2008: A Year in Review

2008: A Year in Review December 24, 2008 Dear HonestReporting Canada subscriber:   As the 2008 calendar year comes to a close, we appeal to our devoted friends to make a generous contribution to HonestReporting Canada in support of our 2009 Campaign. For the last five years, we have depended on the good will and generosity of concerned individuals like you who help us to combat anti-Israel media bias worldwide. Especially in this upcoming year, as many are cutting back their charitable giving due to the economic downturn, we must broaden our base of support. The battle for public opinion is key for Israel and one in which HRC, working hand-in-hand with informed, committed people like you, is making a difference. Please help us raise $100,000 for our critical year end campaign by clicking here and making your donation now. As a reader of our media action alerts, you are well aware of the profound impact that HRC has had this past year. For a more detailed review of our efforts in 2008, please see our special 2008: Year in Review below.                          2008: Canadian Media Bias Against Israel   January: The Toronto Star Gives Fuel to Hamas Propaganda Machine As the mainstream media were manipulated by Hamas spin doctors in exaggerating a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, The Toronto Star was just one of those media outlets duped into fueling the Hamas propaganda machine. Mideast bureau chief Oakland Ross gave a platform for Hamas extremism by reporting that: "A Hamas representative said yesterday that five patients died over the weekend in Gaza hospitals because of the latest fuel embargo," only there was no evidence to confirm the veracity of this allegation. After HonestReporting Canada intervened, The Toronto Star issued a clarification in a follow-up report exonerating any Israeli culpability by noting that "five people died in their homes, for one reason or another, and were dead on arrival at the main hospital in Gaza City, but there was no evidence that the power shutdown played any role in their deaths."   February: Globe and Mail Paints Hamas as Pragmatic Peaceniks The Globe and Mail, Canada's "paper of record," bought into false notions that Hamas had evolved into pragmatic peaceniks who advocated "non-violent resistance." As there was no tangible evidence to support claims that Hamas had shed a new skin towards non-violence, we asked our readers to urge Globe and Mail editors to promptly clarify these false misconceptions. Within a matter of hours, hundreds of letters were dispatched sensitizing The Globe and Mail towards the need for fair and accurate reporting.   March: HonestReporting Canada Helps Secure Excalibur Apology We broke the news that a York University campus newspaper, The Excalibur, had featured an opinion piece that justified the deadly terrorist attack at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem. Along with other concerned organizations, HonestReporting Canada condemned the publication of a column endorsing the murder of innocent children and asked the paper to issue an apology in the next edition. Within a week, the campus newspaper did just that and issued a formal printed apology.   April: HRC Launches Montreal Office & French Monitoring Unit April was another busy month for HRC. While launching our Montreal office and expanding our media monitoring efforts to include French-language Canadian media coverage of Israel, we secured important retractions from Le Journal de Montreal and Agence France-Presse, while securing an on-air correction on CBC-TV.   May: Montreal Gazette Editor-in-Chief Admits Israel Rally Story "Missed the Mark" A Montreal Gazette article about a pro-Israel rally in Montreal marking the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel "Missed the Mark" according to the Gazette's Editor-in-Chief. The article which focused on an isolated incident where a youth picked up the Quebec flag and discarded it in exchange for the flag of Israel, took on a surprisingly negative tone in what should have been a straight forward article on the joyous and historic celebration of Israel at 60. We encouraged our members to voice their concerns regarding The Gazette's coverage of the rally and within a matter of days, Gazette Editor-in-Chief Andrew Phillips acknowledged that their reporter's story had "Missed the Mark" and had stumbled at both the reporting and editorial levels.   