;.cIsrael Radio, general
;.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,
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MEDIA BIAS
TO:    David Bedein, Israel Resource, Bet Agron Press Center
       37 Hillel St., Jerusalem 94581
       Tel:  02--236-368;  FAX:  02--6255-119 Att: DB
       E-Mail:  media@actcom.co.il
FROM:  Steve Amdur, Kibbutz Haon, Jordan Valley, 15170 Israel.
       Telephone:  972-6-6656-572; FAX:  972-6-6656-554
DATE:  17 Oct 96
RE:    Israel Radio English News, General
REF:   Telephone conversation, SA/DB, 16 Oct 96
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As I said, I don't find bias in Israel Radio English news.

Prior to the election, it seemed to be an apologist for thegovernment.  Since the election, it still seems to be, althoughless so.  

Two mistakes made under the previous government should becorrected:  The 13:00 News, and also although less important, the13:15 Feature (and their French analogues) should be restored.  (As you note, the 07:00 broadcast is by its time-slot usually inaccessible to Jewish orthodox English-speakers in Israel.) 

And reductions in both the frequency and wattage for broadcasts toforeign listeners should be restored.  Eg, until last year I couldpick up the English News on its AM frequency from Rhodos.   Nowonly Galei Zahal can be heard there. 

The only odd new note is this yclept ben Dolphin, who speaksEnglish like a Beta-test computer.

English TV News has much less content, though I've noted noblatant political bias.  Many have noted the importance of anEnglish  TV News program from Israel's PR; the government shouldover-ride rivalry from other TV interests, and strengthen it.
	The newsreader/reporters, with only one exception, make agood impression; Len Brewer and Sharon Issacs are particularlyeffective in projecting an honest, unaffected sincerity. 

.p
MEDIA BIAS
TO:    David Bedein, Israel Resource, Bet Agron Press Center
       37 Hillel St., Jerusalem 94581
       Tel:  02--236-368;  FAX:  02--6255-119 Att: DB
       E-Mail:  media@actcom.co.il
FROM:  Steve Amdur, Kibbutz Haon, Jordan Valley, 15170 Israel.
       Telephone:  972-6-6656-572; FAX:  972-6-6656-554
DATE:  
RE:    
REF:   TIME 10/14/96 (Bruce Nelan, reported by Lisa Beyer, Jlem,and the usual D.C. Flacks)
------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't find TIME outrageous anti-Israel.
The 10/14/96 issue closes with a last-page full-page article byCharles Krautheimer, that is very strongly and clearly pro-Israel(as  Krautheimer always is).  He makes the point that Palestinian desecration of Joseph's Tomb and Rachel's Tomb receivedpractically no media coverage.  
	Fact is, I found practically no coverage of eitherdesecration in the Jlem Post.  It was only on TV -- I forget which program -- that I saw that Torah scrolls had been burnt atJoseph's Tomb. 

I don't know the differnce between the Writer, with the lead byline, and the Reporter, with a Post-script tag-line.  Lisa Beyerseems to alternate between the two positions; I guess depending on whether the story is focused on the USA or Israel.
	Nor do I know whether it's the Writer, or the Editor, or theReporter, who should bear responsibility for bias in articles.
	Nor does it much enhance Jeffersonian democracy'sdisinterested interplay of ideas, that TIME has led the newsmagazines in affecting a sort of chic, world-weary pose moreappropriate to the coverpersons of Vanity Fair.  The NYT WeeklyReview writers, especially Tom E. Friedman, now do somethingsimilar; hard to see even the slant, let alone the news, for thepose.                 
	Nor do I know who puts the spin on the stories.  TheMunitions Makers?  The Rockefellers?  Wishy-washy liberals?  BigBusiness?  Foggy Bottom?  Jane Fonda?
	Problem is, until you know who's pulling the strings, itdon't much help to throw stones.

Ok, after all else fails, read the article:

SUMMARY:  An account of the  D.C. Summit, as spin-doctored by theU.S. Administration.  The primary voice, and I reckon message, is firm but reasonably polite pressure on Netanyahu.  
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It's rather a relief that the "we know you'll do the rightthing, Bibi, ol' Buddy" media-message seems to have prettymuch blown itself out.
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But in two passages, there are brief but scathing sketches of thesenior leadership of the PLO.

