Editor Defends Toronto ‘star’ on Charges of Biased Coverage on Israel

An editor of the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest newspaper, defended it today against charges by the Toronto Zionist Council that the paper was biased in its reportage on Israel. But Mark Harrison, editor of the Star’s editorial page, conceded that some errors may have been made inadvertently in preparing some stories under the pressure of deadlines which made them appear to be slanted against Israel. Mr. Harrison spoke at a luncheon given by the Toronto Zionist Council which posed the question, “Is the Star Fair to Israel?”

Rabbi David Monsen, luncheon chairman, claimed the Jewish community was disturbed by reports and editorials in the Star in recent months. Some questioners complained of alleged bias in Star headlines. They referred to one over a Dec. 3 story which read “Israel War Planes Hit Jordanian Village-25 Reported Dead.” They said other local newspapers published the same story under unprovocative headlines. They also complained of a story on Sirhan Sirhan, following the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, which referred to the accused killer’s deed as having been prompted by his having witnessed Israelis bayonetting Arab women in his childhood. (The same reference was contained in stories that appeared in many other papers, though it turned out later that Sirhan had never witnessed any fighting during his childhood in Jordan.)

Another complaint leveled against the Star concerned its publication of reports by the Rev. A.C. Forrest, editor of the organ of the United Church of Canada, whose views are notorious for their anti-Israel bias. The complainants said the Star failed to label them as opinion, not news. They also complained of “negative” material in dispatches from the Star’s correspondent in Israel, Solomon Stockell. Mr. Harrison said that Mr. Stockell was a South African Jew living in Israel since 1948 and that his material, if examined dispassionately, was overwhelmingly “positive.” He said that an inch-by-inch study and analysis of material appearing in the Star would prove that it was not biased but in fact always firmly defended Israel’s right to survive free of harassment and always praised Israel’s achievements. He referred to a story carried in 1933 as proof that the Star was the first newspaper in Canada to warn of the peril of Hitler and that its correspondents had been ejected from Germany by the Nazis.