New York Times Charged with ‘yellow Journalism’ on Israel

Chanting “Boycott The New York Times,” and “Stop Yellow Journalism,” more than 150 people, mostly Jewish students from several universities here, demonstrated today in front of The New York Times building against “the anti-Israel bias of The Times reporters and editors.”

The demonstration, which lasted 45 minutes, was organized by Bnei Akiva, the Emunah Women, and the Religious Zionists of America, according to Allon Green of Bnei Akiva.

The demonstration was in response to the recent New York Times coverage of the killing of six Jewish yeshiva students in Hebron May 2, a coverage which, according to a statement by the demonstration’s organizers, “was filled with distortions, generalizations, and sensationalism.”

“The New York Times has repeatedly reported only one side of the conflict. They neglect to report antagonism by Arab residents against the Jewish residents in Israel,” according to Moshe Pack, a Yeshiva University student who spoke at the demonstration.

BASIS FOR GRIEVANCES

In the statement explaining their grievances against The Times, the organizers of the demonstration pointed out that The Times devoted a full page of coverage to Eli Hazeev, who was one of the fatalities in the May 2 Hebron attack, while ignoring the others. “They deliberately chose a victim that was on exception rather than a representative of the group, “the statement said. “The group was composed of peaceful students, many of whom were in Hebron only for that weekend. They deliberately printed an anti-Israel picture.”

“We demand that The New York Times report the news objectively,” Pack said to the applause of the demonstrators, many of whom carried copies of The Times dyed yellow, to dramatize their opposition to “yellow journalism.”

According to Green, The Times has refused to print “over-one hundred” letters to the editors sent by Jewish students demanding The Times “correct its earlier errors” The Times also refused to print on obituary about the Hebron victims in the death notices, Pack charged.

Tuvyah Gross, head of Bnei Akiva, and Dr. Moshe Koppel of Princeton University, called for “economic sanctions” against The Times until it changes its “biased reporting” on Israel. “Remember what we did to Pepsi (Cola). We can do it to The Times,” Gross exclaimed, in apparent reference to the Jewish boycott of the soft drink in retaliation for Pepsi’s economic deals with the Soviet Union while Jews are harassed in Russia.

At the end of the rally, a petition demanding “objectivity” in reporting was sent by the leaders of the demonstrators to the editorial offices of The Times. Despite several calls by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency to The Times for a response to the charges, no response was available.