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Just Journalism Newsletter 21th November 2008

Analysis this week DISTORTION OF CEMETERY STORY         Wisenthal Center confirms that BBC distorted the facts MILIBAND'S MIDDLE EAST TOUR        Settler export row and visit to Syria GAZA-ISRAEL FIGHTING        Renewed coverage of rockets and raids PERES IN THE UK        BBC News website focuses on hostilities in Oxford The week's media in numbers 46 press articles concerning Israel 11 % of which focused on the Gaza humanitarian situation 22 BBC News website articles concerning Israel 41 % of which focused on Gaza humanitarian situation TOP Breaches in journalistic standards BBC News website | 'Row over Muslim cemetery' (8th November 2008) USE OF INAPPROPRIATE OR MANIPULATED IMAGES TO ILLUSTRATE STORIES | The photo of a Muslim gravestone used to illustrate this story gave a false impression about a site Israel has allocated for construction of a new museum. DISTORTION OF INFORMATION | This article gave a false impression about a site Israel has allocated for construction of a new museum. Read Just Journalism's analysis here. BBC Radio 4 | Today Programme (8th November 2008) DISTORTION OF INFORMATION | This broadcast gave a false impression about a site Israel has allocated for construction of a new museum. Read Just Journalism's analysis here.  BBC Distortion of cemetery story · On 8 November a report by Wyre Davies was broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Today programme about an Israeli Supreme Court ruling in favour of the Simon Wiesenthal Center to build a museum of tolerance in Jerusalem. Listen to the report here. · Davies' report gave the clear impression that the Center plans to build over the Muslim Mamilla cemetery. In fact, building is only due to take place on an adjacent car park. · The BBC News website also carried the story, including the same journalistic breach as the radio version, as well as a further breach for using an inappropriate photo. The article was later amended to include the Wiesenthal Center's contention that they were only building on the car park. However, at the time of writing, the BBC article still features a photo of gravestones in the Mamilla cemetery, draped with an anti-Israel sign. · Founder and Dean of the Los Angeles-based Wiesenthal Center Rabbi Marvin Hier told Just Journalism: "I gave a long interview to Wyre Davies of the BBC, making it absolutely clear that the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Museum is only being built on the Jerusalem municipal car park and not on the adjacent area which is still a Muslim cemetery. Somehow Wyre Davies excluded this vital fact from his final report, creating a distorted picture of events." · Just Journalism is pursuing this issue with the BBC. Read Just Journalism's analysis here. TOP   Miliband's Middle East tour  · This week, Foreign Minister David Miliband visited the Middle East. Coverage focused on two aspects of the visit.  · Firstly, media reporting of Miliband's meetings in Israel highlighted the current diplomatic dispute over the UK's plans to change labelling requirements for imports from Israeli settlements. · The Times named Asda and Marks & Spencer as British supermarkets which would be affected by such a change. Both the Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph stated that the plan 'has echoes of the... system for South African fruit and vegetables during apartheid'. The Guardian also covered the story in two articles, one by Toni O'Loughlin about Amos Oz and one by Ian Black and Rory McCarthy about Miliband's overtures to Syria. · Coverage also focused on Miliband's high-profile meeting with the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, widely reported as further evidence of a growing détente between the UK and Syria. The FT described the talks as 'evading the real challenge: dealing with Iran', while both The Times and The Daily Telegraph carried leading articles stressing the need for Syria to end its relationship with anti-Israel groups in the region. TOP  Gaza-Israel fighting  · Coverage of conflict between Israel and Hamas has continued this week. Several outlets described the truce as 'fragile' and 'tenuous', with the Evening Standard carrying 'Gaza and Israel on the brink of new war' as a headline.  · Only The Times and The Independent mentioned that an Israeli had been injured in Sderot. The Timeswas also the only outlet to give a figure for the number of rockets fired at Israel.  · All coverage described the Palestinians killed as 'gunmen' or 'militants', except for an article in The Times which stated, 'At least 17 Palestinians have died, and several Israelis have been wounded.'  · Israel's closure of all crossing points with the Gaza strip was also widely reported. Saturday's Independent led its foreign section with an article on 'an explosive report by the Red Cross on a humanitarian tragedy'.  · Across the press, nearly every article quoted criticisms of the blockade by John Ging, Director of UNRWA. Letters critical of Israel were published in Tuesday's Independent, including one from academics denied entry to Gaza. Friday's edition also included differing perspectives on 'Starvation in Gaza', from the Khaleej Times (Dubai) and The Jerusalem Post respectively. TOP   Peres in the UK  · Israeli President Shimon Peres arrived in London on Monday for a four-day official visit.  · Coverage was sparse, but BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Tuesday carried an interview with the President in which he spoke about his hopes for the future. The Times was the only broadsheet to cover Peres' visit.  · The BBC News website published two articles on Peres, both focusing on his address to Oxford University students, which was marred by protests. The website did not report Shimon Peres' Wednesday address to a joint meeting of both Houses of Parliament. TOP Quote of the week "They say 'land for peace' - we are ready to provide land but we would like to be sure that we shall get peace; what we are not ready [to do] is to give land and get back rockets." Shimon Peres, Today programme, 18th November 2008 For more information or to contact us, please visit www.justjournalism.com Just Journalism does not endorse the views and opinions presented in the articles above.