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Feb. 17, 2006
Assessing Mideast coverage
Media watchdog describes dilemmas faced by reporters.
DAVE GORDON
Dov Smith doesn't think Canadians receive "full, fair and
accurate coverage of the world."
It was a claim made at a University of Toronto lecture last week
by the director of HonestReporting Canada, an organization that
monitors Canadian news media for their coverage of Israel and the
Middle East.
Smith's talk, Canadian Media and Radical Islam, covered how Canada's
media portrays the conflicts involving Islamic extremists. The talk
was part of Know Radical Islam Week, organized by Toronto's Betar/Tagar
and the Simon Weisenthal Centre.
While not excusing the media from its responsibility to report accurately
on Middle East issues, Smith described how overwhelming it could
be at times for editors and reporters and how those pressures reflect
back on readers.
"The media doesn't have it easy when it comes to covering controversial
issues," he explained, adding that he feels newspaper editors
generally endeavor to print a factual portrayal of what's happening
in the world, as well as a mix of thought-provoking commentary from
all sides of the political spectrum. But the added pressure comes
from having to produce a paper every day, under the demand of daily
deadlines and fast-changing world events.
"And now imagine that every major interest group is watching
every word you produce in order to make sure you don't say anything
that clashes with their perceived interests. This is tough work,"
he said. "Especially since 9/11, both around the world and
here in Canada, reporters and editors have been struggling to find
a way to talk about radical Islam, without offending or alienating
mainstream Muslims."
A recurring contentious issue is how to deal with a single word:
terrorist.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC), for example, has issued a
policy statement to its editorial staff advising that the word "terrorist"
is not to be used. Nevertheless, Smith said that in HonestReporting's
daily media scan, they regularly find examples of CBC reporters
using the dreaded T-word. "Ironically," he said, "when
we point this out to CBC editors, they alter their own content by
removing the T-word wherever possible."
Shortly after 9/11, Smith noticed a headline over a story from the
Reuters news agency that referred to the 9/11 hijackers as "terrorists"
in quotes. "It struck me as somewhat odd," he recalled.
After contacting the Reuters reporter, Smith asked why the word
terrorist was put in quotes. The reporter's response? Smith was
told that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter and
that using the word "terrorist" is offensive to some Arab
countries.
"The media," said Smith, "must become more assertive
in presenting the truth and using accurate language, however much
it offends some. Above all, this requires courage in the face of
intimidation and potential violence."
He noted that not all news media are the same, pointing out that
CanWest newspapers take wire reports and replace "militant"
with "terrorist" "when it is accurate to do so."
According to Smith, Reuters' global managing editor, David Schlesinger,
has expressed his objections to CanWest's insertion of the loaded
T-word. Schlesinger had stated that he would be concerned that people
in the Mideast might think that the reporter had changed Reuters'
standards and he believed the changed wording might have serious
consequences. Smith said this is one small example of "how
the enemies of free speech and freedom of the press have succeeded
in imposing their ideas on others, even if only by causing news
organizations like Reuters to self-censor in response to the threat
of violence."
Smith said he has "no doubt that this intimidation influences
the choices they make when deciding what to show and what not to
show their audience."
In the Israeli/Jewish context, he pointed out that when extremist
Israelis have on rare occasions committed atrocities against Arabs,
Israelis and Jews branded these people as terrorists, condemned
their actions and marginalized them. This was true, he said, of
Canadian Jewish organizations and newspapers. In contrast, "some
of the organizations that claim to represent Muslims have taken
the opposite approach."
This is where Smith said he feels that the current flap about the
cartoon images of Mohammed is so clarifying. "[Violence is]
perpetrated mainly by people who have not even seen those cartoons,
and speaks volumes about this effort by the intolerant to intimidate
the tolerant," he observed. Even mainstream Muslims have joined
these forces passively or actively, whether through boycotts or
acquiescence. Smith urged them instead to speak out bravely against
violent acts.
"The mainstream Muslim world must become more assertive in
presenting the truth about itself and where it stands on key issues,"
Smith declared, "because at the moment, the loudest voices
emerging from the Muslim world are the voices of radical Islamists,
and many people who genuinely want to engage the moderate Muslim
world are not entirely sure that there is one."
But Smith wasn't preaching to the choir at his lecture, finding
moderates ready for dialogue in attendance. Muslims in the audience
listened intently, expressing interest in bridge-building, though
they were still reticent to call the ideology of Islamic extremists
"radical Islam." Smith's talk was responded to favorably.
"I was especially impressed," he said, "with the
positive dialogue that took place this evening between Jewish and
Muslim audience members. Maybe it is just the beginning."
Dave Gordon is a freelance writer living in Brooklyn.
He has previously written for the Baltimore Sun, Canadian Jewish
News and the New York Jewish Week.
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