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UK Media Blasted Over Israel
(Barnet & Potters Bar Times-UK) - Lawrence Marzouk The media bias against Israel and the Jewish community is at pre-Second World War levels, warned Daily Mail columnist Melanie Phillips at a debate last Sunday on "The Media and the Middle East" hosted by Michael Gove, assistant editor of The [London] Times. Both lambasted the British media, branding it dysfunctional, and attacked it for its pro-Palestinian slant on the coverage of Middle Eastern affairs. Phillips said: "It is not just the gullible, but the majority of the country, who have formed a very strong view over Iraq and believe that it is not so much a rogue state as Israel. What the public will be seeing of the State of Israel is not objective and not equal." Gove said: "I do not know how newspapers can get away with it. You can have criticism of the State of Israel but it is entirely different to say it shouldn't exist. It is applying to the Jew a different standard than you apply to anyone else." "It is Israel which is called into question, because criticizing Israel is far easier than for other countries." Both journalists claimed the press cherry-picked evidence to distort stories on the Middle East, and the lack of ethics shown by journalists in terms of cross-checking Palestinian versions of events was also criticized. The BBC was also condemned for its policy to seek balance rather than objectivity in reporting.