusalem, the usual dash of Tom Sawyer/Tom Hanks aw-shucksomniscience.   Woody Allen Manhattan self-hate without the whimsy.
They'll let him in Dante's Country Club.  
	Dismisses Dole's claims "that Clinton has been too hard onIsrael" [quote Tom E. Friedman, NYT Weekly Review 6 Oct 96]  as"ridiculous cheap shots" [quote ibid.].
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