NEWS

Panel Debates Media's
Role In Terrorism

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62 .-_,Friday, September 26, 1986 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

968-0022

1

Jerusalem — "The media is
not an initiating factor for
terrorism but it is partly
responsible for the increasing
level of public tolerance of ter-
rorism and for spreading pub-
lic boredom with terrorism,"
said Michael Elkins, veteran
correspondent of the British
Broadcasting Corporation, in
a recent conference sponsored
by the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem Department of
Summer courses and Special
Academic Programs.
During the program, .a
panel of journalists and the
Israel Defense Forces' spokes-
man struggled over the dif-
ficult issue of terrorism and
the media.
In addition to Elkins, mem-
bers of the panel included Er-
win Frenkel, editor of The
Jerusalem Post; Lt. Col.
Raanan Gissen, IDF spokes-
man; Ron Ben-Ishai of Time
magazine; Samuel Segev of
Maariv and L'Express; and
Nicolas Tatro, Israel bureau
chief of the Associated Press.
"Thrrorism is in the eye of
the beholder," said Elkins. "In
my view, the BBC is the best
organization of its kind, and
it has difficulty with defining
a terrorist. It had no problem
with Irish provincials, but
when a Palestinian bombs a
supermarket in Rehovot he is
called a guerrilla. [In my view]
if a person throws a bomb in
a civilian market, that is ter-
rorism."
However, Elkins said that
there were several instances
when the media overstepped
its boundaries. One example
was in the hijacking of a
Lufthansa plane in which
careless reporting by a jour-
nalist about the fact that the
pilot was transmitting infor-
mation cost the pilot his life.
"Iblevision is the terrorists'
medium of choice and they
have learned how to exploit
the media," said Gissen.
"Iblevision has to realize that
it is not just reporting news
now, it is a part of the story.
The kidnapping of newsmen
in Lebanon is insurance that
they will get media coverage.
Killings are done before
negotiations to insure that
they will get coverage."
Gissen believes that with
some self-regulation on the
part of the media, such as
sending only seasoned report-
ers to cover terrorist activity,
embargo of information until
the incident is over, no
publishing of unedited mater-
ial or live coverage where ter-
rorist activity is involved,
avoiding short deadlines, and
no coverage of loss of life un-
til the family is informed, a
middle way could be found
between the problem of free-
dom of the press as well as
suppressing terrorism to
some degree.
As an Israeli reporter,
Segev said he feels that he

must take into account the
safety of the state when he
covers a story.
"On one hand, you have to
report all the facts you know,
but then you don't want to
serve as a tool for the ter-
rorists. It's a difficult con-
flict," said Segev. "You want
to explain what's going on to
give a broader explanation,
but by doing so you are con-
tributing to the expansion of
terrorism. It is not only you
that's involved but your coun-
try and others as well. Also,
there are exaggerations when
an incident is covered which
makes for marvelous cover-
age but at the same time the
net result is disastrous."
The media should distin-
guish between political groups
and groups which are using
indiscriminate violence to
achieve its goals, siad Segev.
Ben-Ishai defended the role
of the media and said that the
media is more helpful than
harmful in combating terror-
ism. "There is no point in put-
ting all the blame for terror-
ism on the media. Media is a
reality and we have to cope
with it. It is needed to con-
duct a democratic way of life
and enable the public to con-
duct and make its own deci-
sions about everything," said
Ben-Ishai.
He pointed out that during
the Achille Lauro incident,
the IDF used the media to
release tapes of the conversa-
tions between the terrorists
and terrorist Abu Abas in
time to spur the American
admini-
stration to take action. He
said that the media is also
helpful in providing intelli-
gence information to the
military.
"The media can be foolish
from time to time," he said.
"I'm disappointed with the
American media, but usually
the European and Israeli
media are much more respon-
sible than people claim."
Tatro said that the media is
a neutral tool which is used
by everyone — from the prime
minister to speak out against
terrorism to El-Al to bring a
Jewish-Indian boy to Israel
for his Bar Mitzvah.
In conclusion, Michael
Elkins said that the greater
the freedom the media has in
a country , the greater the
responsibility it also has.

New Routes

Tel Aviv (JTA) — El Al is
checking alternate routes for
.its South African service in
the event that certain un-
named African countries,
over which the Israeli airline
flies on its route from Tel
Aviv to Johannesburg. forbid
El Al flights through their
airspace, Transportation
Minister Haim Corfu said.