Backspin

Media Realignment Campaign
  • Backspin Has Moved
    I'm thrilled to announce that Backspin has moved. You'll find the new improved Backspin incorporated in HonestReporting's totally revamped web site: http://honestreporting.com/backspin-blog/ Be sure to update your blogroll, bookmarks, or RSS feed accordingly, and spread the word on Facebook, Twitter,...

  • Throwing the Book At Ken Livingstone
    HonestReporting once named Ken Livingstone the Lousiest Journalist Wannabe. The reason? This fawning interview with Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal in an edition of the New Statesman, which Red Ken was guest editing. I guess it got someone's attention in Iran;...

  • CNN Breathless Over Tunisian Tear Gas
    You'll never see a video like this come from the West Bank. A CNN film crew was caught up in some Tunisian tear gas. At around the 3:00 minute mark, photographer Mary Rogers poo-poos concern for her health, and even...

  • Prime Minister's Office Calls Time Out
    Ron Dermer, one of Bibi's advisors, wrote an impressive letter to Time in response to the recent article, Israel's Rightward Lurch Scares Some Conservatives. After addressing reporter Karl Vick's take on the Shin Bet, a possible oath of allegiance, an...

  • Pro-Israel Blogoff 2011: The Shortlist
    Aussie Dave just announced the short list of participants for his Pro-Israel Blog-Off 2011. The match-ups can be viewed in the table at the bottom of the official Blog-Off page. Submissions will be pitted against each other; winners who advance...

  • No Mention of Israel or Palestine in Tourism Ad: Who Benefits?
    Zalmi's Weblog notes an Israeli tourism ad appearing in the Daily Mail that never mentions Israel. Funny thing is, the ad doesn't mention Palestine either. The ad includes a link directing you to Riviera Travel, which has some kind of...

  • LA Times Stringer Peddles Israel Lobby Trash
    Over-stretched Western news services rely heavily on arrangements with Palestinian free-lance writers and photographers who know the West Bank: the terrain, the language, the people, the mores. For better or for worse, Big Media coverage of the West Bank would...

  • Insights Into West Bank Mosque Incites
    CNN looks into PA efforts to rein in the invective and incitement of Palestinian preachers. I credit reporter Kevin Flowers for drawing attention to the problem, but there's a nuance he doesn't make clear enough. As the Washington Post reported...

  • Near Lynch Is MSM Paydirt
    UPDATE: Jan. 19:An astute reader just emailed wondering why AFP caption assumes the driver's a "settler." Do the photographer and the AFP photo desk believe that living on the wrong side of the Green Line mitigates this ugly attack? *...

  • Evening Links
    • Following Tunisian unrest, Salam Fayyad invited reporters over to reassure international donors the Palestinian street that the PA economy is doing just fine, thank you very much: The message he wanted to send to 2.5 million Palestinians in the...

  • Simon Plosker Discusses World Media and Israel
    HonestReporting's managing editor, Simon Plosker, discussed the controversy of Jawaher Abu Rahma's death, as well as HonestReporting's new web site, which we hope to unveil any day now. Click on Rusty Mike Radio to listen.

  • When Palestinian Doublespeak Flies Under the Media Radar
    Check out this new video from my colleagues at HonestReporting Canada. The "peace" messages Abbas gives to Western and Palestinian audiences don't match up. But the media doesn't get it.

  • I'm With Diab
    Does the Shin Bet need to take security precautions for the prime minister at media functions, like last yesterday's press conference? Unfortunately, yes. Was the prime minister's message -- primarily about the need for tougher international sanctions against Iran --...

  • Diplomat Slams NY Times' Paean In the Rear
    Former US diplomat Jeffrey Feltman slams a NY Times profile of Al Akhbar, a newspaper published by Hezbollah. Feltman, who was the US ambassador to Lebanon, writes in this letter to the editor: Sadly, Al Akhbar is less maverick and...

  • International Solidarity Movement Exposed
    Malam put together one heckuva investigation into the International Solidarity Movement. It drew several conclusions, this one being what I thought was most signficant: The concept of "non-violence" as opposed to the ISM's justification of a Palestinian "armed struggle:" In...