The far-left website The Intercept was very excited on Friday about CNN being accused in an internal meeting of having a "pronounced pro-Israel bias." Actual pro-Israel media watchdogs like CAMERA would disagree.
The headline?
In internal meeting, Christiane Amanpour Confronts CNN Brass About 'Double Standards' on Israel Coverage
Amanpour expressed “real distress” over Israel stories being changed, while other staffers described a climate that is hostile to Arab journalists.
In an hourlong meeting with CNN boss Mark Thompson and other executives in the London bureau on February 13, "staffers took turns questioning a panel of executives about CNN’s protocols for covering the war in Gaza and what they describe as a hostile climate for Arab reporters." They complained about CNN routing almost all coverage relating to Israel and Palestine through the network’s Jerusalem bureau, which is dubbed "SecondEyes." Christiane Amanpour lined up with the Arabs.
“You’ve heard from me, you’ve heard my, you know, real distress with SecondEyes — changing copy, double standards, and all the rest,” said Amanpour, who was identified in the recording when an executive called her name. “So you’ve heard it, and I hear what your response is and I hope it does go a long way.”
A half-dozen staffers "spoke candidly" about how the allegedly pro-Israel coverage "weakened the network's standing in the region" and made Arab staffers feel like their lives are expendable.
“I was in southern Lebanon during October and November,” one journalist said. “And it was more distressing for me to turn on CNN, than the bombs falling nearby.”
…
Instead of finding solace in CNN’s coverage of the war, the staffer continued, “I find that my colleagues, my family, are platforming people over and over again, that are either calling for my death, or using very dehumanizing language against me … and people that look like me. And obviously, this has a huge impact in our credibility in the region.”
The journalist posed a question to the executives: “I want to ask as well, what have you done, and what are you doing to address the hate speech that fills our air and informed our coverage, especially in the first few months of the war?”
The Arab tilt is so pronounced that they complain that people expect them to denounce Hamas. Horrors! What next? Say negative things about Hezbollah?
The staffer went on to say that Muslim or Arab journalists at CNN were made to feel that they must denounce Hamas to clear their names and be taken seriously as journalists. “I’ve heard this, where a number of younger colleagues now feel that they didn’t want to put their hands up to speak up even in the kind of the local Bureau meeting,” the staffer said. “People were taking their names off bylines.”
Thompson interjected, saying that people seemed to be speaking up now and that he welcomes editorial discussions.
Another staffer disputed that characterization and noted that Arab and Muslim journalists walk a difficult line between feeling proud of working for CNN while facing pressure from their families and communities over working for a network with a pronounced pro-Israel bias.
“I think it’s very important for you to know that the degree of racism that those of us of Arab and Muslim descent face inside Israel, covering Israel, was disproportionate — the targeting of us by pro Israeli organizations, and what we had to hear,” another staffer added.
Are we headed toward "Zionism is racism" critiques? Are reporters angry they have to include any Israeli point of view? Usually, journalists are upset when there's an attempt to balance out the pro-Hamas position.