June: HRC Launches "Insider's Briefing" Series In our inaugural "Insider's Briefing" Paul Agoston, HRC Assistant Director in Montreal, sat down with Agence France-Presse Jerusalem Bureau Chief, Patrick Anidjar, for an insider's perspective on the Middle East and reporting in the region.   July: Media Monitor Reaches 20,000 Member Milestone We announced the growth of our subscriber base to a remarkable 20,000 members from across Canada. Our members, who act as "media patrollers," monitor local media outlets and notify HonestReporting Canada of lapses in accuracy or fairness, while complaining directly to the news outlet involved. August: An Unforgivable Error and a Dismal "On-Air" Correction at City TV   After CityTV International carried a report which left viewers with the false impression that Israeli soldiers had killed 11 pro-Palestinian protestors, we complained to CityTV who in a subsequent edition of the program issued a correction to clarify that "11 people (were) hurt, not killed… in West Bank clashes."   September: CBC Critically Examines Israel's Enemies When our public broadcaster, the CBC, went beyond Mideast "conventional wisdom" and featured critical reporting on the Iranian nuclear threat and on the dangers of Hamas' rule in Gaza, we felt that it was important to pause, take note, and expose excellence when it was deserving. We encouraged our members to recognize the CBC's excellent reporting and had several hundred of our members send articulate letters commending the CBC.   October: Radio-Canada Wrong in Airing Pro-Palestinian Propaganda Film On October 23, Radio-Canada, the French arm of the CBC, aired the pro-Palestinian propaganda film "Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land" on its documentary film program "Les grands reportages." By airing a film rife with false premises, serious omissions, and unfounded malicious allegations, the network not only misinformed Canadians about the politics and history of the Middle East, it also breached its own journalistic standards and practices by airing a one-sided partisan polemic bent on vilifying a fellow democracy, the state of Israel. After mobilizing hundreds of people to complain en masse, Radio-Canada acknowledged that the documentary was "clearly pro-Palestinian" and said that it would broadcast an additional film "offering other viewpoints on Israel and Gaza" in the future. Subsequently, Radio-Canada's ombudsman validated our objections noting that the film "shouldn't have been broadcast" in the first place.   November: HRC Conducts Media Bias Workshop at Concordia University On November 5th, HonestReporting Canada was invited to speak at Concordia University in Montreal. HRC Executive Director, Mike Fegelman, addressed a political science and communications class, teaching a diverse group of students from varying backgrounds about the many impediments that exist which prevent fair and accurate media coverage of the Middle East.   December: HRC Refutes "Massacre" Claim in the Toronto Star Toronto Star reporter Oakland Ross (pictured right) drudged up the old canard that Israel had committed a "massacre" in Jenin in 2002, thereby engaging in a cynical form of historical revisionism. After bringing our concerns to the attention of the Star's editors, they agreed that the report had lacked context. A letter submitted by HRC was printed in a subsequent edition of the Star in a means to rectify the situation.       HonestReporting.ca   Thank you for your commitment to fair and accurate media coverage of Israel     Please send contributions by cheque to:   HonestReporting Canada PO Box 6, Station Q Toronto, Ontario M4T 2L7 (416) 915-9157

