Netanyahu's Settlement Two-Step
(AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)
All Blog Posts from Public Eye
Read all 'Israel' posts in Public Eye
September 8, 2009 12:32 AM On Sept. 6, CBS News.com ran a news item that underscored the textbook definition of chutzpah.
July 25, 2006 12:45 PM 
Much of YouTube’s success has burgeoned from circulating videos of a more humorous nature (take the substantial viewership of Connie Chung’s recent rendition of “Thanks For The Memories” during the final installment of her now defunct MSNBC program, for example.) But, as we noted earlier this week, the site is also fast becoming a worthwhile compendium of news reports and video commentaries about the conflict in Israel and Lebanon. The Washington Post's Sara Kehaulani Goo today takes a more detailed look at the site’s success on that front, while raising some of the issues that are often associated with such efforts in citizen journalism. “Although the amateur videos provide an appealingly intimate account of what's happening on the ground,” writes Goo, “it can be difficult to determine authenticity. The videos are often posted under pseudonyms or screen names that do not contain e-mail addresses.”
It’s a question that surrounds much of the information now readily available on the Web -- it’s raw, intense, but is it authentic? Reliable? Of course, outlets like YouTube aren’t – and do not purport to be – news outlets. And the site is up front about noting that it doesn’t monitor video content, “though it prohibits videos that are violent,” writes Goo.
In that sense, video clips like these certainly expand the landscape, but they have their limitations. One veteran journalist noted his concerns about the value of the “new Internet world” in an interview published in today’s USA Today. NPR analyst Daniel Schorr told Peter Johnson that the unfiltered nature of the new media like means fewer stories will be suppressed since “you can always have a blogger who gets the story out.” On the other hand, “what we have here is a medium in which there is no publisher, no editor, no anything. It's just you and a little machine and you can make history. I find that scary. Nobody should get into print or on the air without some kind of editor. I have an institutional belief that nobody can be above having a good editor.”
Reliable Sources In The Age Of YouTube
(AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
It’s a question that surrounds much of the information now readily available on the Web -- it’s raw, intense, but is it authentic? Reliable? Of course, outlets like YouTube aren’t – and do not purport to be – news outlets. And the site is up front about noting that it doesn’t monitor video content, “though it prohibits videos that are violent,” writes Goo.
In that sense, video clips like these certainly expand the landscape, but they have their limitations. One veteran journalist noted his concerns about the value of the “new Internet world” in an interview published in today’s USA Today. NPR analyst Daniel Schorr told Peter Johnson that the unfiltered nature of the new media like means fewer stories will be suppressed since “you can always have a blogger who gets the story out.” On the other hand, “what we have here is a medium in which there is no publisher, no editor, no anything. It's just you and a little machine and you can make history. I find that scary. Nobody should get into print or on the air without some kind of editor. I have an institutional belief that nobody can be above having a good editor.”
July 20, 2006 1:50 PM 
"Chief Military Censor" is right up there with "Propaganda Minister" on the list of job titles that make journalists squirm.
But Israel has a chief military censor, Col. Sima Vaknin, and she has significant power over the press. "I can, for example, publish an order that no material can be published," she told the Associated Press. "I can close a newspaper or shut down a station. I can do almost anything."
Vaknin's presence means that military news Israel does not want out – like a failed missile attack, for example – can be suppressed. If news outlets refuse to abide by her office's rules, they are not allowed to operate in Israel. The AP and other news organizations have agreed to the rules in order to keep reporting from the country.
I spoke to CBS News Senior Vice President of Standards and Special Projects Linda Mason about whether CBS News has agreed to the same rules. She says it has, but that "this isn't exactly what it seems."
"To get a press card you do have to sign an agreement," she says. "It applies to strategic military information that we might get unilaterally. During the last war in the 90s – the Iraq war – Israelis asked that press not pinpoint where the rockets had landed. Which makes sense – otherwise the enemies could correct their aim."
If the AP reports something, we report it," she continues. "If we get something unilaterally and we can't get the Israeli military to confirm, we call the censorship office, which confirms, denies, or asks us to word it in a different way."
According to the AP, "Reporters are expected to censor themselves and not report any of the forbidden material...When in doubt, they can submit a story to the censor who will hand it back, possibly with deletions."
News Out Of Israel Filtered Through Military Censor
(AP)
But Israel has a chief military censor, Col. Sima Vaknin, and she has significant power over the press. "I can, for example, publish an order that no material can be published," she told the Associated Press. "I can close a newspaper or shut down a station. I can do almost anything."
Vaknin's presence means that military news Israel does not want out – like a failed missile attack, for example – can be suppressed. If news outlets refuse to abide by her office's rules, they are not allowed to operate in Israel. The AP and other news organizations have agreed to the rules in order to keep reporting from the country.
I spoke to CBS News Senior Vice President of Standards and Special Projects Linda Mason about whether CBS News has agreed to the same rules. She says it has, but that "this isn't exactly what it seems."
"To get a press card you do have to sign an agreement," she says. "It applies to strategic military information that we might get unilaterally. During the last war in the 90s – the Iraq war – Israelis asked that press not pinpoint where the rockets had landed. Which makes sense – otherwise the enemies could correct their aim."
If the AP reports something, we report it," she continues. "If we get something unilaterally and we can't get the Israeli military to confirm, we call the censorship office, which confirms, denies, or asks us to word it in a different way."
According to the AP, "Reporters are expected to censor themselves and not report any of the forbidden material...When in doubt, they can submit a story to the censor who will hand it back, possibly with deletions."
July 19, 2006 10:26 AM 
According to U.S. News & World Report, Israel has instructed journalists not to identify where the Katyusha rockets coming from Lebanon are falling. Authorities made the request in an effort to "deny Hezbollah any information useful for better aiming at targets," but journalists have ignored it, reputedly opting to report from the scene of the most recent hit.
U.S. News' Orly Halpern spoke to "Yehezkel" at the military censor's office, who told Halpern that "we are flexible." He added: "If it happened on a city street where people were killed, it's impossible to stop [the media]."
Perhaps. But while people like Amir Bar Shalom, chief military correspondent for Israel's Channel 1 television, vow to report whatever they want (while also trying not to help Hezbollah), Al-Jazeera crews were detained four times in two days by Israeli police.
"They said there were claims that our broadcasts are helping Hezbollah," Al-Jazeera bureau chief Walid al-Omary told Halpern. "That's ridiculous. My work doesn't help Hezbollah. What about the Israeli stations that even name the address of the house [that was hit]? I want them to tell me, what are we broadcasting which is different from the others?" Al-Omary explained what he characterized as harassment by saying "it's easy to bother the Arabs."
Al-Jazeera Crews Repeatedly Detained In Israel
(AP)
U.S. News' Orly Halpern spoke to "Yehezkel" at the military censor's office, who told Halpern that "we are flexible." He added: "If it happened on a city street where people were killed, it's impossible to stop [the media]."
Perhaps. But while people like Amir Bar Shalom, chief military correspondent for Israel's Channel 1 television, vow to report whatever they want (while also trying not to help Hezbollah), Al-Jazeera crews were detained four times in two days by Israeli police.
"They said there were claims that our broadcasts are helping Hezbollah," Al-Jazeera bureau chief Walid al-Omary told Halpern. "That's ridiculous. My work doesn't help Hezbollah. What about the Israeli stations that even name the address of the house [that was hit]? I want them to tell me, what are we broadcasting which is different from the others?" Al-Omary explained what he characterized as harassment by saying "it's easy to bother the Arabs."
