|
NPR's Mideast Coverage
Latest Assessment of NPR Middle East Coverage
To All Concerned:
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a story that has generated impassioned debate among NPR listeners and people around the world. Here at NPR, our journalism on this issue gets close scrutiny from our audience.
In order to ensure that the public can thoroughly review our coverage, we've made several long-term commitments, including these:
-- Every three months, we conduct a thorough analysis of our coverage, which we post on our public website.
-- We also post on our website every story related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict aired on NPR. (The archive does not include brief items which air on our newscasts).
-- NPR's ombudsman, who serves as an independent advocate for listeners, often reviews Mideast coverage questions and concerns. The ombudsman section of our website explains how to forward issues and topics.
NPR is committed to accurate, thorough and balanced coverage of the Middle East. We have made that commitment because we believe the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a subject of world importance – an issue that requires in-depth, ongoing coverage by NPR.
-- Bill Marimow, Vice President for News
NPR Middle East Coverage, April - June 2006
Overview
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict continued to produce major headline news during the second quarter of 2006, notably the post-election struggle for political power between the Fatah and Hamas factions in the Palestinian territories, the somewhat ambiguous results of the Israeli elections and yet another threatened upsurge of violence after the capture of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants in late June.
NPR covered these events in 84 pieces and interviews, a substantial reduction from the 160 items aired during the equally event-packed first quarter. The disparity in the number of reports is primarily attributable to two factors. In the first quarter, developments from the Middle East dominated the news, including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s massive stroke in January, succession planning to replace Sharon, the Israeli election in March and almost daily developments related to the formation of the Hamas government. Equally important, in the second quarter – as the barrage of news in the Middle East abated – NPR foreign reporting was focused on the intensifying violence in Iraq and the erratic efforts to form a new Iraqi government.
Because of the numerous ramifications of the takeover of the Palestinian Authority by Hamas, NPR coverage was appropriately much more heavily weighted toward the Palestinian side than usual, with 25 of the 84 items during this quarter showing a "dominant focus" on the Palestinians, compared to only 9 focused primarily on Israel. Another 24 were generally balanced between the two sides (the "neither" category), while 13 were focused on U.S. concerns and policies, primarily the question of aid to the Palestinians.
The quarter's emphasis on the Palestinians was dictated by the news. Even so, there should have been more coverage of key developments in Israel, notably Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's weak political position following the inconclusive Israeli election in late March and the emerging details of Olmert's plan to withdraw some Israeli settlements from the West Bank.
NPR reporting continued to demonstrate a remarkable record of accuracy. Careful fact-checking turned up a few minor problems but no significant factual errors in any of the pieces and two-way interviews by NPR staff reporters.
Fairness and Balance
Using the same standard of previous reports, the "dominant focus" of each piece, interview or two-way was assessed. Of the 84 total items in this survey, 25 had a dominant focus on the Palestinians; 9 had a dominant focus on Israel; 24 focused roughly equally on the two sides (the "neither" category); 13 focused primarily on U.S. policy or concerns (including U.S. dealings with either or both sides), and the remaining 13 items focused on other matters, such as the Quartet's deliberations over aid to the Palestinians or Iran's threats toward Israel.
This was the second consecutive quarter during which a plurality of items focused primarily on the Palestinians. Given the news events in the region, however, this emphasis was justified because in the broad scheme of things the takeover of the Palestinian Authority by Hamas clearly was the more important story and deserved the level of coverage NPR gave it.
As a reminder, the dominant focus totals tend to shift from quarter to quarter depending on the news. As a point of comparison, the first quarters of 2005 and 2006 also saw a slight edge in coverage of Palestinian issues; but for 2005, in its entirety, Israel-dominant items had about a 3-2 edge. Also, once again it should be noted that categorizing the "document focus" of an item does not mean that the piece or interview took sides in the conflict; it merely indicates the primary subject matter of the item.
Two shows, Morning Edition and Talk of the Nation, continued their occasional practice of pairing pieces or segments focusing on the Israeli and Palestinian communities. These pairings offered listeners a sample of viewpoints on both sides.
An even more extensive effort to balance the coverage was a pair of Talk of the Nation segments interviewing Palestinians on May 4 and Israelis on June 20. Listeners who heard both or read their transcripts would have gotten a decent understanding of each side's myths and prejudices that underpin much of the conflict.
On June 9, an explosion on the Gaza beachfront was highly publicized, received enormous media attention and raised questions about whether Israelis or Palestinians were responsible for the deaths of eight Palestinians. As of publication of this report, those questions remain unresolved. In four reports, which aired between June 9 and June 20, reporters Linda Gradstein and Eric Westervelt gave listeners perspective about the political significance of the event, plus the arguments on both sides about who was responsible.
Accuracy
NPR did not air corrections involving any of the 84 items included in the quarterly survey.
As in the past, all 84 items in the survey were reviewed for accuracy. In addition, 20 reporter pieces and two-ways were selected for extra scrutiny by comparing the facts against other reporting by major news organizations.