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HRC Commends Radio-Canada Ombudsman

For Immediate Release HRC commends Radio-Canada Ombudsman for concluding that a pro-Palestinian propaganda film "should not have been broadcast" on its airwaves Toronto, December 9, 2008 — HonestReporting Canada (HRC) commends Radio-Canada Ombudsman, Ms. Julie Miville-Dechêne, for carrying out an independent review of our public broadcaster's airing of a pro-Palestinian propaganda film, which concluded in a report released today, that the "documentary should not have been broadcast" in the first place due to numerous failures of "editorial control." "We are satisfied that our concerns have been addressed, both promptly and professionally, by the staff at Radio-Canada," said Mike Fegelman, Executive Director of HonestReporting Canada. "As the network has voluntarily disclosed many of its journalistic lapses, has agreed to air "very interesting Israeli documentaries" set to broadcast in early 2009, and has implemented stricter editorial policies to prevent an incident like this from occurring in the future, Radio-Canada has strengthened its credibility and has become a better news organization." Ms. Miville-Dechêne acknowledged in her review that she "received 156 complaints about this broadcast. Most of those filing complaints, who were in various countries, did so in response to an appeal by HonestReporting Canada, a pro-Israel media watchdog that encouraged visitors to its website to send complaints to my office."   According to the review: "The film claims, without proving it, that the government of Israel controls U.S. print and electronic media… There is no fairness, balance, or nuance here: this pro-Palestinian documentary presents one point-of-view, one side of the coin… The documentary, produced five years ago, contains anachronisms and inaccuracies, and militant pro-Palestinian groups were involved in researching the film. Given the circumstances and the acknowledged failures of editorial control, this documentary should not have been broadcast."   In conclusion, Ms. Miville- Dechêne points out that: "Journalistic Standards and Practices were not followed in the presentation (of the film). Radio-Canada should have indicated that the film was a point-of-view documentary and that the situation on the ground had changed in the last five years. The film's production date should have been indicated, especially since Israel had withdrawn form the Gaza Strip. Finally, it should have been clear that the documentary was a foreign-produced work."   Click the following links to read the formal 10-page review by Radio-Canada's Ombudsman in English or in French   View our original complaint here entitled: "Radio-Canada Wrong In Airing Pro-Palestinian Advocacy Film"   About HonestReporting Canada   HonestReporting Canada is an independent, non-profit, grass-roots organization monitoring Canadian media for fairness and accuracy in reporting. HonestReporting Canada's goal is to ensure that Canadian news organizations abide by professional standards of conduct when reporting on Israel and the Middle East. The organization is supported by donations from concerned Canadians. Online donations can be made at its website. To discuss major gifts, contact the organization at info@honestreporting.ca.   For more information, contact:   HonestReporting Canada info@honestreporting.ca www.honestreporting.ca (416) 915-9157   # # #

