CAMERA Hits NPR's
Mideast Reporting
ARTHUR J. MAGIDA SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
N
1 HOUR EUROPEAN DEEP
CLEANSING FACIAL
Come & Experience the Finest in European Facials
by our experienced Aesthetician
•High Frequency Current •Electric Brushes
•Vacuum •Heat Wraps
1 HOUR BODY MASSAGE
SUPER SPECIAL
A Manicure & Pedicure
$2500
PERMANENT
MAKE-UP
Eyeliner Starting at
$250"
Our highly trained massage therapist specializing in
YOUR CHOICE
•Shiatsu •Deep Muscle Work
•Sports Massage •Foot Reflexolgy
$2500
1 HOUR ELECTROLYSIS
We use the most advanced equipment available today.
•We specialize in difficult cases.
• Referred By Many Doctors
(new clients only)
.
Must book appointment by 12/1/92
5640 W. MAPLE SUITE 206
Just east of Orchard Lake Rd.
In the Maple Orchard Office Bldg.
626-1990
(/)
LLJ
U)
LLJ
F-
0
F-
LU
LLJ
IT TAKES
MORE
THAN THIS
TO SHAKE
OBESITY.
It takes a comprehensive program supervised by
a team of medical professionals. The kind we offer at
NEW DIRECTION. Our cost-effective system begins
NEW DIRECTION-Novi
with safe, rapid weight loss and nutrition education.
347-4322
But then we go even further — with behavior modifi-
At Providence Park
cation, physical activity, and nutritional counseling 47601 Grand River at Beck Rd.
designed to help you keep the weight off. So if you
■
■
have at least 40 pounds to lose, don't just make a
milkshake. Make the right move. To NEW DIRECTION.
weight
ne
directioa
11•11111•••
11•11111111111111•1
34
system tor Lasting
control
ational Public Radio
has bitterly rejected a
study by the Com-
mittee for Accuracy in
Middle East Reporting in
America (CAMERA) that
claims the network has an
entrenched bias against
Israel.
"To say that our coverage
of Israel advances the Arab
cause is outrageous," said
John Dinges, NPR's news
managing editor. "I don't
understand why CAMERA
singled out NPR. We have
been extraordinarily fair."
The report has also moved
Father Robert Drinan to
resign from the board of the
pro-Israel press watchdog
group.
"This is terribly absurd
stuff," said Father Drinan, a
former member of Congress
who now teaches at Wash-
ington's Georgetown Uni-
versity. "NPR is about as
balanced as you get."
CAMERA's report appears
in the groups autumn
newsletter. It claims that
NPR stories "consistently
fail to take into account .. .
Israeli concerns and Israeli
perception of events. Rather,
coverage is skewed toward
the perspectives of Israel's
enemies."
Several of CAMERA's con-
cerns addressed NPR's
alleged skirting or
misrepresenting issues that
affect Israel's security.
Although the report notes
that CAMERA has "long
argued" that NPR's
coverage of Israel and the
Arab-Israeli conflict is bias-
ed, it specifically addresses
the network's coverage of
that region between July 1
and Dec. 31, 1991.
According to CAMERA's
current newsletter, NPR of-
ficials "denied any large-
scale bias" during a three-
hour meeting between them
and CAMERA represent-
atives at NPR's head-
quarters in Washington last
June 1.
The newsletter claims that
the NPR officials have a
"contorted mindset," cannot
"raise their sights from their
obsessed focus on Israel to
view the broad landscape of
Middle East and world
events in rational perspec-
tive," and made "pitiful re-
joinders to the evidence of
wholesale bias."
It concluded that "NPR
has impeded public under-
standing of the Middle East
by consistently and-
systematically proffering a
fraudulent version of real-
ity."
Officials of both the net-
work and of CAMERA were
woefully disappointed at the
outcome of their June 1
meeting. NPR's John Dinges
said CAMERA had abused
the network's "good faith
effort to discuss our Middle
East coverage. My attitude
was to be open and coop-
erative. They shoved it in
my teeth. And they printed
(in CAMERA's newsletter)
none of our detailed,
substantive responses to
their charges" made at the
June 1 meeting.
And Andrea Levin,
CAMERA's national direc-
tor, said she had hoped the
meeting would have "some
substantive impact" on NPR
news. Instead, she said, the
network's Middle East
coverage "most certainl
has not improved" since she
met with the NPR staff.
NPR, said Ms. Levin, hab
purported shortcomings
"because it suffers from
some of the endemic prob-
lems of other power centers:
It has no penalty for filing
embarrassing stories. It has
no accountability. It falls tc
citizens to band together to
straighten them out."
The network, she said, had
originated "from a semi-
counterculture. Its per-
sonnel, especially those who
helped form it, come from.
alternative newspapers and
Pacifica Radio, which is no-
toriously anti-Israel."
Mr. Dinges firmly backed
NPR's Middle East cor-
respondent, Linda Grads-
tein, whose reporting.
CAMERA claims, "is entire-
ly consistent with NPR's
overall failure to report
Israeli security concerns."
"Linda is a knowledgeable
student of the Middle East,"
he said. "She's accurate and
serves us very well."
Although CAMERA re-
ported that NPR had not
interviewed any represent-
atives of "the violent and
anti-Semitic HAMAS organ-
ization" in its coverage of
the Middle East peace talks;
Mr. Dinges noted that a
segment in a special series
about the Middle East
broadcast just before the