 in the press Intifada against bias
Former KRO correspondent Willy Werkman recognised her bias: 'I am also one of those observers from the West, that didn't see the Palestinian residents of the occupied territories. Of course we saw masses of silent refugees, but we knew little of their history, the pain that was done to them in the Israeli-Arab wars,' she wrote in her book 'The road to Palestine: Witness of a future state'. The website Electronic Intifada, launched today, aims to fight biased reports on the Palestine Question. From the site's announcement-email: 'Electronic Intifada will equip you to challenge myth, distortion and spin in the media. The Electronic Intifada aims to focus on just one aspect of the struggle: the war in the media for a representation of the Palestinian point of view.' The initiators of the site believe that together with the media and media-activists of newsgroups on the Internet this will result in positive change in media coverage of the Palestinians. The Palestinian intellectual Edward Said once said about one of the initiators of this website - Palestinian in the diaspora - 'Each time I check my E-mail, I find copies of E-mail sent by a young Palestinian to radio stations, TV reporters, and newspaper editors, commenting on their coverage of the Palestinian issue. In his effective, electronic way, this man, Ali Abunimah, is writing his own history every day.' The three young initiators of Electronic Intifada - Ali Abunimah, the Dutch-Palestinian Arjan El Fassed and the Scotsman Nigel Parry - met each other in 1996 on the Palestinian discussion list, "Freedom". Ever since they have been actively involved with alternative media from the occupied territories, online petition drives, they were active in successful email-actions, among others against the establishment of a Burger King restaurant and a factory of sportswear Kappa-Benneton in Israeli settlements. The 27-year old political scientist Arjan El Fassed recognises the importance of their work: 'For years, activists send letters to the media, responding to bias, prejudice, myth and distortion. Recently these activists are taken more seriously - we count much more published letters - and in particular in Holland, times seem to change. Some newspapers now have a separate correspondent in the occupied territories.' Scotsman Nigel Parry was working at the British Wimbledon tennis tournament when he bumped into someone and began to get involved with the Palestinian cause. Ever since, he has been involved in the Palestinian cause; he used to work as webmaster of the Birzeit University in the West Bank and is responsible for the design of the website. According to Parry, the most important reason for the continuation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are the Israeli successes in the war of words: 'Established Western media have let them down - the Palestinians do not have a lot of friends - and Palestinian websites don't make a good impression by using often bad quotes and bad English. Additionally, Arafat and the Palestinian Authority in general, are bad international spokespersons. A BBC journalist told me recently that during the recent negotiations, it was almost impossible to find a quote from the Palestinian side, while the Israelis continuously drew attention with their press releases. To find a Palestinian quote, a Palestinian journalist had to be interviewed.' Arjan El Fassed's cousin, the Palestinian Rula Amin, has recently aired on mediagiant CNN. "Since she and her colleague Sawsan Goshe are shown on CNN, the Jewish lobby has been trying to silence them." The reports on Palestinians are, according to the three website activists, insufficient, and the silence in the media, inhumane. The list of common instances of bias in coverage on the site is extensive. Arjan El Fassed mentions, among other things, reports about the claim that Palestinians send their children to the frontlines, an uncritical reproduction of Israeli claims. He calls it an excellent example of the dehumanisation of the Palestinians by the media: "Blaming the victims, distracts attention to the roots of the problems: the continuous and systematic violations of human rights after more than 33 years of occupation of Palestinian territory." This article was originally published in the Dutch-language daily De Volkskrant on February 21, 2001 and translated by Arjan El Fassed. 
more from this section  • Pittsburgh's Mellon Green finally unoccupied, Bill Vidonic, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Thursday, February 9th, 2012  • The revolution will be televised, streamed and uploaded, Amanda Lin Costa, European Journalism Centre, Thursday, January 26th, 2012 • Living our Lives project: Nigel Parry, Patrick Young, LivingOurLives.net, Friday, January 13th, 2012 • 'It's All Political': Eviction and Arrests of Global Revolution Livestreamers Part of Pattern of Crackdowns on Alternative Living, Kristen Gwynne, AlterNet, Wednesday, January 4th, 2012 • Occupy Livestream Operators Will Be Homeless After They Get Out of Jail, Adam Martin, The Atlantic Wire, Wednesday, January 4th, 2012 • Off the grid: Occupy Pittsburgh gets charged up the natural way, Darlene White Natale, Point Park News Service, Sunday, November 6th, 2011 • #OccupyPGH Day 1: Interview with Global Revolution's Nigel Parry, Eric Byler, Coffee Party, Saturday, October 15th, 2011 • Facts and myths in the WikiLeaks/Guardian saga, Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com, Friday, September 2nd, 2011 |
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