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Help Support HonestReporting Canada's 2009 Campaign

Dear Friends,  Most of us have been aware of the anti-Israel bias across all forms of the media. We have read articles or witnessed television coverage which has left us feeling uneasy. We imagine the effects of this material on our colleagues, neighbours, politicians, and the public at large. HonestReporting Canada was created in 2003 to ensure that biased information is challenged and corrected. It was created to provide the facts to journalists and to the public. It was created to remind those "running the show" that consumers of the news care about accuracy, care about Israel and are actively monitoring what the media produces. To date, HRC's efforts have been very successful. We have developed close professional relationships with many media outlets which appreciate our hard work, and we have changed the approach of a number of news organizations whose material has been less than acceptable. Importantly, we have activated our 22,000+ subscribers who read our media action alerts and work to help stand Israel in high esteem. A recent HonestReporting alert encouraged subscribers to contact Radio-Canada, the French-arm of the CBC, after it brazenly aired a pro-Palestinian propaganda film on Canadian airwaves. After hundreds of HRC subscribers complained en masse, Radio-Canada acknowledged that the documentary was "clearly pro-Palestinian" and said that it would broadcast an additional film "offering other viewpoints on Israel and Gaza" in the future. National Post columnist Barbara Kay wrote: "It was a small media watch group called HonestReporting Canada that picked up this lapse in journalistic ethics. This looks like a coup for HonestReporting Canada, and a victory for the ideal of ethical journalism everywhere... Had HonestReporting Canada not been on the ball, Radio-Canada's viewing audience would only have been exposed to a pro-Palestinian perspective." It is problematic "documentaries" like these that spurred the creation of HonestReporting Canada. But there's much more work to do. Our efforts are made possible only through your kind donations. As the only organization dedicated exclusively to ensuring fair and accurate Canadian media coverage of Israel, we need your support for our 2009 Campaign. For the last five years, we have depended on the good will and generosity of concerned individuals who help us to combat anti-Israel media bias worldwide. The battle for public opinion is key for Israel and one in which HRC, working hand-in-hand with informed, committed people like you, is making a difference. Please help us raise $100,000 for our critical year end campaign. Click here to ensure that Canadian journalists are held to the highest standards of "honest reporting" and to make your donation now. Sincerely,   Mike Fegelman Executive Director, HonestReporting Canada mike@honestreporting.ca

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Banana Republic Coup with Snowflakes

I am deeply saddened that I can not take credit for that line. Especially the part about the flakes!

Apparently it was coined by some university professor which in itself is remarkable since it took two former profs to create this fiasco.

If it wasn't so serious it would be hilarious. Here you have a party which should not even be in the House of Commons because it is not a national party and two former ivory-tower profs who swore up and down in the electoral debates they would NEVER join with separatists. To be fair, If Quebec can have its own party, then shouldn't every province be able to have one too?

