Israeli study criticises media coverage of Gaza withdrawl

Posted by Dominique Lewis Tuohy on January 19, 2006 at 12:30 PM

A new study published by Keshev, The Centre for the Protection of Democracy in Israel, "a civic association that researches and gathers information on … the conduct of the media in Israel", has highlighted "acute failures in the mainstream Israeli media's coverage of the Gaza disengagement."

The Keshev report also stated that "the Israeli media presented an incomplete, sometimes one-sided portrayal of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in its broad perspective. The disengagement was covered as an internal Israeli tragedy, almost devoid of context, featuring two sets of victims: evacuators and evacuees."

Keshev has also addressed the editors of three Israeli newspapers: Yediot Ahronot, Ma'ariv and Ha'aretz, "calling upon them to ensure complete, critical news coverage during the pre-election period", and asserting that "the upcoming elections underscore the need for fair, complete and critical coverage of the central issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Presenting the Palestinian perspective of the conflict and Israel's role in its development would have significant implications for media consumers' perception of reality."

The report is the final one of a series completed by Keshev in collaboration with Palestinian organization Miftah, treating Israeli media coverage of the Israeli Palestinian conflict.

Concern has also been expressed about the international media's coverage of the events in Gaza (see previous posting).

Sources: Jerusalem Post, Keshev

8 Comments

Swampthing said:

Neomedia Technologies and New Group, (which is New Corp.), are working together to help turn on newspapers. What else are they working on?

It is funny that Sponge is mentioned here.

I wonder why they left the partnership with Neomedia. Couldn't they help make the wheel turn.

IMO, Qode will be the easiest mobile navigation platform for the consumer and mobile web user.

When will it be turned on again?

February 25, 2007 4:58 PM

Jodie said:

Thanks for the comment. Sponge are mentioned because I have a used some information from a presentation of theirs and they work with the majority of th newspapers in the UK.

Qode is a great idea and I believe could eventually be a strong product but the market isn't ready yet. This kind of technology needs to be bought to market and gain acceptance before it is used commercially in this way. Whilst Qode are working with News (and I'm very keen to see the results), there may be other contenders in the marketplace with similar or better software.

Neo Techinologies appear to have a range of companies, some related to mobile such as 12Snap and others that are in a completely different market.

February 26, 2007 9:17 AM

Bob Bentz said:

You would also be interested to know that the Houston Chronicle is now offering Mobile Classifieds. This is the first newspaper in the United States that is offering such a service.

February 26, 2007 3:24 PM

Alex Meisl said:

Sponge continues to work with many of the leading media groups in the UK but focuses on technology and solutions which typically do not require users to download software onto their handsets.

Whilst we have indeed separated from NeoMedia we wish them every success. Qode is a great concept and we look forward to seeing it being rolled out.

February 26, 2007 5:47 PM

Gayle Moss said:

PressDisplay.com from NewspaperDirect provides access to over 400 newspapers on Windows Mobile Devices. You don't need to download any software to read them. Check it out at www.pressdisplay.com - click on the Mobile PressDisplay menu button the left column of the page and see how live content is displayed inside an imate device.

If you want to read a paper offline on your device, you can download PressReader software to your device and then download all the papers you wish and disconnect from the network to read them.

February 26, 2007 11:00 PM

Bastian said:

Hi Jodie,

your article is not bad but you are missing an awfull lot of important information here.

For example did you ever checked out www.mobizines.com

We are doing exactly what you and the other people are talking about and already helping more than 100 content partner worldwide to mobilize their business.

You also don´t mention Widsets and a few other mobile news aggregators...

Plus i really don´t know why Neomedia is mentioned here at all...

With kind regards,

Bastian Lehmann

February 28, 2007 4:06 PM

Jodie said:

Hi Bastian

Thanks for the comment. There are a lot of suppliers that haven't been mentioned, in fact there aren't any used in the actual text of the article. Sponge is referenced because of some stats and information they were kind enough to provide. This piece is meant to help editors and news execs understand what kind of options there are with mobile in an incredibly short overview rather than to recommend one supplier over another.

If you have any specific information regarding services and benefits to newspapers, please do send them in to wef@wan.asso.fr.

Thanks,

Jodie

February 28, 2007 4:29 PM

David Geipel said:

Thanks for posting the article Jodie. We too at CellSigns (http://cellsigns.com) in the US agree that the opportunity is HUGE. While circulation continues to drop, we've seen a huge push toward the "third screen"... the mobile channel. Just one point of clarification to another posting above - CellSigns actually launched the first mobile classifieds with their solution called Cellifieds back in the fall 2006 with the Palm Beach Post who has since won two NAA awards for their mobile classifieds and mobile ads. Overall, it's great to see the newspapers take it mobile.

May 4, 2007 10:04 PM