Report cites extreme portrayal of settlers, marginalization of Palestinians.
By TALYA HALKINpress settlers media 298(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
The Israeli media failed the test of covering the disengagement - according to a new report released Tuesday by Keshev, The Center for the Protection of Democracy in Israel.
An extreme portrayal of settlers, and a marginalization of the Palestinians and of the political and historical implication of the process, are the two issues sited in the report as the media's most glaring failures.
"The disengagement was portrayed as an internal Israeli tragedy that had almost no context, and at whose center stood two groups of victims - the evacuating forces and the evacuees. The threats of both the disengagement opponents and the Palestinians were magnified, despite the fact that they did not take place in reality," the Keshev report states.
On Monday, Keshev appealed to Hebrew-language newspapers and TV channels in Israel to take care to report on the upcoming elections in a full and critical manner.
"The forthcoming elections underscore the necessity of fair, full, and critical reporting on issues at the center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," Keshev directors Yizhar Be'er and Daniel Dor wrote in their letter to the media. "Portraying the Palestinian perspective on the conflict and Israel's part in its unfolding have significant implications for the manner in which media consumers perceive of reality."
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