24
Friday, December 20, 1985 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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UNBEATABLE UNBEATABLE UNBEATABLE
Is Treatment Of Chafets
A Media Conspiracy?
BY BERL I , ALBAUM
Special to The Jewish News
For all their faults, the
media's most pronounced Achil-
le's heel is criticism.
It is a well-known fact
readily admitted within the
journalism fraternity — that the
critic does not take too well to
criticism. The media — press
and television — that holds
every sector of society to account
simply does not like to be held
-
accountable.
Ample evidence exists and the
most recent is the reception by
the media of Double Vision, the
book by Ze'ev Chafets, the
Pontiac-raised Israeli press offi-
cer who expertly chronicled the
media's distorted coverage of Is-
rael,in recent years.
An October article in Israel
Scene outlines how Chafets has
been, in effect, barred from dis-
cussing his book on television
shows, and that some magazines
and other print media institu-
tions similarly avoided coverage
of the book.
Chafets, given his experience
with the media, states he
"wasn't surprised" by the ban.
Indeed, those who have worked
with the media for any length of
time are all too familiar with
their sensitivity.
But the incident does raise
some critical questions regard-
ing the strategy adopted by the
media and, more important,
public responsibility. The
strategy is a questionable one
because it implies that Chafets
may indeed be right. The impli-
cation is not only that some of
the media do not want to give
Chafets a podium but that he
may have a disturbing message.
If Chafets is wrong, then the
media ought to welcome the
opportunity to challenge him.
Not only should he be permitted
to appear on television shows,
be interviewed for news col-
umns, but he ought to be invited
for the opportunity to take him
to task.
,While the media's strategy of
dealing with Chafets is not of
great import, the public respon-
sibility implications of these de-
cisions require open discussion
and debate.
It is extremely troubling that
the media decided not to tackle
the issue openly and fairly, in-
viting the kind of public dis-
course which would shed impor-
tant light on media coverage of
the Middle East.
Chafets has documented many
of the concerns of the Jewish
community and non-Jewish sec-
tors as well. What is perceived
as distorted and prejudiced
coverage of Israel is not re-
stricted to Jews. Many non-Jews
understand how the media affect
public opinion. Objective and
fair news reporting is important
not just to Jews but others as
well.
Double Vision offered the
media an opportunity to engage
in a "robust and uninhibited"
debate on the issues. If the
media were proved right, it
would go a long way to reassur-
Ze'ev Chafets
ing the public and restoring
necessary credibility in the
press.
If it were wrong, it would pro-
vide the impetus to set the re-
cord straight and perhaps help
avoid repetition of what now is
perceived as one-sided, simplis-
tic and distorted news coverage.
Knowingly or unknowingly,
boycotting Chafets appears to
have indicated the media have
much to fear from a: dialogue on
his work. That only supports the
suspicions of all those who have
maintained that the media has
been unfair.
The entire episode hardly
bodes well for engendering
understanding between the
media and their critics of news
coverage of Israel.
The loser in all of this, of
course, is not only the media,
which needs increased credibil-
ity, but the public, which has an
inherent right to uncensored de-
bates on such issues.
A cynic some years wrote
that, in effect, freedom of the
press belongs to those who own
the press. The media, unfortu-
nately, have proven the cynic
right.
Synagogue
Transfer
Jerusalem — The synagogue
of Cogliano Veneto in Venice
was transferred to Jerusalem in
1952 and is now the spiritual
center for the Italian Jewish
Community in Israel. Italian
Jews still practice their tradi-
tional rituals which are said to
be the closest to those practiced
during the 2nd Temple Period.
The synagogue was recon-
structed between the years 1701
and 1719, and the Ark and
benches are beautiful examples
of hand carvings from that
period.
The museum adjacent to the
synagogue contains many items
of Judaia from all over Italy.
Visitors to the synagogue on
Shabbat are offered a conducted
tour of the museum.