Teaneck—Amotz Eyal of Tazpit News Agency (TPS) spoke at Congregation Beth Aaron last Sunday as part of his global mission to help Jewish communities understand how international media coverage of Israel is generated. A news service, or newswire, is an electronically transmitted service providing up-to-the-minute news stories, financial market updates and other information and images to media outlets around the world. The vast majority of the world’s international news comes from just three sources, Eyal explained, “Reuters and AP (the Associated Press) being by far the largest, followed by the much smaller AFP (Agence FrancePresse). These are the most influential news outlets in the world, providing 85 percent of global news via 15,000 outlets worldwide.”
“Although many Americans concerned about media bias against Israel complain about the media reporting inaccurate or misleading news out of Israel, the problems lie not with the media outlets, but with their dependence on biased newswire services. These figures strongly suggest near total dependence on two news agencies. It’s not the New York Times writing that skewed headline. They just pick up nine out of ten of their international news articles, word-for-word, from the newswires. They’re the culprits. The best solution is to provide accurate news coverage.”
Eyal identified three problems with the coverage of the major newswires. First is actual manipulation of facts, where the newswires knowingly distribute staged photos or images that manipulate what you see and mislead the readers. As an example, Eyal discussed a headline that said “Settlers Torch Cars in Nablus;” TPS investigations revealed that the fire had been set during a fight between two Arab families by the family members. The second is bending the truth, where what they report is technically true, but they change the order or emphasis of the story or narrative. Eyal provided an example where Reuters reported the aggressor as the victim, made deliberate word choices to influence the listener (said the Israeli shot, the Palestinian tried to stab), and concluded the story by saying the grave escalation is because of the shooting, which had actually begun in response to the stabbing. The third is lack of information, where no news agency reports certain stories that might be positive toward Israel or make Israel look sympathetic. For example, a swastika flag was spotted by a TPS reporter flying on a mosque in a village near Chevron, and the only photo was snapped by him. This incident was only reported by TPS. They document events no other service covers. It was picked up in 17 different languages. “The moment you have a good picture, they will use the story,” said Eyal.
In Israel, “we have advantages in army, technology and community. The disadvantage is PR,” said Eyal. Eyal explained that research has been done on the three largest newspapers in the US, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and USA Today, with checking of the origination of articles on a randomly selected day. “In the Times, eight out of nine, in the Wall Street Journal, six out of seven, and in USA Today nine out of ten articles were from agencies. This is representative of a typical day. A study by the Roosevelt Study Center, a renowned research institute, conference center and library on 20th-century American history showed that Reuters is biased against Israel. And the Guardian recently published an article about how the AP used to work with the Nazi Party.” (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/30/associated-press-cooperation-nazis-revealed-germany-harriet-scharnberg)
Established in 2010, TPS is the only Israeli news agency. Its goal is to serve as the primary source of news reports and articles from and about Israel, including photos and videos, ensuring the dissemination of the most up-to-date and accurate information to media outlets across the globe. Eyal explained that TPS has 24/7 independent news-gathering abilities. It has more than 200 photographers on the ground throughout Israel and reporters spread throughout the country. Tazpit, in only its sixth year of operation, is now the first news agency to reach sites where news is breaking, including at terrorist attack sites. He has five reporters working around the clock and is seeking additional editors, producers and marketing staff. The goal of the agency is to continue connecting with the leading websites and news outlets.
Audience members asked Eyal many questions. One asked why a newspaper would use TPS as opposed to another wire service. Eyal explained that the outlets publish whoever responds first, and that TPS responds first. As more outlets use TPS, others will want to as well. Bernie Zieler, who traveled from South Fallsburg, New York to hear Eyal with her mother, Adrienne Green, asked if it’s worth people’s time to correct bias or errors in reporting when they see it. Eyal replied that it is. “Put pressure on them to increase accuracy.”
For more information, check out http://tazpit.org.il/.
By Lisa Matkowsky