"the worst fighting between Palestinians and Israelis in 30 years"
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COMMENT:  Worst overt attacks by Palestinians on Israelis. Israel was on the defensive in all engagements, I think. 

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"redeployment in Hebron...a step already 6 months overdue."
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COMMENTS:  Sounds as terrifying as a pregnancy-scare (in thegood old days, in the old country).
	'Overdue' implies that it should have occurred.  Yetthere's nearly a consensus (even from the PLO, which fears aHamas takeover) that it was a bad idea which needs to bereworked.
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	One of the media-cliches is that a sucessorgovernment must fully implement all agreements made byits predecessor.  As if failure to do so would be likethe new management of Bank Mizrahi refusing to honor oldchecks -- a move that would or at least should cause thecollapse of the institution. 
	But even assuming those agreeements were made inaccord with the democratic constitution of the state, itis accepted that bad or immoral agreements can berenogtiated.                                             .p
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There are the usual sly digs by the usual off-the-record SeniorOfficials to the usual D.C. Flacks.  Slippery Jim Baker did itbest, they say.

There's a lot of Inside Information about the male bonding thatoccurred between Netanyahu and Chairperson Poopoohead.  One thinksof only one person sufficiently positioned, intelligent, and freefrom self-respect to have leaked that slop.             
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METHOD:  One method in analyzing problematic articles, egparshiot, is to make like Dr. Watson and ask:  who could havebeen in a position to have know that.  

In analyzing an article, one must ask who is saying what, towhom, and why.   In kindergarten  we learn:  the Reporter issaying it to the Reader, to inform him.  In first grade welearn:  the Reader is necessary to sell space to theAdvertiser.    In second grade we learn:  CNN requires 10million viewers for a backdrop, so a half-dozen heads ofstate can talk to each other without the embarassment ofhaving to telephone.  The audience are all shills.
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"Among the outrageous points was a call for the Palestinians tohand over for trial memgers of their security forces who had firedat Israelis
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[and killed same, to be precise]
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during the rioting."
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COMMENT:  It's a fair point.   Assuming the PLO is agovernment with an army, sovereign states don't do that; theytry their own soldiers for infractions of discipline. Assuming that the PA is just a down-scale version ofHerzaliya and Bat Yam, but less lawless -- ie, an aggregateof areas with municipal autonomy, subject to the sovereigntyof Israel -- 
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which is more nearly legally correct and realisticallyludicrous -- 
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Israel's demand was  proper.
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"At the White House press conference his 
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[ viz:  the Slush-Fund Shluper of the PLO, His Excellency thePresident of Little Black Books Chairperson Poopoohead] 
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expression was glazed, his skin gray and drawn."
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COMMENT:  I think those are the first apparently true wordsI've read about that factory-reject demon.  Most writers andphotographers now try to make him seem like a Panda Bear, andfrequently broadcast reassuring remarks, in grotesqueEnglish, that feel like out-takes from the Nuremburg rally.   
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That paragraph goes on, quoting "a guest at the meal" to sketchthe senior leadership of the PLO as a claque of petty hustlers,ineptly trying only to chivvy as much unaccountable petty cash aspossible from their hosts.                             

Aw shucks:  If Lisa Beyer didn't exist, it would be necessary tore-invent her.  So don't waste time attacking her personally noreven individually; like the MadWoman of Chaillot said toYossarian:  Relax, it's a plot.  As usual, they're all trying tokill all of us; but this time without leaving fingerprints.

---------------

There is an appended article, which consists of about 10 columninches of excerpts from an interview Netanyahu gave to Lisa Beyer. That ain't much.  And the excerpts are all pretty mild.  AndNetanyahu doesn't rarely go for more than a few sentences withoutmaking a concise, incisive point.  (That's what critics try todismiss as 'sound bites'.)  So it looks like TIME editted out ofthe interview practically all the important points, and all thatNetanyahu had hoped to communicate.   
	It seems less likely that the Reporter would have spiked thenews-value of her own article, out of loyalty to The Flag 
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of United Fruit & the Bananna Republics for which is stands.
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