CAMERA Guide

Equip Yourself to Respond to Media Bias

• WHAT YOU CAN DO TO COUNTER UNFAIR REPORTING ABOUT ISRAEL
  
  1. STAY INFORMED
  Spend 10 minutes a day at one or two of the following websites:
  The Jerusalem Post, IMRA, MEMRI, CAMERA, Israeli Govt website, Ha'aretz Wall St. Journal Opinion Journal's "Best of the Web Today": Myths and Facts
  
  2. JOIN CAMERA'S E-MAIL TEAM
  Be part of a nationwide team of activists who regularly call and write the media to encourage fair and factual reports about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. You will receive talking points and contact information. Make a difference! To join, send an e-mail message with your name, address, and phone number to: webalerts@aol.com. Even if you don't have time to write many letters, the alerts will keep you informed and able to easily recognize and respond to unfair reporting in your local paper.
  
  3. CALL/RESPOND TO INACCURATE REPORTING
  As soon as you hear a one-sided or inaccurate report, pick up the phone and call the news organization. It only takes a minute! If it was inaccurate, explain the error and ask that it be publicly corrected. If it was one-sided, state that the report was not objective, that it favored the Palestinians or was harshly anti-Israel. If you can, provide some details. Were only pro-Palestinian opinions represented? Were pro-Israeli opinions minimal or nonexistent? Was the report skewed by the use of terms or language associated with only one side's perspective? Was key information missing (lack of context)? Did the reporter editorialize in what was supposed to be an objective news story? If you are unable to make a phone call, write a letter.
  
  Here are E-mails and/or phone numbers for major news organizations:
  
  letters@nytimes.com (NY Times) 888-698-6397 Also: nytnews@nytimes.com
  letters@washpost.com (Washington Post) 202-334-7512
  letters@time.com (Time magazine) 212-522-3817
  letters@newsweek.com (Newsweek magazine) 212-445-4585
  letters@usnews.com (US News & World Report) 202-955-2000
  editor@usatoday.com (USA Today) 703-276-3400
  community@cnn.com (CNN) 404-827-1500 404-827-1519
  thenews@msnbc.com (Brian Williams) NBC: 1-212-664-4444
  cable@msnbc.com (overall MSNBC mailbox) 201-583-5000
  hardball@msnbc.com (Hardball with Chris Matthews)
  banfield@msnbc.com (Ashleigh Banfield)
  Fox News Channel 212-301-3000 212-301-5226 212-301-3164
  comments@foxnews.com (overall Fox mailbox)
  oreilly@foxnews.com (Bill O'Reilly)
  hannity@foxnews.com (Sean Hannity)
  foxreport@foxnews.com (Shepard Smith)
  special@foxnews.com (Brit Hume)
  beltway@foxnews.com (Fred Barnes)
  CBS News 212-975-4321 212-975-3019
  ABC World News Tonight 212-456-2800
  letter@globe.com (Boston Globe) 617-929-3049
  ctc-TribLetter@Tribune.com (Chicago Tribune) 312-222-4331
  letters@latimes.com (Los Angeles Times) 213-237-5000
  forum@newsobserver.com (Raleigh News and Observer) 919-829-4517
  heralded@herald.com (Miami Herald) 305-350-2111
  insight@orlandosentinel.com (Orlando Sentinel) 407-420-5070
  letters@sfchronicle.com (San Francisco Chronicle)
  Inquirer.Letters@phillynews.com (Philadelphia Inquirer)
  atc@npr.org (All Things Considered on NPR)
  
  4. SPREAD THE WORD
  Talk with your family and friends about events in Israel and emphasize that much of the media coverage has been distorted, damaging public understanding of events at this critical time. Give examples to raise their awareness of the disturbing problem of media bias. Forward alerts to them. Educate and organize members of your community (youth groups, synagogue and church social action committees, sisterhood/brotherhood groups, Hadassah chapters) to call the media to protest inaccurate and unfair reporting.
  
  WHEN YOU ENCOUNTER BIASED REPORTING, DON'T JUST GET UPSET, TAKE ACTION!
   
• Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America
  
  Letter Writing Tips and Strategies For Getting Published
  
  1) Respond while the issue is still fresh in the minds of the journalists and their audience. Try to send your letter within a week of the broadcast or article.
  
  2) State the point of your letter within the first two sentences. A reader scanning the letter should be able to quickly identify your view of the issue in question.
  
  3) If writing a critical letter, be specific about why the article or broadcast was unfair. Was it inaccurate, out-of-context, one-sided? If it was partisan, whom did it favor? For example, "Your report inappropriately quoted only pro-Palestinian sources, leaving the Israeli position unrepresented."
  
  4) Be concise. Most publications will not print more than 250-300 words for a letter to the editor. Check to see what your paper's limit is and stick to it. Editors tend to publish letters they don't have to spend time shortening. When publication is not your goal (e.g. writing to a TV news station), you can expand your commentary, but do not exceed two pages.
  
  5) Limit your topic. While an article or broadcast may contain numerous instances of bias, focus on just one or two. Your opening line can refer to the overall skew of the broadcast/article, but then zero-in, e.g. "Your broadcast unfairly disparaged Israel with its numerous factual and contextual errors. One such error was..." It's better to fully explain one point than to inadequately cover five.
  
  6) If you are writing with publication in mind, do not restate the inaccuracies of the article. Doing so only gives them more exposure. Refer to them briefly and only as a launch for your own points, e.g. "Smith's partisan article on Jerusalem did the public a disservice. Key elements missing were [points A,B,C]."
  
  7) Stick to the facts. Hostile or overly emotional language is counterproductive. If you need factual information, consult CAMERA, AIPAC, the nearest Israeli Consulate or the Myths & Facts website: www.camera.org, www.aipac.org, www.israel.org, www.us-israel.org/jsource/myths/mftoc.html
  
  8) Write as a concerned individual. Mentioning that you are responding to an alert may lessen the impact of your letter.
  
  9) Maximize the impact. Send a copy of your letter not just to the editor, but also to the reporter, foreign editor, publisher...to advertisers/sponsors of the broadcast...to congressional reps if the report was on public radio or television...When writing to a syndicated columnist, be sure to send a copy to the paper the columnist works for, as well as to your local paper if the column appears there.
  
  10) Follow up with a call to the editor of the Letters-to-the-Editor page to ask if your letter will be published. If the answer is no, ask why and what you could do to make your letter more acceptable for publication. If the editor doesn't remember your letter, offer to read it over the phone and/or re-email it. If your letter is published, make yourself memorable by writing a note to the editor thanking him/her for allowing your concerns to be shared with the public.
  
  11) Before publishing a letter, most papers will call to verify that you wrote it. Remember, particularly if you're using e-mail, to include your full name, title (if applicable), address and daytime phone number.

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