For anyone not aware, the Gazette’s parent company CanWestGlobal has been engaged in a war of words with the CBC about its media bias on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. CanWestGlobal has pointed a finger at the CBC for refusing to use the word “terrorist” and for reports that are biased towards the Palestinians. The CBC has counter-accused CWG of being biased towards the Israeli side. And most Canadians have dismissed the exchange as inter-media rivalry.
Now (via reader Stuart Rothman), the CBC’s mideast correspondant, Neil Macdonald, has been implicated in a media bias scandal. Macdonald, by the way, was a key opposer to the Canadian government’s decision to ban Hezbollah, and apparently holds strong person anti-Israel views. He tried to hatch a plan to embarrass Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon . . . but it backfired on him.
Macdonald spearheaded a drive to boycott the prime minister’s annual party for members of the Foreign Press Association (FPA), which represents 300 foreign correspondents working in Israel. Macdonald wrote to fellow FPA members, suggesting that “on an official level, let the FPA send a single representative to the reception. Meanwhile, I intend to be absent. And I urge my colleagues to find other work that day, too.”
Macdonald’s scheme was to have Prime Minister Sharon show up to an empty banquet hall.
In the end, 300 journalists packed Jerusalem’s David Citadel Hotel on January 20 — and it was Macdonald who was embarrassed.
Whether or not this drives the CBC to modify its policy, Macdonald has obviously overstepped his bounds as a reporter. The CBC is a primary news source for many Canadians, and this blatant bias against Israel is no small matter. Millions of Canadians are forming decisions based on what they see on the CBC.
Visit the Honest Reporting story for contact info for the key people at the CBC, and let them know how disgusted you are by this.
Update: Neil Macdonald is denying these allegations now. He claims that he merely supported the call for the boycott, not tried to organize it. Apparently, Macdonald, along with other members of the FPA, are angry because Israel revoked the credentials of some members of the Palestinian press with links to terrorist organizations.
But no, I suppose supporting terrorist reporters wouldn’t be biased, right Neil?
Any journalist with any integrity should have boycotted Sharon’s little PR party and gone to the West Bank and Gaza instead to report on the daily atrocities perpetuated on the Palestinian people by the Israeli government and occupation forces.
Sari,
This has nothing to do with the post, but i thought you’d like to know that you were awarded “Site of the Day” from Right Wing News (www.rightwingnews.com)
Woohoo! Good for you. Congrats.
This is the reply I recieved from an email I sent to the CBC Ombudsman regarding the Neil MacDonald story:
This is in response to your e-mail. We investigated the situation which you write about, and have found that the website article containing these allegations is incorrect.
There were two events scheduled this past Sunday, January 19 in Israel: a news conference with the Prime Minister, and a cocktail party put on by Israels Government
Press Office. Attendance at the news conference was never at issue. No one ever suggested that not the Foreign Press Association or the CBC. There was never any
doubt that CBC would attend the conference. CBC did, in fact, attend the news conference. Neil Macdonald would have been there had he been in the country. He
was traveling back to Israel from Canada at the time of the news conference. This issue comes out of a deepening rift between the Israeli Government Press Office (GPO)
and the foreign journalists working in Israel. It is a complicated issue and certainly there are two sides.
In substance, the foreign reporters feel their ability to cover stories has been inhibited by a series of restrictions imposed by the GPO. Those restrictions include stripping
accreditation from practically all their Palestinian staff and at the same time, limiting accreditation and visas for foreign television crews. The only ones who can safely
cover Palestinian areas are Palestinian crews. The GPO for its part argues that Israel is in a state of conflict with Palestinians and should not be giving them press
credentials.
In light of the year-long dispute, the Foreign Press Associations board of directors wrote to FPA members saying that they felt it would be inappropriate to celebrate at a
Government Press Office social event. The FPA board said it would not attend, but individual members should decide themselves whether to attend or not. The board
made it clear that this had nothing to do with the Prime Ministers news conference a separate and important event.
As a member of the FPA, the CBCs Neil Macdonald was one of those individuals who decided not to attend the GPO cocktail party. It was also a feeling expressed by
many other FPA members from a variety of countries. That decision indeed that issue had nothing whatever to do with the Prime Ministers news conference, which
went ahead as scheduled and was covered by the CBC.
Sincerely,
Jean Marsh
Communications Officer, CBC.