Just Journalism Update
THIS WEEK: Read about the UK media's muted response to Iranian President Ahmadinejad's tirade against Israel at the UN.
ALSO: See JJ analysis of Tzipi Livni's treatment in the comment and editorial sections of the UK press, along with the JJ take on how this week's Jerusalem attack was covered.
NEXT WEEK: Our observations of coverage of Paul McCartney in Israel, PLUS JJ analysis of today's Guardian front page and leading article.
MUTED RESPONSE TO IRAN RANT AT UN
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad escalated his verbal attacks on Israel at the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday 23 September. In a highly inflammatory speech, the Iranian president described ‘Zionists' as ‘deceitful', ‘murderous', ‘acquisitive' and ‘criminal'.
• The Times: This was the only publication which labelled the speech anti-Semitic and prioritised reporting the anti-Israel element, as highlighted by the story headline, Iran points the finger at 'Zionists' for turmoil in global financial markets. Catherine Philp described the address as ‘rambling' and ‘punctuated by anti-Semitic bluster', noting the ‘series of startling attacks on Israel and Jews in general, blaming them for all the world's ills.'
• BBC web: Iran defends nuclear plans at UN, as the title suggests, focused on Ahmadinejad's comments on the Iranian nuclear programme, namely that his country ‘will resist ‘bullying powers' trying to thwart its peaceful nuclear ambitions.'
However, a significant portion of the piece was devoted to the Iranian leader's tirade against Israel, and his accusation that Zionists are manipulating Europe and America and prediction that Israel is heading for collapse were reported.
Comment was also sought from Israeli President Shimon Peres, who was quoted comparing Ahmadinejad's speech with the conspiracy forgery, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The BBC itself failed to label the speech as anti-Semitic, merely reporting that ‘pro-Israeli groups in the US' viewed it as such.
• The Guardian: New York correspondent Ed Pilkington's piece covered President Bush's speech in the main and contained only a short mention of the Israel-related content of the Iranian address. He cited the Iranian leader's comment that, ‘a small but deceitful minority of people called Zionists are playing with the American public,' interpreting this as an accusation that Israel is controlling the presidential contest.
• Evening Standard: Ed Harris, like the BBC website, focused on the nuclear aspect of Ahmadinejad's speech in ‘Iranian leader attacks US nuclear ‘bullying'' but closed with the allegation that Europe and America are being manipulated by ‘murderous Zionists'.
JERUSALEM ATTACK OR JERUSALEM ‘ATTACK'?
On Monday 22 September an East Jerusalem Palestinian drove into a group of Israelis near the Old City in Jerusalem, injuring nineteen. The incident received coverage across the media, with reports on the BBC Ten O'clock News, ITV's News at Ten and BBC Radio 4's Today Programme, as well as in four national newspapers and the BBC News website.
On the whole, the coverage was limited to brief bulletins, rather than the graphic spreads devoted to the two bulldozer attacks earlier this year. The main issue arising from reporting was that of whether or not this was a terrorist attack.
• The BBC News website was cautious in its reporting of the attack, describing it as an ‘apparent attack', and posted an entire article, titled, Jerusalem crash ‘not deliberate', based entirely on the claims of the driver's relatives.
• Of The Guardian, The Independent, The Times and Daily Mirror, only The Times labelled what happened as an attack, with the rest opting to merely relate the fact that Israeli police said that it was an attack. The Independent followed up its initial article with a brief report about the denial of the family on 24 September.
UK EDITORIAL LINE ON LIVNI
In addition to a raft of news reports covering Tzipi Livni's victory in the Kadima leadership elections, all five daily broadsheets ran comment and editorial pieces on the wider implications of a Livni premiership.
• Editorial coverage focused on what a government headed by Tzipi Livni would mean for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Most expressed cautious optimism. The Independent headline read Hope of a better future for Israel and Palestine, while The Daily Telegraph ran with Give Livni a chance.
• This optimism was not reflected in The Independent and Financial Times. In an uncharacteristically critical leader, which claimed that Sharon's disengagement plans would in effect ‘confine [Palestinians] to about 12 per cent of historic Palestine', the FT argued that failure to keep the peace process alive would ‘guarantee another generation of strife.'
• A leading article in The Independent warned that while ‘Israel's controversial security wall may have stopped the suicide bombs for the time being… [Livni] must not be lulled into thinking she has the luxury of time'. Johann Hari's A last chance for peace in Israel? used the election results to attack Israel , accusing Israelis of being ‘desensitised …to the violence committed in [Israel's] name' and predicting a ‘South Africa Redux' if a two-state solution fails.
• Another focus for discussion was Israel's system of proportional representation, with the FT devoting its leading article to that subject. While all of the papers highlighted how the system, which often gives minority parties a deciding vote, only The Daily Telegraph depicted this as “the price of maintaining the Middle East's only democracy.”
BREACHES OF JOURNALISTIC PRINCIPLES
• Five killed in Gaza tunnel blast, BBC News website, September 24, 2008 –MISREPRESENTATION OF FACTS
STORIES OF INTEREST
Iraqi lawmaker promotes relations with Israel
BBC Radio 4's PM programme spoke to Mithal al-Alusi, an Iraqi parliamentarian who has visited Israel and is the subject of death threats on account of his willingness to reach out to the Jewish State. This programme is available to listen to until Sunday 28 September.
BBC probes Iran's anti-Zionism
The BBC News Website used the recent controversy over President Ahmadinejad's support of a minister who claimed ‘Iran is friends with the American and Israeli people' to investigate the phenomenon of anti-Zionism in Iran in uncharacteristic detail.
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