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Just Journalism Newsletter 5 February 2010

This Week In today's newsletter: ·  The Independent's failure to distinguish comment from news ·  Iranian state run Press TV covers Just Journalism's Financial Times report   The Independent presents Robert Fisk polemics as news On two occasions during the last week The Independent failed to distinguish between fact and opinion in its Middle East coverage as is required by the Press Complaints Commission Code of Conduct. The Code clearly states under Section 1: Accuracy that: 'The Press, whilst free to be partisan, must distinguish clearly between comment, conjecture and fact.' Both cases involved reporting by commentator Robert Fisk, whose editorialised pieces have been misrepresented to readers as news reporting many times in the past (30 Dec 2008, 17 July 2008, 29 Nov 2007, 6 Sep 2007, 18 Aug 2007, 14 Aug 2007). Just Journalism has brought this to the attention of The Independent and is awaiting a response. The first of the latest cases involved a double page spread which led the publication's World News section on Saturday 30 January. The main article, 'In the West Bank's stony hills, Palestine is slowly dying' is presented as news and the second article, 'Why does the US turn a blind eye to Israeli bulldozers?' - also authored by Fisk - is clearly labelled 'Comment'. However, the style of the two pieces is indistinguishable. The first article is imbued with a tone critical of Israel and contains numerous instances of conjecture and comment. For example, of demolition orders for the Palestinian village Jiftlik, Fisk writes: 'it all looks like ethnic cleansing via bureaucracy. Perverse might be the word for the paperwork involved. Obscene appear to be the results.' Later the author notes: 'I came across an even more outrageous example of this apartheid-by-permit in the village of Zbeidat.' This language clearly constitutes comment and not news reporting. As such, The Independent was obligated to distinguish the article as comment as it did with Fisk's second article, 'Why does the US turn a blind eye to Israeli bulldozers?' By positioning both articles together in the World News section and labelling only one as comment, the false implication to readers was that 'In the West Bank's stony hills, Palestine is slowly dying' was a news report. Mocking tone and accusations of 'slaughter' Three days later on Tuesday 2 February, another double page spread leading The Independent's News section failed again to identify Robert Fisk's article as comment and not news. 'Israel feels under siege. Like a victim. An underdog' opens, 'So the propaganda war is on.' And continues by ironically calling on readers to 'Forget' a chronology of mass casualty events in Middle East history for which he holds Israel accountable. The least impartially expressed of these reads:                                                                                   Continue reading here. Iranian state TV reports Just Journalism's work Following the release by Just Journalism of 'Financial Times 2009: A year of Middle East editorials' the Iranian state run Press TV channel reported its findings on Wednesday in a news bulletin. Watch the broadcast here. The comprehensive review of Middle East editorials in the FT in 2009 revealed important trends in the publication's attitude towards Israel and has gained wide coverage in the international media, including articles in The New Republic, Commentary Magazine and Jerusalem Post. If you haven't seen the report, you can view it here. Regarding BBC Panorama, Just Journalism has submitted a formal complaint and is awaiting a response. View details of the complaint in our web publication, 'BBC Panorama: Misleading account of east Jerusalem shooting'. For all our reports and analysis, visit www.justjournalism.com 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, documentaries and programmes referred to above.