Brith Sholom Media Watch Alert #715, 9/14/14

To: Brith Sholom Media Watch Subcribers
From: Jerry Verlin, Editor (jverlin1234@verizon.net)
Subj: Brith Sholom Media Watch Alert #715, 9/14/14

Tazpit in Its Own Words, And Why It’s Important

In August, I wrote about Tazpit, an Israel-based news agency – i.e., an original news gathering source, like the AP, as opposed to, e.g., a newspaper, which disseminates news agency-gathered news to the public. This week Tazpit sent its Friends & Supporters an email, with an invitation to spread the word widely, explaining its mission. A pro-Israel media watch can do no better than provide its readers this description of Tazpit in its own words, prefaced, I think, with two comments.

Tazpit’s email appended below does not itself make clear, which its website linked through the supplied URL – http://tazpit.org.il/support-us/ – does, that it is structured as a non-profit organization, and that U.S. contributors can make tax-deductible contributions in the manner stated on the website.

A chief lesson I’ve learned from generating 715 weeks of weekly media-miscoverage-of-Israel “alerts” is that a plethora of newspapers and newscasts does not guarantee accurate balanced reporting. There are far fewer news article generators, news agencies, than news distributors, and even among the few generators there is mindset consensus. The MSM’s recent obscene obsession with an alleged unusually high civilian casualty percentage in Gaza exposes that. But the American public’s great need for a non-AP-mentality news source was driven home to me years ago by what I described in Lee’s and my book, “Pressing Israel” (p.76) as “the breathtaking scope” of years-long involvement in the canard of “millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendants from Israel’s creation” by American journalism’s pillars – AP, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, NPR.

My hope for Tazpit is that it will differentiate itself from the AP et ilk in both terminology and Mideast mindset. It’s not enough to call Judea-Samaria “Judea-Samaria” if you still label it as “Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory,” to stop capitalizing the “e” in “East Jerusalem,” if you still call Jewish communities there “settlements.” Abbas is about to put to the U.N. the question of “when” Israel will withdraw from “the West Bank” and “East Jerusalem.” There needs to be a widely-used news agency that calls the 1949 ceasefire lines “the 1949 ceasefire lines” – no holier than the successor 1967 ceasefire lines – and not “the 1967 lines” and even “Israel’s 1967 borders.” And that just scratches the surface.

QUOTE

Dear Friends & Supporters of Tazpit,

The vast majority of people take what they see on the news for granted – they are not aware of the fact that most news comes from news agencies or that the news provided is more often than not influenced by the reporter’s knowledge, state of mind or political inclination. This is where you, the supporters of Tazpit, vary from most.
 
We know how skewed the coverage of Israel is, and we understand the importance of an Israeli News Agency bringing a real change to this painful reality. In the last few days, we saw several confirmations for that, exposing the public to this fact, and creating a few question marks as to the credibility of the information provided and the need for an alternative source.
 
An article by former editor in AP News Agency, Matti Friedman, “An Insider’s Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth”, was published in Tablet magazine and received a lot attention.
 
The article is a first-hand testimonial, explaining to the world how and why reporters get Israel so wrong, and why it matters.
 
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/183033/israel-insider-guide

Following this trenchant and revealing article, Friedman was invited for several interviews by high-profile media outlets, who asked him to elaborate on this disturbing phenomenon he details in his article. One of those interviews was conducted by none other than CNN:

http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2014/08/31/rs-matti-friedman-israel.cnn.html

This important piece joins several other articles published in various media outlets, also raising concerns regarding the credibility of reports coming from Gaza.

Around the same time, Yifa Segal, the Joint Director of Tazpit News Agency, was interviewed for Newsmax, in the Steve Malzberg show, and spoke about the coverage of Israel in the international media and the importance of the only Israeli News Agency, Tazpit.

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsmax-Tv/Yifa-Segal-Tazpit-media-Israel/2014/08/18/id/589434/

We must seize this opportunity and provide a proper response for this most pressing need

We are operating in order to serve as a viable alternative for AP as prominent news suppliers to the world from the Israeli arena. We struggle to take our rightful place as the most reliable, accurate, truthful and professional news agency, the one who is not coerced into feeding the public false information, the one that is not blinded by hatred or misguided ideology – but the one who tells the truth!

To completely fulfill that need we must expand our resources. Our immediate needs include adding at least 3 more professional reporters to our staff, an additional coordinator for our activities on the ground, and additional video editors.

In the next few weeks, we are scheduled to meet with several of the biggest and most influential media outlets in the world. We hope that after these meetings, we will be able to add other major players to our long list of subscribers, and vastly extend our reach.

This is our opportunity to truly be the best, and to cover the Israeli story in a way which will allow us to be Israel’s answer to the problem caused a long time ago and deepened for years by AP and other news agencies operating in the region. Help us be prepared.
 
Please spread the word to whoever you think would want to help, share the video and continue to support our work.
Together we can bring the change!

Thank you,
Tazpit News Agency

To support Tazpit please click here
http://tazpit.org.il/support-us/

UNQUOTE

Regards,
Jerry