There were no serious factual inaccuracies in these pieces, but there were quibbles with a handful of reports. As one typical example, some NPR reports said that President Bush, during a summit at the White House on May 23, endorsed Prime Minister Olmert's "convergence" or "realignment" plan (for closing some West Bank settlements). A careful reading of statements by Bush and other administration officials shows praise for the "bold" vision (Bush's term) of the Olmert plan, but a refusal by the Administration to give a blanket endorsement to the overall plan, which remains only a vague concept. The U.S. position is of more than academic interest because Olmert has made it clear he will not proceed unless he has the full diplomatic and financial backing of the United States.
Some NPR reports failed to indicate any nuance in the White House position. In a Day to Day 2-way with Luke Burbank on May 24, for example, Madeleine Brand said the Administration "basically gave its blessing to Israel's proposal to unilaterally set its borders." In a commentary on All Things Considered that same day, Daniel Schorr said Bush had "endorsed" the plan. Schorr went further in his weekly two-way with Weekend Edition Saturday on May 27, saying Olmert got "complete support" from Bush. By contrast, Eric Westervelt was more accurate in describing Bush's stance (in a May 29 piece for All Things Considered) as a "cautious endorsement."
Voices
Using the same technique as in previous reports, the number of times Israelis and Arabs (including Palestinians) appeared were counted, both on tape and in quotes. Overall, 39 Israelis and 89 Arabs (including Palestinians) appeared on tape; some of these were multiple appearances by individuals. Also, 41 items that aired during this period quoted Israelis and 59 items quoted Arabs (including Palestinians). The totals were far more heavily weighted toward the Arab (including Palestinian) side than for any of the 13 previous quarters since these reviews began. The previous record was the first quarter of 2005, when 122 Arab (including Palestinian) voices appeared on tape, compared to 79 Israeli voices. As previously stated, this quarter’s emphasis on the Palestinians was dictated by the news; it should also be noted that over the course of a typical year, the total number of Israeli voices and Arab voices appearing on NPR are roughly equal.
The appearances on tape, or in quotes, of individual Israeli and Palestinian officials and opinion leaders were also counted. As during most previous quarters, the Israeli Prime Minister (in this case Ehud Olmert) appeared more often than any other individual (in a total of 22 items), followed closely by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (in a total of 18 items). Reflecting the power shifts resulting from this year's elections on both sides, several voices that had been regulars on NPR air were absent or appeared only infrequently, including Likud party leader Binyamin Netanyahu, Palestinian diplomat Saeb Erekat and Palestinian moderate politician Hanan Ashrawi. The shows also turned less often to several familiar commentators such as Jordanian journalist Rami Khouri, Israeli journalist/academic Hirsh Goodman and Palestinian journalist Daoud Kuttab.
Following is a summary of Israeli and Palestinian officials and opinion leaders with multiple appearances during this quarter:
Israelis:
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert: On tape in 8 items; quoted in 14 items
Foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev: On tape in 2 items; quoted in 3 items
Labor Party leader Amir Peretz: On tape in 1 item; quoted in 2 items
Academic Hillel Frisch: On tape in 2 items
Army chief of staff General Halutz: Quoted in 2 items
Others Israelis on tape: 26
Palestinians:
President Mahmoud Abbas: On tape in 3 items; quoted in 15 items
Prime minister Ismail Haniyeh: Quoted in 3 items
Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad: On tape in 3 items; quoted in 2 items
Hamas spokesman S.A. Zuhri: On tape in 3 items
Politician Ziad Abu Amr: On tape in 2 items
Interior minister Said Siam: Quoted in 2 items
Fatah spokesman Jamal Nazzal: On tape in 2 items
Other Palestinians on tape: 64
Range of Voices
NPR listeners were exposed to a reasonably wide range of voices and viewpoints on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The biggest change from the past was that representatives of the Hamas movement appeared more frequently on air, not in their former guise as leaders of a revolutionary group but as the new leaders of the Palestinian Authority.
Two Talk of the Nation segments, especially the June 20 segment, gave NPR listeners a chance to hear Palestinians and Israelis talk, at some length, about their daily experiences and their views toward each other.
Completeness
In concentrating its coverage so heavily on the post-election power struggle in the Palestinian territories, NPR could have provided more comprehensive coverage of the Israeli election and its aftermath, including Olmert's controversial plan for further withdrawal of settlements from the West Bank. In the weeks after the election, the shows had almost no coverage of the rather ambiguous Israeli election outcome, most importantly the stakes for both Israelis and Palestinians. While this did not require blow-by-blow coverage of Olmert's prolonged bargaining to form a government, the NPR shows should have carried at least one or two additional pieces explaining why the election was so indecisive and examining the potential consequences of Olmert's resulting political weakness.
In the first quarter survey, NPR was faulted for failing to give listeners much background information about Olmert, in particular the personal antagonism that many Israelis have toward him. Events during this quarter demonstrated that Olmert's lack of personal popularity has been one of the factors in his inability to generate strong post-election support for his policies, and indeed in his extremely short honeymoon after the election. By mid-June, polls were showing Olmert rapidly losing support and a majority of Israelis had concluded that his convergence plan would not work. Many commentators have argued that Olmert's exceptionally harsh reaction to the Palestinians at the end of June and to Hezbollah in July stemmed in part from his political need to demonstrate some backbone. Talk of the Nation listeners have heard this explanation, but most listeners to other NPR programs had not, as of the end of June.
 Read the previous report.
|
