Responsible Journalism: the Israeli-Palestinian Issue - Essay Example

29th April Responsible journalism and the Israel/Palestinian issue Introduction Henry Anatole Grunworld said: Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air. Journalism is about reporting what one observes as quickly and as efficiently as possible tells the saying above. However, in this fast-paced competitive and technical world reporting events quickly is possible but in doing so often the quality of what is reported is compromised. This is how irresponsible journalism came into existence while people wondered how responsible journalism is defined and how it mattered for them. What is “responsible journalism”? It is such that the journalist is not biased and does not ignore all the details surrounding the subject or issue being reported. Since responsible means liable to give account of one’s actions and duty therefore responsible journalism can mean the journalist being answerable for what he/she reports. However, in this world driven by profits media has also been affected and as a result in order to gain a greater audience news is often sensationalized and comprises of half-truths. A greater audience helps in ensuring greater number of advertisements on the media and hence more revenue. As far as media responsibility is concerned what is meant by responsibility in this case is defined by the media regulatory body in the county. For example PEMRA is Pakistan’s electronic media regulatory body and it does not allow the ads run and programs aired on TV to be against the fundamentals of Islam or derogatory towards important Islamic personalities. However, having a media regulatory body alone is not enough for any country and punishing media for not following the guidelines provided must be followed strictly to ensure compliance. One problem with media regulatory bodies is that every country has its own culture and religion because of which the guidelines that apply on journalism in one country can be contradictory to those applicable on journalism in another country. This can result in the coverage of the same story in very different ways. In the paragraphs below the Israel/ Palestinian nuclear controversy will be discussed as reported by two famous media groups namely the middle-east based Al-Jazeera and Haareetz. After doing so the approach of the two groups towards the same issue will be compared and ultimately it will be found out who was involved in responsible journalism. Comparison of reports of Al-Jazeera and Haaretz Let’s look at two reports found on the internet regarding the same subject which is Israeli discrimination against the Arabs. The article found in Haaretz states clearly that the court often punishes the Arabs much “frequently” than the Israelis (Haaretz Editorial). The surprising part here is that in such a statement absolutely no data has been given to prove or support this opinion. Neither is there any statement given by a court’s judge or a lawyer that the court’s decisions are biased against the Arabs. Considering how sensitive the Palestinian-Israeli issues are it can be judged how inappropriate it is too give opinions that are not backed by facts. This shows how irresponsible journalists can be. On the other hand, there is a similar article on Al-Jazeera’s website that also focuses on discrimination against the Arabs and discuses how a Citizenship Law prevents Palestinian spouses of Israelis from living in Israel. The positive aspect of this article was that it quoted the Israeli prime minister and the Chief Justice Asher Gruini in order to support the opinions being portrayed in the article (LeVine). Such comparison makes one think that in this case Al Jazeera has been more responsible compared to Haaretz because quoting people makes it easier for the journalist to justify his opinions if asked by anyone. Let’s look at other articles written on the conflict. An article of Haaretz states that the US wants Palestinian authority and Israel to establish peace. Although, stating that Palestinians want an independent-state and want Jerusalem as its capital might actually be true but because demands can always change therefore not quoting an authoritative person who represents the Palestinian people and its interests has decreased the ability of the journalist to justify his/her opinions expressed in the article. Speculating demands and then portraying them on the internet can create misunderstandings between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Furthermore, stating baseless speculations like “Israel leaders are not actually interested in real peace” further promotes similar misunderstandings and is a clear proof of irresponsible journalism and media-freedom violation (Rocard). At another place in the same article it has been mentioned that Obama has admitted being powerless in resolving the conflict is also baseless because the statement in which Obama has admitted so is not there in the article or even in other articles related to the same Israel-Palestinian conflict. On the other hand, a similar article on Haaretz website states that US is very much interested in solving this problem between Israel and Palestinian people so that it can prove to the world that it supports justice even if an ally state is involved in the issue (Haaretz service). To support this point the writer has used statements from the US president Obama’s government’s Chief political adviser. Statements like “ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is imperative for US security”. Since statements have been used to support the proposition that US does want the issue to be resolved the writer is capable of justifying his opinion. Let’s focus on the water problem between the Israelis and the Palestinians and the Israelis. There is an article on Al-Jazeera’s website that discuses if solving the water problem end the Arab Israeli conflict. The article mentions that Palestinian water reserves are being destroyed by Israeli authorities and it remains understood by both sides that cooperation on this water crisis can help both nations and eventually finish the Israeli-Palestinian issue (Aburawa). The article is divided into four parts and each part focuses on a different aspect of the water crisis. Quoting of people has been done extensively