But that was before Mr. Dion saw his dream of becoming PM shattered while he was also shattering the record for the biggest loss for the Liberals in Canadian history! Now Mr. Layton is no fool, at least he wasn't before this, and it is rumoured that he and Mr. Duceppe, neither of whom had anything to lose, actually sketched out this scenario previous to the election.

I cannot quite get my head around the idea that Canadians sent a very huge message to Mr. Dion in the election that he should go home and plant green shifts in his back yard all by himself and yet here he is gleefully rubbing his hands in delight at being a "coalition" PM if they could just get rid of Mr. Harper peacefully.

Seems like Mr. Dion has trouble getting it or maybe he is just as stubborn as a mule on a mountain pass. Either way he has now achieved a place in history. Maybe that was it all the time. He figured he had nothing to lose so why not try for a record? If you cannot be succesful any other way, try ignominy.

Failed being elected, failed party leader who won't go away, now failed "banana republic coup with snowflakes" leader. That is a hat trick he could call in to Guinness!

I knew up there in academia they get out of touch with reality but this is one for the records. I guess I said that.

Then we have the revival of the three stooges going against everything they said about each other in the election and joining forces for the program. I imagine it will look funnier in hindsight. And hindsight can't come soon enough for me anyway.

I guess it was one of those delusional hypotheses that academics can be attempted to draw up from time to time. Thinking that being in charge of a class in school makes you more adept at being in charge of Canada's economy than an economist.

Sort of like me applying for a job at the Toronto Star as a conservative blogger with no other trace of a record of publications other than about 20 blogs and websites. That kind of thinking.

There is even a rumour that Duceppe was trying to buy some guns through a military magazine from the US but Canada Customs stopped the package at the Peace Bridge when they found out they weren't registered. They put them in recycling so as not to increase landfill. Location confidential.

I wonder if looking back this will be the kind of story they will tell their grandchildren, with a few enhancements... that is if they have grandchildren. Sorry I didn't do my research. If you're so great, you check it out!

As it turns out, Stephen Harper was right that the Canadian people really don't want to fund the parties by a whopping 61%. Of course not with the three stooges. They didn't get the call.

Also with 72% "truly scared" for the country, how ridiculous is it to think that an experienced loser, ignorant of economics, would think this was a good time to change the government??? Do I hear a "duh" somewhere? And what about all that talk about caring for seniors and the common people of Canada?

The common people of Canada who have retirement money in the market have just got whacked over and over again in the head and now they want more of the same??? And for we seniors, there are only so many Walmarts in Canada where you can be a greeter, not nearly enough for all of us.

I hear that we will soon be the largest age group in Canada. With only 5 or 6 parties in Ottawa, now may be the time to start the NATIONAL GEEZERS PARTY otherwise known as the NGP! Nothing like a good party! We will have to think up a new design for the signs tho, all the good colours are gone! BLUE, RED, ORANGE-turned-ORANGY-GREEN, GREEN, BLOCY-BLUE, and BROWN ... did I miss any? After all if Quebec needs to look out for its interests, shouldn't we?

Then you have the intellectuals of Quebec thinking it is a great idea vying against the West who was preparing a plan to leave Canada if the disaster was to occur.

I mean if it wasn't for the gun registry, we could have a civil war! Thank goodness that all those guns are registered, at least the ones owned by honest citizens.

It's not funny now but I expect some day it will be hilarious. I mean hindsight is 20-20, especially some people's hinds! Present company excepted, of course.

That's all folks!

Let Detroit Go Bankrupt sounds cruel but ....

[Editor: It seems like a heartless thing to say knowing how many people are affected by the auto industry in North America. However when finances in a family, are not equal to expenses, then the family MUST do a make-over and start fresh.

• New budgets need to be drawn up
• Expenses need to be cut
• "Needs" have to be prioritized over "Wants"

The American auto-makers are in that situation after being priced out of the market compared to better-made Japanese cars, yes the ones made in North America!

If the average North Big-3 auto-worker gets $77.53 per hour including benefits and the Japanese automakers in North America get $47.50 per hour, there can be NO competition. Unfortunately the NA unions have priced their workers out of their jobs.

Think about it for a minute: is one factory worker worth $30 more per hour than the other? Which cars top the lists for reliability and durability? Is it Japanese or North American? According to Consumer Reports, it is the Japanese that have had those two records for years now. While it is true that NA cars have improved due to the competition, they have had the albatross hanging around their necks of paying out about $240 more per worker per day!

