Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East Analyzes America Magazine's Continuing Bias Against the State of Israel

NEW YORK, Nov. 8, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- One year ago we reviewed America Magazine's coverage of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, looking specifically for any material facts that had been either misrepresented or omitted.  At that time (covering the period from September 2008 through October 2009) we found that there was a pattern of repeated misrepresentations and material omissions which when analyzed for their effect, revealed a clear bias against the Jewish state. This year we revisited this same matter, looking at editions of America from November 2009 through October 2010.  We discovered that whatever coverage America had during this time period followed the same pattern of consistent, repeated omissions and misrepresentations which invariably resulted in Israel's actions being portrayed in an excessively harsh and negative light.  The cumulative effect of this is incitement against the state of Israel.

This pattern of reporting about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is in contravention of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications' instruction that:

Communication must always be truthful, since truth is essential to individual liberty and to authentic community among persons . . . (Ethics in Communications, IV 2000)        

and the Council's caution  to the media against:

. . . fostering hostility and conflict, demonizing others and creating a mentality of "us" against "them" . . .  (Ethics in Communications, III(13))

The full report, "America Magazine's Omissions and Misrepresentations in the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict, Revisited," can be accessed through the front page of Fair Witness' website: www.christianfairwitness.com 

SOURCE Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East