and the use of hyper-linked phrases that can take the reader to greater intricacies regarding the same issue is very common. Other than this the article avoids baseless assumptions or speculations and it is fascinating to note that there is no advertisement within the article unlike a similar article on Haaretz.com .It can be said without any doubt that the article shows what is responsible journalism. This lack of advertising and greater amount of responsible journalism indicate that less sensationalized articles have fewer ads because they attract a much smaller audience whereas articles that have been sensationalized and are biased help in attracting a larger audience and hence more advertisements. A greater number of advertisements assist in earning more money and so it is not surprising to see news that is often sensationalized and later onwards it is discovered that it was almost false and what was reported was a half-truth. On the other hand, there is an article related to using water as a source for resolving the conflict between Israel and Palestine on Haaretz.com. The article discuses Oslo accords, Wadi Fukin a rich valley that is suitable for agriculture and the refugees in the area that practiced agriculture by using the available water to return back to their normal routine lives. The article is a great example of how water can be used for solving this years-old conflict between the two nations (Eldar). It uses a variety of hyper-linked sources and contains many statements from officials like the former defense minister Mohse Dayan and educated people like the geneticist from the University of Jerusalem Tzfati. The article is divided into three sections and each section deals with a new aspect of how water can be used for settling the dispute between the two nations. Surprisingly, the article has only one ad in the middle and that ad is also very much related to the topic of the article. The ad is about underwater sensors, mobile water units and waste water evaporation. It is surprising not to see the usual graphical and animated ads that are there in between other articles on Haaretz. The reason can be lack of sensationalized news article that does not help in gaining a large number of readers and so fewer advertisers are interested. On the other hand if one look looks at articles like an article on a German Jewish actress that angered and made happy Israelites( this kind of news related to entertainment industry is often sensationalized) it has a colorful animated ad that encourages patriotic people to buy shirts related to Israel. Media freedom violations and their connection with responsible journalism So far what has been discussed is being a responsible journalist but few people are aware of how tough a journalist’s job is, the problems he/she faces while trying to cover an event or incident. There have been media freedom violations across the world specifically in the areas where Palestinians live. In October 2010 Israeli soldiers tear gassed on a crowd that was protesting against the Jewish settlements near Hebron as a result the journalist who were reporting the event also suffered. Journalists had to cover their eyes and ears in such a situation and this prevented them from reporting honestly (OCCUPIEDPALESTINE). There were a total of 206 media violations in 2011 according to MADA (OCCUPIEDPALESTINE). Such media violations strike fear into the hearts of the journalists who want to be there on the sites of events or incidents and then write stories. When the better or honest journalists stop reporting the people who are good at telling stories can replace them and tell sensationalized half-truths to the audience that help media groups become richer (Wasserman). Conclusion Both Al-Jazeera and Haaretz have been irresponsible and responsible while reporting on the Israeli/ Palestinian issue. Although, the issue is sensitive it appears the media is more interested in promoting negative features regarding the dispute and suppress the positive developments like negotiations. This is proved by a greater number of articles available on both media groups websites regarding the negative aspects while the news on the positive aspects is either less or completely unavailable. For instance the water crisis between the two states is portrayed by Al-Jazeera in such a way that the Palestinians are the sufferers and the Israelites enjoy being cruel to them while Haaretz portrays only the brighter side of the situation and that is too focus on a single valley in which apparently Palestinians are treated better in terms of water availability. This makes one believe that media ownership can pressurize a media group to tell half-truths like above. Since mostly Jews (60 % ownership belongs to Zionist family of Schocken) own Haaretz the news there shows Jews as civilized and fair people while Al-Jazeera is owned by Arab Sheikhs and so it sympathizes with the Palestinian and portrays Israelites crueler than they are (Averbach). Media ownership, regulation and freedom lie at the core of responsible journalism if these are monitored closely by a non-corrupt regulatory body; nation and government responsible journalism will become common. Works Cited Aburawa, Arwa. "Can water end the Arab Israeli conflict?" 29 July 2011. Al-Jazeera. 29 April 2012 . Averbach, Li-or. "Russian immigrant billionaire buys 20% of "Haaretz"." 12 June 2011. GLOBES. 29 April 2012 . Eldar, Akiva. "Israelis Palestenians work together in bid to solve local water shortage ." 29 September 2009. Haaretz.com. 29 April 2012 . Haaretz Editorial. "Israeli courts must end anti-arab discrimination." 2011. 29 April 2012 . Haaretz service. "US general: Israeli-Palestinain conflict foments anti- US sentiment." 17 March 2010. Haaretz.com. 29 April 2012 . LeVine, Mark. "Israels national suicide." 16 January 2012. Al Jazeera. 29 April 2012 . OCCUPIEDPALESTINE. "REPORT: Violations of media freedoms in the occupied Palestinian territories." 28 February 2012. Occupied Palestine. 29 April 2012 . Rocard, Michel. "It is now Palestines time." 31 October 2011. Al Jazeera. 29 April 2012 . Wasserman, Herman. "Freedom’s just another word? Perspectives on media freedom and responsibility in South Africa and Namibia." International Communication Gazette (November 2010): 567-588. Read More