Concessions by unions and a complete change of the top executives seems to be needed to condense the NA car industry into a competitive one. When cars first were being manufactured and buggy-manufacturers were losing business, did the government of the day bail out the buggy-makers? Mitt Romney has it right.]

From the New York Times .....
November 19, 2008 -Op-Ed Contributor

Mitt Romney writes in the NY times to

"Let Detroit Go Bankrupt"

Boston

IF General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.

Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.

I love cars, American cars. I was born in Detroit, the son of an auto chief executive. In 1954, my dad, George Romney, was tapped to run American Motors when its president suddenly died. The company itself was on life support — banks were threatening to deal it a death blow. The stock collapsed. I watched Dad work to turn the company around — and years later at business school, they were still talking about it. From the lessons of that turnaround, and from my own experiences, I have several prescriptions for Detroit’s automakers.

First, their huge disadvantage in costs relative to foreign brands must be eliminated. That means new labor agreements to align pay and benefits to match those of workers at competitors like BMW, Honda, Nissan and Toyota. Furthermore, retiree benefits must be reduced so that the total burden per auto for domestic makers is not higher than that of foreign producers.

That extra burden is estimated to be more than $2,000 per car. Think what that means: Ford, for example, needs to cut $2,000 worth of features and quality out of its Taurus to compete with Toyota’s Avalon. Of course the Avalon feels like a better product — it has $2,000 more put into it. Considering this disadvantage, Detroit has done a remarkable job of designing and engineering its cars. But if this cost penalty persists, any bailout will only delay the inevitable.

Second, management as is must go. New faces should be recruited from unrelated industries — from companies widely respected for excellence in marketing, innovation, creativity and labor relations.

The new management must work with labor leaders to see that the enmity between labor and management comes to an end. This division is a holdover from the early years of the last century, when unions brought workers job security and better wages and benefits. But as Walter Reuther, the former head of the United Automobile Workers, said to my father, “Getting more and more pay for less and less work is a dead-end street.”

You don’t have to look far for industries with unions that went down that road. Companies in the 21st century cannot perpetuate the destructive labor relations of the 20th. This will mean a new direction for the U.A.W., profit sharing or stock grants to all employees and a change in Big Three management culture.

The need for collaboration will mean accepting sanity in salaries and perks. At American Motors, my dad cut his pay and that of his executive team, he bought stock in the company, and he went out to factories to talk to workers directly. Get rid of the planes, the executive dining rooms — all the symbols that breed resentment among the hundreds of thousands who will also be sacrificing to keep the companies afloat.

Investments must be made for the future. No more focus on quarterly earnings or the kind of short-term stock appreciation that means quick riches for executives with options. Manage with an eye on cash flow, balance sheets and long-term appreciation. Invest in truly competitive products and innovative technologies — especially fuel-saving designs — that may not arrive for years. Starving research and development is like eating the seed corn.

Just as important to the future of American carmakers is the sales force. When sales are down, you don’t want to lose the only people who can get them to grow. So don’t fire the best dealers, and don’t crush them with new financial or performance demands they can’t meet.

It is not wrong to ask for government help, but the automakers should come up with a win-win proposition. I believe the federal government should invest substantially more in basic research — on new energy sources, fuel-economy technology, materials science and the like — that will ultimately benefit the automotive industry, along with many others. I believe Washington should raise energy research spending to $20 billion a year, from the $4 billion that is spent today. The research could be done at universities, at research labs and even through public-private collaboration. The federal government should also rectify the imbedded tax penalties that favor foreign carmakers.

But don’t ask Washington to give shareholders and bondholders a free pass — they bet on management and they lost.

The American auto industry is vital to our national interest as an employer and as a hub for manufacturing. A managed bankruptcy may be the only path to the fundamental restructuring the industry needs. It would permit the companies to shed excess labor, pension and real estate costs. The federal government should provide guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing and assure car buyers that their warranties are not at risk.

In a managed bankruptcy, the federal government would propel newly competitive and viable automakers, rather than seal their fate with a bailout check.

Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, was a candidate for this year’s Republican presidential nomination.

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

MOON and the National Post have it right!

[Not only does MOON get it right, but the National Post GETS IT RIGHT! I could not agree more. When unelected 'human rights' boards ignore our most fundamental right in a democracy, that of free speech, then it is time they get their wings clipped if not eliminating them entirely. Since they are not subject to the rules of evidence as in a court, they are open to personal demagoguery and board bias which has absolutely NO PLACE in a democracy. Any totalitarian government that has ever come to power came AFTER limiting the right of free speech! Socialistic, fascist or dictatorships; it does not matter, that is how they all start. Thanks to the NP for airing the truth.]

The National Post editorial board states that "The Moon report gets it right"

Posted: November 24, 2008

‘The principal recommendation of this report is that section 13 be repealed so that the censorship of Internet hate speech is dealt with exclusively by the criminal law.” We can’t recall the last time reading 28 words gave us such an exquisite frisson.

On Monday, the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) released a consultant’s report calling for the federal human rights police to lose their power to censor speech on the Internet and in other forms of media. We wholeheartedly concur, and urge the federal government to pass legislation bringing about this change now, rather than waiting until after the drawn-out public consultation process proposed by the CHRC itself.

We will admit we had concerns initially about the ability of Richard Moon, a University of Windsor law professor, to conduct an impartial review of the commission’s hate speech powers. He had occasionally in the past expressed what might be described as a collectivist view of freedom of expression — one that appeared to put the desire to protect minorities from insult ahead of the individual’s right to speak his or her mind boldly. Before his selection, Prof. Moon had written that speech has a “social character,” with great “potential for harm.” If left unchecked, “it can cause fear, it can harass and it can undermine self-esteem.”

Radio-Canada Agrees to Air New Documentary

Radio-Canada Agrees to Air New Documentary November 10, 2008   Dear HonestReporting Canada subscriber: On October 31, we questioned why Radio-Canada, the French-arm of CBC, had aired the pro-Palestinian advocacy film "Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land" on its documentary program "Les grands reportages". We felt that in airing this film, Radio-Canada failed to inform its viewers that the "documentary" was not an objective study of media coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict, but instead was a pro-Palestinian advocacy tool with a political agenda, rife with errors and omissions that have seriously misled Canadians. Thanks to your many emails, Radio-Canada acknowledged that their host's introduction was poorly presented and out of context given Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005. Furthermore, the network committed to air additional "documentaries providing different perspectives on the situation in Israel and Gaza" in the coming months. Many of our members who complained to Radio-Canada received the following reply from their Director of Complaints for French Services, which noted among other things, that the film was "clearly pro-Palestinian": "Dear Sir or Madam,      We received your comments about the documentary Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land, whose French version aired October 23 on RDI as part of Les grands reportages.   First, allow me to briefly explain the context in which we air documentaries. It is an acknowledged fact that with the documentary format, the author's perspective forms a significant part of the production. In nearly all cases, these films are shot by directors with no affiliation to Radio-Canada. We choose to broadcast them because we feel they contain noteworthy information.   In airing point-of-view documentaries, Radio-Canada is not endorsing the opinions they contain. Rather, we are fulfilling our duty to reflect a diverse range of viewpoints on topics of public interest.   Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land contained relevant information for Canadians about how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is covered in the US media. It was a US-made documentary produced by the Media Education Foundation and distributed by Mundovision.   That said, the film is a partial update of a documentary shot four years ago, before Israel withdrew from Gaza. Consequently, our introduction should have placed it in the context of 2004, rather than present it as reflecting the current challenges of the Middle East in the run-up to the 2008 US presidential election.   It did indeed present a highly personal point of view on the conflict-one that we acknowledge was clearly pro-Palestinian. Rest assured that we have recently acquired other documentaries providing different perspectives on the situation in Israel and Gaza, which we plan to air in the coming months.   I hope you find these comments satisfactory. If not, and should you see fit to do so, you may ask the CBC/Radio-Canada French Services Ombudsman to review the case.   Best Regards,   Geneviève Guay, Director, Complaints Handling Information, French Services"   While we credit Radio-Canada for acknowledging that their introduction of the film was placed out of context and for agreeing to air additional documentaries to provide a range of different perspectives on the Mideast, notwithstanding, this issue isn't about achieving equitable balance over time as our original complaint contended. Airing a "Pro-Israel" documentary at a later date doesn't absolve the network for its original sin in airing a "pro-Palestinian" propaganda film rife with errors and replete of serious omissions. It could be reasonably argued, that had our members and the community at large not taken action in the first place, prompting Radio-Canada to air an additional documentary, only a pro-Palestinian perspective would have been disseminated to Radio-Canada's viewing audience. By broadcasting this film, Radio-Canada abdicated its responsibility as a public broadcaster to do the necessary quality control checks which should have ensured that this pro-Palestinian advocacy film was not aired in the first place. As the film certainly didn't adhere to Radio-Canada's journalistic standards for "point-of-view documentaries in the sense of advocacy", in order for Radio-Canada to remedy this situation in a way that maintains its credibility, it's incumbent upon the network's Ombudsman to formally review this matter.   What You Can Do To Make A Difference:   By voluntarily disclosing its journalistic lapses and how it will prevent them in the future, Radio-Canada can strengthen its credibility and become a stronger news organization. Ask Radio-Canada Ombudsman Ms. Julie Miville-Dechene to conduct a formal review of Radio-Canada's October 23 presentation of the film "Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land" to determine if the network's presentation of the film adhered to Radio-Canada standards of broadcasting and codes of ethics. Please send letters to ombudsman@radio-canada.ca or call (514) 597-4757 to ask for a review.   HonestReporting.ca   To support our continued efforts to hold the Canadian news media accountable for their reporting on Israel, please donate here today. Through your donations, you can help ensure that Canadian journalists are held to the highest standards of "Honest Reporting."     Or send a cheque to:   HonestReporting Canada PO Box 6, Station Q Toronto, Ontario M4T 2L7 (416) 915-9157 Thank you for your ongoing commitment to fair and accurate media coverage of Israel and the Middle East

