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CNN's Web weather page puts Jerusalem in Israel but with a "non-partisan" asterisk.

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esponding to complaints from Jewish orga-
nizations and individuals, the Cable News
Network has reinstated Jerusalem to the
Israel heading on its online weather page
In February, the Atlanta-based network, citing a
two-year-old policy against referring to Jerusalem as
a part of Israel, had revised its Web-based weather
page to put Jerusalem in a category of its own, the
only one of an advertised 10,000 cities on the site
that was devoid of a home country
The restored Web page now contains an asterisk
next to "Jerusalem, Israel," with a footnote at the
bottom that reads, "The status of Jerusalem, the seat
of Israeli government, is the most contentious issue
in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Palestinian and
Arab leaders consider part of Jerusalem the capital of
the prospective Palestinian state."
Jewish leaders in Atlanta and nationally said the
asterisk-treatment was still offensive.
Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director,
said he was "disappointed that CNN.com continues
to find a need to qualify the status of Jerusalem with
a gratuitous politically-oriented explanation. We
question why Jerusalem's weather needs to be pro-
vided to CNN.com users with an update on the pol-
itics in the region. The conditions and forecast,
whether hot or cold or sunny or rainy, do not war-
rant political commentary.
`This is not an acceptable solution because it iso-
lates Jerusalem as a political issue when there are
questions about other places in the world like
Kashmir, Tibet and others," said Harold Kirtz, chair
of the Community Relations Council of the Jewish
Federation of Greater Atlanta. "Why isolate
Jerusalem if there is no agenda?"
The online weather sites of the Weather Channel
and MSNBC both refer to Jerusalem as part of
Israel. And officials from National Public Radio and
ABC both said their networks don't have a similar,
separate policy on Jerusalem.

Editorial Policy

The storm clouds started accumulating in
February, when CNN decided to remove
Jerusalem from under its Israel heading. The
change was made to bring the online weather

page in line with a network-wide editorial policy,
implemented two years ago, mandating that CNN
reporters not refer to Jerusalem as a part of Israel

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— "both on-air and online," according to CNN
Interactive spokeswoman Edna Johnson.
"This is not a political statement — we're not
taking sides," Johnson said. "We're a non-partisan
news gathering organization. The policy of CNN is
to remain as objective as possible in all matters."
Johnson explained that CNN officials had
"reviewed what callers and e-mailers to the network
said," and that there was "some editorial discussion
about the policy." But she insisted that CNN's latest
response to the Jerusalem issue had nothing to do
with outside pressure or politics.
"We decided that for ease of navigation, some-
thing pointed out by some callers, it made sense" to
put Jerusalem with Israel, she explained. "And
because we wanted to make sure our users were sure
we did not take sides, we added the asterisk."
Before the decision was reversed last week, Scott
Woelfel, president and editor-in-chief of CNN
Interactive told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that
"Jerusalem is a city that is under dispute, and this is
something we don't want to be considered taking
sides on."
He said the decision was made after examining how
other organizations, including the United Nations,
refer to Jerusalem. Israel captured eastern Jerusalem
during the 1967 Six-Day War, but the United Nations
has not recognized Israeli sovereignty over the eastern
part of the city. Jordan had taken east Jerusalem dur-
ing Israel's War of Independence in 1948.

"We had a sense the decision might be controver-
sial," said Woelfel. "What we're trying to do is not take
a side and not appear to be biased one way or another."

Many Jewish Atlantans remain deeply disturbed by
CNN's position on Jerusalem.
In an e-mail to CNN, Bruce Kaufman, a CPA
from suburban Norcross, wrote, "You claim not to
take an editorial position on the issue of the status
of Jerusalem, but by including your addendum you
have done just that. The correct, nonpartisin and
responsible position for CNN.com to take at this
time is to list Jerusalem as a city in Israel without
any additional commentary."
"If you have sincerely convinced yourselves that
this does not constitute taking an editorial position,"
wrote Michael Rosenzweig, a vice president of the
Atlanta Jewish Federation in an e-mail he fired off to
the network, "then I am deeply troubled by your
self-delusion."
But anger among Atlanta activists over CNN's
position may be tempered by the "openness" some
Jewish leaders say CNN has demonstrated toward
the community's concerns. Jay Kaiman, director of
the Atlanta chapter of the Anti-Defamation League,
said he was "happy" with CNN's response to the
concerns voiced by ADL — both on the national
and local levels.
Sherry Frank, director of the American Jewish
Committee's Atlanta office, said CNN's online reso-
lution "says a lot about their sensitivity ... I don't
think they're perfect, but I know they've been open
to Jewish community input."
Frank notes that the local community has
enjoyed good access to CNN, dating back to the
days of the 1982 war in Lebanon, when the network
came under fire for what was perceived as its strong
anti-Israel bias.
While this perception has been somewhat miti-
gated in recent years among American Jews, many
Israelis still object to CNN's Middle East reporting.
And the recent controversy will do little to convince
Israelis that CNN is not sympathetic to Arab posi-
tions vis-a-vis the Jewish State.
"If you have political views about what's going on

in the world, then you need to be consistent," said
Jacob Rosen, the new Israel consul general for the
Southeast region, who comes to Atlanta after a long
stint in Jordan. "Isn't Nicosia a disputed city? Isn't

Taipei a disputed territory not recognized by the
UN? If CNN feels a need to educate its readers, it
should be consistent; otherwise you need to wonder
whether they have a political agenda."
Rosen also suggested that CNN correspondents
in Jerusalem check their media credentials, should

they have a problem remembering which country
they are in. "They'll see the stamp of the Israeli gov-
ernment," he said. 77

