Posted: 5/3/2018 7:42:00 PM
Author: Brian Flood
Source: This article originally appeared on the Fox News website on May 2, 2018.
Media watchdog hangs billboard outside New York Times office accusing paper of bias against Israel
by Brian Flood
Media group CAMERA slams The New York Times for biased coverage against Israel.
Media group CAMERA slams The New York Times for biased coverage against Israel.
A pro-Israel media watchdog group has plastered an enormous billboard outside the headquarters of The New York Times that condemns the paper for alleged biased coverage against Israel.
The billboard, put up by The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), reads “The New York Times” in the paper’s signature font with the message, “At it again: Defaming Israel with distorted ‘news.’”
CAMERA bills itself as the world’s oldest and largest Middle East media-monitoring and educational organization. The group’s executive director Andrea Levin said in a statement that the sign “represents the collective voice of hundreds of thousands of people” who are frustrated at the paper’s “shoddy reporting and bias” against Israel.
“We're inundated with complaints about the New York Times, and for good reason,” Levin said.
The New York Times did not immediately respond to request for comment.
CAMERA also created a timeline of what it considers the Times’ “stumbles” when covering the Arab-Israeli conflict. The timeline features 18 examples of alleged bias against Israel since the CAMERA project began in December 2017. The group accuses the Times of everything from ignoring anti-Semitic rhetoric from Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to putting a spotlight on a decade-old recording of the Israeli prime minister's wife losing her temper during a phone call.
“Numerous examples of error-ridden articles at the Times have been documented by CAMERA analysts,” Levin said. "There are years when the coverage seems more attentive to objectivity and balance and other times when opinion pours into the 'news' and editors allow this – and refuse to correct clear-cut factual errors. We seem to be back in one of those periods."
CAMERA senior research analyst Gilead Ini said in a statement that he wants the paper to live up to its own standards of accuracy and accountability.
“The New York Times can and should provide excellent journalism, but unfortunately its coverage of Israel right now is often marred by errors, bias, and significant omissions. In the recent Gaza violence driven by Hamas, to mention just one instance, the Times termed the barrages of fire bombs, rocks and attempts to tear down the border fence an 'experiment with nonviolent protest,’” Ini said.
CAMERA also used a massive billboard to bring attention to what the group considers biased coverage of Israel by the Times back in 2013. The group said that the current version is in a high-traffic setting and will be seen by roughly 100,000 people per day.
“Once again, readers won't be silent when Israel is maligned by the publication,” Levin said.