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Radio-Canada Wrong In Airing Pro-Palestinian Advocacy Film

Radio-Canada Wrong In Airing Pro-Palestinian Advocacy Film October 31, 2008   Dear HonestReporting Canada subscriber:     On October 23, Radio-Canada, the French arm of the CBC, aired the pro-Palestinian advocacy film "Peace, propaganda and the promised land" on its documentary film program "Les grands reportages". By airing a film rife with false premises, serious omissions, and unfounded malicious allegations, the network not only misinformed Canadians about the politics and history of the Middle East, it also breached its own journalistic standards and practices by airing a one-sided partisan polemic bent on vilifying a fellow democracy, the state of Israel.   Introducing the film, Radio-Canada host Simon Durivage's rhetorical questions and leading opinions parroted the film's anti-Israel thesis. To view the introduction click here or on the image below.   (Note: HRC English translation appears below) Durivage: "Peace, propaganda and the promised land. Do the American media view Israeli settlement of occupied territories as a defensive gesture only? ... According to Middle East experts, for forty years, the settlement policy of the Hebrew state has grown inside the occupied Palestinian territories. Result: daily violence on both the Palestinian and Israeli side. So what message do the American media convey regarding this interminable conflict? Do they distort the judgment of our southern neighbours?" Ironically, it's Radio-Canada and Durivage who have distorted the judgment of Canadian viewers by presenting the Arab narrative as fact by exclusively blaming violence on Israeli settlements and ignoring all other possible causes for the conflict. The film, which was produced in 2003/4 by the Media Education Foundation, an advocacy group whose mandate is to "answer the challenge posed by the radical and accelerating corporate threat to democracy" and whose board of advisors includes the likes of notorious anti-Israel activists like Noam Chomsky and Naomi Klein, claims to show "the foreign policy interests of American political elites - working in combination with Israeli public relations strategies - exercise a powerful influence over news reporting about the Middle East conflict." To view the "documentary" in its entirety (80-minutes in length) please click here or on the image below. (Note: Radio-Canada aired an edited down and more condensed one-hour version of the film with French-language voice-overs) A New York Times review of the film found that the "pro-Palestinian documentary attempts to prosecute Israel in the court of U.S. public opinion", while noting that the "documentary largely ignores Palestinian leadership, which has surely played a part in the conflict's broken vows and broken hearts. And such a lack of dispassion weakens the one-sided film's bold and detailed argument." Likewise, a scholarly analysis of the film by Yitzhak Santis, the Director of Middle East Affairs for the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) in 2004, noted that the film was full of "decontextualizations, disinformation, selective emphasis and blatant lies, lack of balancing perspectives, lack of citations/documentation to back up assertions of facts, omission of facts, and straw man argumentations." To read the full report online please click here. Among its many flaws, the film presents quotes from radical anti-Israel activists presenting them as if they were objective commentators to the conflict, it shows a series of news reports out of context and without explanation, and makes blanket statements about Israeli/Jewish attempts to control the media which are baseless and without merit. Furthermore, the film virtually ignores terrorism against Israeli civilians and the very well known Palestinian intimidation of the press. Santis' report concludes by noting that "It should be incumbent upon public television stations that hold the trust of its viewers to promote "truth in packaging" by informing its audience that this is not an objective study of media coverage of this conflict, but an advocacy piece with a political agenda." The film, which offered "special thanks" in its credits to pro-Palestinian organizations like: Electronic Intifadah, Al Awda, International Solidarity Movement, and the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee, was also dedicated in the memory of famous pro-Palestinian activist Edward Said. At a bare minimum, Radio-Canada should have tested the program against the organization's guidelines for "point-of-view documentaries in the sense of advocacy". According to Radio-Canada's guidelines for Journalistic Standards and Practices: "Great caution should be taken to protect the integrity of the Corporation's impartiality in information programming and its independence of special interest groups... In considering such works of opinion or argument for broadcast, the CBC (read Radio-Canada) has to assure fairness and balance by other means. The CBC should also guard against political or economic interest groups and lobbies exploiting this avenue." Radio-Canada asks its own programmers to apply various tests when deciding whether or nor to feature a particular documentary. It asks programmers to ensure that "a production should be of particular excellence and pertinence in the eyes of the CBC", that the film "should be prominently identified as a work of opinion at the beginning and at the end", that the "CBC must be completely satisfied that this work is financed independently from any party having a direct interest in the issue", that facts should be "respected and arguments should reasonably flow from those facts... to ensure that the argument presented does not rest on false evidence", and finally that "the broadcast of a clearly partisan production from a single perspective obligates the CBC to provide an appropriate reflection of other pertinent points of view." Using the national broadcaster's own guidelines, the film can't be defined as being of a "particular excellence" given its numerous errors and misrepresentations and its clear nature as an advocacy piece for pro-Palestinian propaganda purposes. Finally, as Radio-Canada has failed to provide alternative perspectives, the network failed to give "an appropriate reflection of other pertinent points of view" as a counterbalance. Radio-Canada has abdicated its responsibility to do the necessary due diligence and quality control checks which should have ensured that this film was not aired in the first place. While we do not endorse actions to censor the media, by the fact that this film failed to live up to Radio-Canada's own litmus test for documentary standards, it is incumbent upon the network to atone for its mistake in news judgment for airing this shoddy pro-Palestinian advocacy film.   What You Can Do To Make A Difference:  Tell Radio-Canada that its October 23 broadcast of "Peace, propaganda and the promised land" on "Les grands reportages" failed to inform its viewers that the film was not an objective study of media coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict, but a pro-Palestinian advocacy tool with a political agenda, rife with errors and omissions that have seriously misled Canadians. Ask Radio-Canada to apologize, to conduct a formal review, and to implement stricter quality control protocols to ensure that this doesn't happen again. Please send polite and rational emails to Radio-Canada Ombudsman Julie Miville-Dechene at ombudsman@radio-canada.ca or call (514) 597-4757 to voice your concerns.   HonestReporting.ca   To support our continued efforts to hold the Canadian news media accountable for their reporting on Israel, please donate here today. Through your donations, you can help ensure that Canadian journalists are held to the highest standards of "Honest Reporting."     Or send a cheque to:   HonestReporting Canada PO Box 6, Station Q Toronto, Ontario M4T 2L7 (416) 915-9157   Thank you for your ongoing commitment to fair and accurate media coverage of Israel and the Middle East

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