Anti-American and anti-Israel bias on CBC

The Canadian Jewish News ^ | December 15, 2004 | PAUL LUNGEN

[canadian bob]

CBC reporter accused of bias against Israel

By PAUL LUNGEN

Staff Reporter

Two Jewish organizations that monitor the media are taking CBC News to task for violating its own guidelines by allowing its Washington, D.C., correspondent to air personal views that they say are biased against Israel.

The Canada-Israel Committee (CIC) and HonestReporting Canada say CBC reporter Neil Macdonald has expressed personal views in several recent reports and commentaries, in contravention of the CBC’s own guidelines that restrict editorializing by news correspondents.

Invariably, Macdonald’s commentaries favour the Palestinians and come down hard on Israel, say spokespeople for the groups.

“Given Neil Macdonald’s reporting over the years, this is consistent with [him] imposing his own theoretical framework on the story,” said CIC communications director Paul Michaels. “It appears he is inserting his own viewpoint by lining up people who provide a highly controversial one-sided perspective. It’s part of a pattern.”

Dov Smith, executive director of HonestReporting Canada, said by inserting his personal views in a commentary piece that ran on the CBC’s website, Macdonald leaves open the question of how he can present himself as an unbiased reporter in subsequent stories.

Smith and Michaels point to three recent episodes involving Macdonald that they say fall short of the CBC’s own standards. The most recent related to his report on a terrorist attack on the American consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In his report, Macdonald interviewed Allen Keiswetter of the Middle East Institute who suggested the attacks could be traced back to anger at American policies on Arab-Israeli issues.

The United States is “now regarded as being very much in the pockets of [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon. And the second reason of course is Iraq,” said Keiswetter, the only person interviewed in the piece.

A second example cited by the two organizations is a “Viewpoints” article titled, “Defining ‘terrorism’ is harder than you’d think,” which was posted on the CBC’s website on Dec. 3. In it, Macdonald discusses the UN’s attempts to define “terrorism” and he addresses the argument that the definition of terrorism should not apply to those resisting occupation. Macdonald opines that if Texas were occupied, its citizens would “start shooting at any enemy target that presented itself, civilian or not.”

He goes on to say that “if Palestinians have committed terror, the Israelis have certainly committed war crimes.”

Macdonald also raises the question whether Jewish settlers, “thousands of whom are well armed and overtly bellicose, constitute civilians or combatants.”

A third example goes back to May when in a report on abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison facility in Iraq, Macdonald interviewed a pro-Arab lobbyist who suggested, without providing any evidence, that Israeli agents might have played a role in the scandal.

At the time, CBC ombudsman David Bazay investigated complaints about the Abu Ghraib report and found that while Macdonald was not in fact biased, his report on The National exposed the CBC to the appearance of bias. In a written response last week to The CJN’s most recent queries, Cynthia Kinch, director of programming for CBC Television News, responded only to the Jeddah story by noting the context of the interview with Allen Keiswetter, the Middle East expert.

“Mr. Keiswetter was making a point about U.S. foreign policy, expressing an opinion that the bombing can be seen as a reaction to U.S. policy in the Middle East, especially in relation to Israel. Mr. Keiswetter was fully contexted in the piece. We explained who he is and where his expertise comes from.

“The notion that journalists should not include opinion from experts on ANY story is not to understand what journalism is about.”

Michaels said the CIC’s concerns about Macdonald’s reporting go back to at least 2000, when he was stationed in Israel as the network’s Middle East correspondent. In September of that year, Macdonald wrote another Viewpoints piece on delays in the Palestinian declaration of statehood. That item prompted a complaint from the CIC, accusing him of presenting a “brazenly one-sided… depiction of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.”

In a response to then CIC national chair Joseph Wilder, Tony Burman, editor-in-chief of CBC News and Newsworld, wrote, “I concluded there were parts of it that could be interpreted as personal opinion rather than simply analysis. That is not something we allow our correspondents. I therefore instructed that it be taken off the website.”

