U.S. Press Coverage of Mideast Based on Stereotypes of Israelis, Arabs

The coverage of the Middle East by the American press was today called sensational and based on stereotypes of both Arabs and Israelis. This was the consensus of a panel discussing, “Is There A Jewish Bias? Coverage of the Middle East,” during the Third Annual A. J. Liebling Convention, sponsored by “More,” a journalism review magazine, and attended by some 1300 writers and journalists.

Paul Jacobs, a writer and member of the Institute of Policy Studies, said that American press coverage is based on a general American and Western bias toward the Arabs and reporters generally write to fit the stereotypes they have of the Arabs. He said that while there is no Jewish pressure in the United States on reporters there is on editors. He said all criticism of Israel in American press only comes from Israelis and not Americans. In addition, he charged that since 1948 Israel had been an ally of the U.S. in the Cold War and the press, therefore, favors friends over enemies.

Noam Chomsky, an M.I.T. linguist and left-wing critic of Israel, said the press has not provided a forum to explain the reasons for Palestinian antagonism toward Israel and a discussion of Israel’s security problems. He said the media view of Israel is that of an “embattled democracy,” but it is actually a democracy for Jews but not for Israeli Arabs.

Chomsky said the greatest failure of the American press is that up to Oct. 1973 it had not adequately described the criticism by Israelis of Israeli security policies, particularly that of creating Jewish settlements in occupied territory. He said there had been a great deal of criticism within Israel but this could not have any influence without support from the U.S. He said the people who prevented this criticism from appearing in the U.S. press must share some responsibility for the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War which, he asserted, was due to the policy of settlement for security reasons which nevertheless left Israel even more insecure.

CRITICISM OF ISRAEL GETS GOOD PRESS COVERAGE

Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg, president of the American Jewish Congress, called for a less sensational reporting of both sides in the Middle East. He said most of the reporting that comes out of Israel is sensational and is tending now to be more partisan against Israel. He said the only time he and other American Zionists receive great coverage in the press is when they make critical statements about Israel. He said the coverage of the Palestinians romanticize them.

Amos Alon, an Israeli journalist and author, criticized most of the coverage in the American press of foreign countries as sensational and as “tourist reports.” He said there was no Jewish bias in the U.S. press, but a bias against both Israelis and Arabs which doesn’t show how they actually live and feel. He said the Israelis depicted in the press are “not real Israelis but stage Israelis” which he said followed the stereotype two-dimensional characters portrayed by Leon Uris’ “Exodus” both as a book and a film.

Alon said that whenever an Israeli criticizes his government he receives good coverage. He noted that his own book. “The Israelis: Founders and Sons,” which was critical of the Israeli establishment, was reviewed on the front page of the New York Times Book Review Section while hundreds of books praising Israel do not get this coverage. He said the real story of Israel is not that it made a desert bloom, which, he noted, others can do, but that as a nation facing war and the fear of extermination for 26 years it has remained a democracy.

Richard Smith of Newsweek said there was a Jewish bias in the press but the reasons are that the Jewish community demands news from Israel, so there is more news about it; Israel’s public relations techniques are more effective than the Arabs; Israel is an open society, so more people are willing to talk to journalists than in Arab countries, and until recently the Arabs have had a credibility gap because for years Arab spokesmen have exaggerated widely the true situation.