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BU prof using Web in bid to catch media's anti-Israel bias
A Boston University history professor has started a media watchdog Web site to grade journalists on their reporting of historic events out of the Middle East, and eventually elsewhere. Richard Landes, a professor of medieval French history, said he was so disturbed by what he saw as pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel reporting by the media that he lined up some funding and support to launch this week a Web site called the Second Draft (seconddraft.org). The site currently concentrates on what Landes calls the ``Pollywood'' coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli struggle â one Landes says is often aided by Palestinian film crews and reporters who present what he says are biased film clips and photos to a Western media that ends up using the material in television and newspaper reports. ``This is real grassroots stuff,'' Landes said of his site. ``I'm doing this as a citizen historian. . . . The people in the media are so reluctant to discuss such things.'' There are those who argue just the opposite of Landes â that the American media has been too soft on Israel and that critics of Middle East coverage are biased themselves, whether pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli. But Landes â whose Web site title plays on the phrase about journalists writing ``the first draft of history'' â said he has raw video proof on his site of a famous 2000 confrontation between Palestinians and Israelis. The video shows the event was partially staged by Palestinians, he said. ``We're not saying the media has got to get it right all the time,'' Landes said, noting deadlines and other constraints make it hard to sort and present facts during the rush of events. But media outlets that continue to repeat untruths, he says, is something that needs reporting. Landes said he hopes to cover other issues in the future, such as the turmoil in Sudan. Posted by: lotp 2005-09-15 |
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