Michaels said the CBC’s coverage of the Middle East, both in documentaries and news reports, has become much more balanced and fair since Macdonald was assigned to Washington.

However, his Dec. 3 Viewpoints “terrorism” piece reprised “the absolute sarcasm” that characterizes his reports, Michaels said.

The suggestion that Texans would wantonly shoot at anyone, civilian or not, and that there is a question whether Jewish settlers might be considered combatants, Michaels added, “is sarcastic and inflammatory and seems to endorse the killing of innocents. He leaves the impression of an endorsement of killing civilians. I don’t know how else to read that one.”

Smith said Honest Reporting believes Macdonald is biased against Israel. He “dragged Israel into stories where it doesn’t belong and suggested settlers are legitimate targets for terrorists.

As for Macdonald’s claim Israel commits war crimes, Smith asked, “In whose world? In his worldview?” Smith said Honest Reporting has asked its 5,000 subscribers to write to Burman and ask for the CBC to drop Macdonald’s reporting.

The CIC has called on Burman to investigate their concerns, while B’nai Brith Canada called on the CBC “to uphold basic journalist standards by immediately reviewing Macdonald’s conduct and acting on their findings… Failure to ensure his adherence to core journalistic principles would make the broadcaster complicit in a process through which double standards, demonization and deligitimization of Israel have become the order of the day.”

[canadian bob]

Neil MacDonald, the CBC’s most anti-American and anti-Israel reporter is vulnerable right now.

In a recent piece for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_macdonald/20041203.html), he throws in a gratuitous slur against Americans.

If occupied, MacDonald says, ordinary Americans would eagerly become terrorists themselves:

“One suspects that if Texas were occupied by a foreign power, its citizens would pull out their guns and start shooting at any enemy target that presented itself, civilian or not.”

This passage builds on a derogatory stereotype of Americans as gun-toting killers. Where does the CBC get off claiming ordinary Texans - or any other Americans - would commit murder? Thet they would become terrorists? This is an expression of pure anti-American prejudice. And at the CBC, promoting prejudice against a national group can be a firing offence.

So lets not let MacDonald get away with it.

Tell the CBC that, as an American, you don’t appreciate being insulted on the basis of your nationality, or as a Canadian, that you don’t appreciate the CBC broadcasting prejudice.

Complain to Tony Burman, editor-in-chief of CBC News, at Tony_Burman@cbc.ca

I don’t really know how to spread the word on this – but please pass this suggestion along to your friends. The CBC often shrugs off complaints about news bias. It’s more difficult to shrug off complaints about outright prejudice.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Reference material:

_______________________________________________

_________________________________________________

Unholy Alliance

by David Horowitz
Hardcover - (September 2004) - $27.95

In this tour de force on the most important issue of our time, David Horowitz, confronts the paradox of how so many Americans, including the leadership of the Democratic Party, could turn against the War on Terror. He finds an answer in a political Left that shares a view of America as the ?Great Satan? with America?s radical Islamic enemies.

[Conservative Canuck]

Sigh.

[Edgerunner]

“Mr. Keiswetter was making a point about U.S. foreign policy, expressing an opinion that the bombing can be seen as a reaction to U.S. policy in the Middle East, especially in relation to Israel.

and our response to bombing is bombing...do they REALLY expect us to abandon Israel?...They want to annihilate Israel! They need to remember that we have plenty of bombs...and some high yield ones...but what do I know...

[Bahbah]

"I don’t really know how to spread the word on this...."

Thanks for the post, Cb. Lots of people here are very good at "spreading the word" so I will ask them to consider it for their ping lists.

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

See post 1 for EMail address

[Alacarte]

In all fairness, the CBC comes no where close to making up for the aggressively pro-Israel bent of the canadian asper empire's can-west global empire.

Simply compare the two documentaries on concordia university's troubles with muslim/jewish students a few years back. "Confrontation at Concordia" by global, and "Discordia" by the CBC. The one by global was far more pro-israel than the CBC's version was pro-pal. In fact the global one was so blatantly biased, it's a mockery of journalism.

Considering you don't even mention CanWest who owns more than half the media outlets in canada and makes no bones about espousing it's position on pal/israel shows more than one bias here.

[Clive]

-

[Ashamed Canadian]

The CBC is completely anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, anti-American, anti-Israel, anti-Conservative. After watching a lifetime of that piece of sh*t channel, I think I can safely reach that conclusion.

[Ashamed Canadian]

Alacarte, you're full of sh*t, do everyone a favour - wander off onto an icepack and freeze to death.

[canadian bob]

Ernest,
Thanks for the reference.
I heard about this book awhile ago but then promptly forgot the title and author.
yours
cb

[canadian bob]

Thanks!
Now I'm going to reveal the full extent of my ignorance -
What's a ping list?
yours,
cb

[canadian bob]

The CBC is a publically funded broadcaster.
By law, it's required to provide balanced and accurate covereage of the news. It doesn't. It has a bias against Israel.
The Toronto Star, the Toronto Sun and the National Post all have their biases, too. This is unfortunate, but they're not breaking any laws and my tax dollars aren't helping them put their own slants on the news.
As for most papers in the Canwest group, I have no idea what kind of coverage they provide, because I don't read them.
You say they're all biased toward Israel. I doubt it. Probably you're mistaking an editorial position for a bias. But that's something completely different. An editorial is meant to give an opinion. Bias is when the news itself is slanted.
If you want unbiased news, read the Globe and Mail.
As for my "bias," I'm a private citizen in a democracy. I not only have a right to a partisan position, but an obligation to stand up for what I believe.
You might say that Neil MacDonald has a right to his partisan views, too. I agree. If he wants to argue in a bar that Israelis and Americans are evil and that terrorists have a right to murder, he can. It just makes him an assh*le.
But when he slants the news toward his bizarre worldview and uses the CBC as his personal soapbox, this is an appalling abuse of his position, and he should be fired.
yours,
cb

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

But when he slants the news toward his bizarre worldview and uses the CBC as his personal soapbox, this is an appalling abuse of his position, and he should be fired. yours, cb

Sounds about right to me...

You asked what is a ping list ....

Many residents of this forum find that they are interested in the same topic area and would like to read threads that are posted in that topic area. So many of us share that interest and broadcast that we will keep a list (Using something like notepad ) of Freepers ( Residents of this forum ) and when we become aware of a newly posted item in that topic area we will place the list in the To reply box and post it on the thread. In effect we are "pinging" them that a new item in the interest area has been posted and they have been pinged,.... they become aware of that by clicking on the pings at the top or the bottom of the Freerepublic screens...

Here is a thread with a lot of discussion , ... kinda of funny... but I'll put you into the thread where Farmfriend has been gracious enough to compile names of Freepers keeping ping lists for various topic areas. If you see something that interests you send a note and ask to be placed on their ping list....

Ping List Envy---How big is your Ping List?

The latest is at post #440, by the way.

It's a great way to stay really well informed...

[Bahbah]

"What's a ping list?"

See, for example, the "To" part of Clive's post #8. Some people keep a list of FReepers who are interested in certain topics (a ping list)and copy and paste them in to alert them to it. :-)

[Alacarte]

"The CBC is a publically funded broadcaster."

hmmm, yes that is a good point.

"Probably you're mistaking an editorial position for a bias."

Canwest is shamelessly pro-israel, the simple fact that they produced and had the gall to show "Confrontation at Concordia" under the auspice of a documentary is more than enough proof in itself. Granted, like you said, Canwest is private as opposed to the CBC, so this is different.

I am not familiar with MacDonald, but the examples you gave don't seem too bad to me. What is wrong with suggesting terrorism should not apply to people under occupation? Personally I think any act of violence against civilians for political reasons is terrorism. But how on earth are McDonalds comments anti-semitic?

