Keeping the media honest about the Middle East.

By Ami Isseroff

Opponents of slanted Middle East media coverage have a new ally – "Just Journalism" in the UK. The new organization is headed by London-based Egyptian born Adel Darwish, a veteran professional journalist, Middle East expert, author of four books and a warm friend of peace for Israel and the Palestinians. But Adel has always believed that being a friend of peace must not involve lying and distorting the truth.

The "Just Journalism" Web site states:

"Just Journalism" aims to promote accurate and responsible reporting about Israel in the British media. We believe that core journalistic principles are regularly being compromised, and that reporting is often far from impartial, accurate or balanced. This makes it harder for viewers and readers to develop an educated and informed opinion of Israel and the Middle East. Just Journalism's mission is to heighten awareness of the fundamental journalistic principles underlying the media's responsibility to the public in this area.

Darwish says,

"We are aware of the huge impact the media have on public opinion and policy making, as well as the consequences of some of the media reporting of Israel, "Just Journalism" aims to increase awareness of the fundamental journalistic principles underlying the media's responsibility to society."

"Just Journalism" will use public, accepted criteria of journalistic professionalism and ethics to analyze media for omissions, distortions and bias. They publish at least some of their raw data at the Web site, such as this biased account of causes of the Intifada. These data will be the bases of in-depth reports about journalistic coverage of the Middle East.

The principle focus of media watchdogs like Just Journalism has to be to improve reporting, rather than simply eliciting after-the-fact retractions from media. Retractions are not enough. The right answer at the wrong time just isn't good enough. Many people view media retractions and apologies as victories for the truth, and they are. We also tend to respect journals that are honest enough to correct their errors. But when the same sort of errors occur repeatedly, we should be suspicious. The job of the journalist is to get it right the first time after all. It really won't do to admit you've falsely accused someone of murder after they've been lynched.

During the recent Israeli operation in Gaza, we were subject to a flood of biased and inaccurate reports about an Israeli "Holocaust" in which over a hundred "civilians" were murdered in cold blood. The damage done by these distortions in real rime cannot be undone by belated retractions. In April of 2002, the media carried fabricated stories of an Israeli massacre in Jenin during operation Defensive Shield. The lie was planted, and reaction was swift. Belated retractions, many months later, could not erase the lie of the "Jenin Massacre," which continues to have wide credibility. The same problems plagued coverage of the Lebanon war in 2006. The recent biased coverage in Gaza shows that no lessons were learned and virtually nothing has changed in the world of journalism. "Just Journalism" will continue to have a lot of work reporting media bias for the foreseeable future.

Ami Isseroff

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