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Free Press Editors Respond
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FRIDAY MARCH 18 1988
,
,
1
S
ome Jewish readers of
the Detroit Free Press
are not convinced the
popular daily newspaper is
providing balanced coverage
of the Middle East, despite re-
cent efforts by its editorial
board to explain what it calls
a pro-Israel policy.
Publisher David Lawrence
has received several disparag-
ing letters about recent
coverage of Palestinian
rioting that includes pictures
of Arab women desperately
crying for help, and editorial
cartoons that readers have
called anti-Semitic propagan-
da. One reader said the car-
toons "would find ready ac-
ceptance in a Hitler
newspaper!'
On Sunday, Lawrence wrote
in a column that he was
"deeply pained by such ac-
cusations" and noted that he
views anti-Semitism as "one
of the great evils of the
world?' Lawrence also has
phoned and written letters to
members of the Jewish com-
munity who have expressed
dissatisfaction with the
coverage.
Jewish readers said they
were pleased with the Sunday
edition, which also published
two stories that chronicled
the history of the Jewish and
Arab conflict. Yet some Jews
still criticized the newspaper,
saying Sunday's package was
good, but displaced.
Michael Neuvirth, an at-
torney from Farmington
Hills, has been angered by
the newspaper's foreign repor-
ting style. Neuvirth, who has
written and spoken to
Lawrence about the subject,
said Sunday's articles were
nice and added that the Free
Press is "moving along the
right direction?'
"David Lawrence is very
fair," Neuvirth said. "He has
taken a personal interest and
wants to present a fair
perspective. Maybe our letters
gave him the impetus to do
so?'
Leon Cohan, president of
the Jewish Community Coun-
cil, agreed that Lawrence and
the newspaper's reporters try
to be fair.
"Obviously, we all like
stories to show our own
views," Cohan said. "But that
is not the real world and we
have to understand."
Other members of the
Jewish Community Council
were more upset than Cohan
over the Middle East coverage
of the Free Press.
"David Lawrence has tried
to do some balancing," said
Franklin Ellias, vice presi-
dent of the Jewish Communi-
ty Council of Metropolitan
Detroit. "But the balance has
been weak."
Ellias said one of the Sun-
day stories, a reprint from
The New York Times that
traced the conflict's history,
should have been placed on
the front page. The story was
the centerpiece of the Sunday
comment section.
"The article was good, but
it should have been localized,"
Ellias said. "It was a
halfhearted attempt. If you
want to balance news, then do
it?'
Iry Rubin, who chairs the
Council's committee on inter-
national concerns, said the
Sunday edition appeared to
be more balanced. But, he
said, it was no indication of a
change in policy.
Rubin was bothered by a
banner headline in Monday's
Free Press, stating "Israel's
Shamir Challenges U.S." The
story, he said, overstated
remarks made by Israel
Prime Minister Yitzhak
Shamir on the eve of peace
talks in Washington.
Lawrence was out of town
and could not be reached for
comment, but he emphasized
in the column that the
newspaper's editorial page
policy is pro-Israel "in the
sense that we feel editorially
that Israel is entitled to a
secure existence and future."
Executive Editor Heath
Meriwether said some
criticism of the newspaper is
justified. And Editor Joe
Stroud said he empathizes
with the Israelis. Both editors
said they never have ques-
tioned Israel's right to exist.
"I understand that people
might see a notion of a search
for long-term peace answers
as threatening to Israel's ex-
istence!" Stroud said. "If I
were Israeli, I, too, would be
cautious about a land-for-
peace proposition. But at the
same time, I feel the situation
is so dangerous."
Stroud said the newspaper
has made mistakes in cover-
ing the volatile story. The
newspaper probably should
have provided perspective
earlier, he said.
"We're struggling to pro-
vide perspective to keep the
problem in focus!" he said.
"The story brings deep pas-
sion, pain and conflicting
views. I've never thought of us
as anti-Israel. Under no cir-
cumstances do we want to
compromise the security of
Israel?'
Harsh criticism of the
newspaper's Middle East
reporting comes at a time
when Knight Ridder Inc., its
parent company, is threaten-
ing to close the paper if U.S.
Attorney General Edwin
Meese refuses to approve a
joint operating agreement.
The JOA would merge the
Free Press business functions
with the Detroit News.
Official: Negotiations
Continue Despite Unrest
ELIZABETH KAPLAN
Staff Writer
or many years all was
— if not exactly quiet
F — at least relatively
calm on Israel's western
front.
Then several months ago
the violence in Gaza began,
seemingly catching Israel by
complete surprise.
Yet according to Maj. Gen.
(Res.) Shlomo Gazit, the
unrest was "very much ex-
pected — perhaps a little bit
retarded by a few good years."
Gazit, the former head of
Israeli military intelligence,
was here last week to speak
before the Breakfast Club of
the Jewish Welfare Federa-
tion and the Young Leader-
ship Cabinet of the United
Jewish Appeal.
Following the Six-Day War,
Gazit served in the Ministry
of Defense as coordinator of
activities in the administered
territories. Had he been ask-
ed then how long Israel would
retain control over the West
Bank and Gaza, "I probably
would have said three, four,
maybe five years," he said.
Now he regards the
violence as "a very positive
phenomenon" — not, he ex-
plained, because anyone
relishes the riots, but because
the unrest is "an integral part
of solving the problem" in the
Middle East.
One of the necessary part-
ners in the Middle East peace
process — the Arabs — are an