"He goes on to say that “if Palestinians have committed terror, the Israelis have certainly committed war crimes.”"

I think this is a fair statemnt.

Some of your other examples did sound biased though, maybe he is anti-semitic. I just get very suspicious when I hear anyone called anti-semitic. It seems anyone who dares question israel is labelled as anti-semitic.

[headsonpikes]

You certainly live up to the promise of your tagline.

To suggest that the bias of Canwest is in any way morally equivalent to the long-standing perfidy, lies, and propaganda of the CBC is intellectually rotten, morally filthy, and politically rancid.

You succeed all round - now FOAD.

[canadian bob]

"Canwest is shamelessly pro-israel"
The Aspers are proudly pro-Israel. Canwest is a whole collection of newspapers and other media, each with its own editor and editorial dept. I'm familiar with only one of them.

Re. "Confrontation at Concordia" I haven't seen it.

I do know that at Concordia U, the thugs are all on one side of the issue and it's not the Israeli side.

"What is wrong with suggesting terrorism should not apply to people under occupation?"

First, there is no absolute right to resist occupation.
Israel occupied the West Bank & Gaza during a defensive war. It has absolutely no obligation to hand over sovereignty until the Palestinians agree not to repeat their past aggression.

Second, armed resistance to any occupation should always be a last resort. But the current Palestinian war against Israel is not a reaction to the occupation at all; it's a reaction to the peace offer that would have ended the occupation.

In short the Palestinians have no right to any kind of armed resistance.

Next, I agree that targeting civilians is always wrong. MacDonald is saying an exception should be made for people under occupation. They should be allowed to target civilians - men, women and children.

If you don't know what's wrong with it, I have a great sweatshirt I can send you. On the front it says: "I support terrorism" On the back it says: "Target civilians" above a big bull’s-eye.

"how on earth are McDonalds comments anti-semitic?"
You're getting my comments mixed up with someone else's. I've never said MacDonald is antisemitic. My jury's still out on that.

MacDonald is obviously prejudiced against Americans, though.

You write:
"He goes on to say that “if Palestinians have committed terror, the Israelis have certainly committed war crimes.'"

I think this is a fair statemnt."

I don't think MacDonald's position is fair at all. There are laws against certain acts committed in war. That's why we have the term "war crime." MacDonald is arguing against the UN adopting an enforceable definition of terrorism - in other words, he is arguing that non-state actors should be exempt from the rules of war (i.e. terrorism is okay for people "under occupation").

Under the rules MacDonald wants, if an Israeli soldier deliberately (or perhaps even accidentally) kills a non-combatant, that's a war crime. If Palestinians blow up a city bus or shoot children while their mother reads them a bedtime story, that's legitimate resistance.

Also, Israel does not commit war crimes. We do know that individual Israeli soldiers do sometimes commit crimes against Palestinians. We know this because Israel investigates reported abuses, prosecutes when there is sufficient evidence and convicts soldiers who are guilty.

Does the Palestinian leadership prosecute "militants" who murder Israeli civilians? Hardly. The leadership is directing the attacks. Their entire strategy has been to commit an on-going crime against humanity.

There is no equivalency between what Israel does and what the terrorists do. Israel attempts to minimize civilian casualties. The Palestinians attempt to maximize them.

[Alacarte]

"You succeed all round - now FOAD."

How can you, and so many people here get so angry and offfensive when people post things they disagree with. You made no defendable statements in your post, presented no intelligent ideas or comments... why did you even post? It affects my position none.

FOAD? I'm pretty sure I know what that means. You must be a terribly angry person for a complete stranger posting his opinion to make you upset enough to say something so offensive.

BTW, I hear it's your invisible friend's birthday this weekend, have fun at the party.

[headsonpikes]

I reread your posts, and stand firm in my opinions about you.

I have no interest in debate with a CBC-defending Canwest hater.

'FOAD' was a tad confrontational, so just FO.