[Ynet News] Danny Seaman - The al-Dura affair is the most conspicuous and blatant of the phenomenon of media manipulation undertaken by Palestinian workers employed by international media outlets. These employees stage, produce, and edit events and photos in a bid to slander Israel in the world. Media manipulation has turned into a strategic Arab weapon used against the State of Israel as an equalizer vis-a-vis Israel's military advantages. Often we see reports about some kind of harm done to the Palestinians by Israel that immediately make headlines worldwide. In many cases, the charges turn out to be false, yet the damage to Israel is already done. This stems from the fact that foreign networks do not do the minimum they should be doing - verifying sources and crosschecking information. After all, they always attribute reports to Palestinian reporters and always find "credible" sources that would confirm the charges. This may be forgiven the first and possibly second time. Yet once these revelations emerge time and again, we could expect foreign media outlets to be stricter and exhibit proper professional conduct before again leveling false charges at the State of Israel. Israel must insist on adherence to journalistic ethics and accurate reporting. The writer is director of the Israel Government Press Office.
2008-05-30 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive