The Michigan Daily - Monday, March 13, 1989 -Page 5 Writer dicusses bias in coverage of Israel BY JOSH MITNICK With a press corps of over 800 foreign correspondants, Israel is un- der microscopic scrutiny by the world media. Outside of Washington and Moscow, it is host to the largest amount of journalists in the world. Because of a "double standard" in the news media's coverage of Israel, the world holds Israel to a higher standard than other nations, said Wolf Blitzer, Washington bureau chief for the Jerusalem Post. Blitzer's speech, entitled "Perception and Reality in Middle East Reporting," was the keynote address of the fifth annual Israel Conference Day held at Rackham Amphitheatre. "Israel, from the beginning, has never been perfect," Blitzer said. Now, Blitzer said, Israel is suffering from a role reversal of im- ages because the media's once perfect image of Israel has been shattered. The world's honeymoon with Israel, he said, has ended. "When any society is scrutinized as much as Israel's is, it is bound to have imperfections," he said. Because jounalists are free to cover and go where they want, he' said, "it is easy to be a journalist in Israel. "There is a tremendous intensity of reporting in Israel because there isn't a lot of opportunity in other parts of the Middle East," Blitzer said. "News is where there are news people." Blitzer added that the current Arab-Israeli conflict is naturally at- Labor union author Jane Slaughter, professors Robert Brenner, and Howard unions and the economy at "Labor and the left" a symposium held on Friday. Kimeldorf tractive to the media. "When Third Worlders kill other Third Worlders, it isn't given news coverage. But when a Jew kills an Arab - that is a big story." It is to Israel's credit that there is so much self-criticism and there ex- ists a "free flowing debate" over the current situation, he said. "I am convinced that if the Israeli public believes there is an opportu- nity for peace, they will grab it," Blitzer said, citing the Israeli pub- lic's acceptance of peace with Egypt. Despite current media perceptions of an Israel reluctant to come to the peace table, Blitzer predicted that if the if the government fails to take the initiative in what is percieved by the public as a viable solution, there will be a new government. "I'm personally happy they're not only dealing with the riots. Some- times we can show other things be- sides politics and troubles." LSA senior Marc Berman, presi- dent of the Union of Students for Is- rael, described the conference as "thought provoking." "There's not enough discussion of Israeli culture or other aspects of I- raeli politics on this campus, Berman said. .Workers see decline in power BY FRAN OBEID Eastern Airlines is an example of how management exploits workers through the "team concept," a labor union author said in a speech Friday at the Michigan League. Jane Slaughter, an author and staff member of Labor Notes maga- zine, said Eastern Airlines received 4 much praise for implementing cooperation methods between man- agement and labor that appeared to advance the power of the worker. Eastern's machinists union workers had four union seats on the company's board of directors, and supposedly "control on the job," said Slaughter. "This did not stop Eastern management from selling the airline. to arch union-buster Frank Lorenzo. "Luckily, the machinists were not so disorientated to 'cooperativeness' to prevent them from doing what they are doing now," she said, refer- ring to the machinist union strike at Eastern. Slaughter was one of four speak- ers at a symposium titled "Labor and the Left," which was sponsored by Against the Current, a socialist magazine. Slaughter said labor is losing power in the face of management, noting a decline in yearly wage in- creases. "Wages increased on average in 1981 by 9.8 percent, while in 1988, wages increased by just 2.6 percent." Midterm contract agreements, concession demands, and permanent replacements for striking workers are further examples of how labor has been recently losing its power, she said. Other methods in which man- agement and labor work together, such as quality-of-work-life, are supposed to increase productivity and make workers feel better about their jobs. But Slaughter said these methods actually degrade workers. While management touts multi- skilling as a method to teach work- ers a variety of skills and increase self-esteem, in actuality it is "designed to require as little skill as possible... Multi-skilling does not mean you are any more skillful," said Slaughter. University Assistant Sociology Prof. Howard Kimeldorf also agreed that labor has been losing power in recent years. "Fewer than one in five workers belong to a union" now, as opposed to one in three in 1954, he said. "Unions are starting to mirror man- agement. The labor movement can either grovel for respect or it can strike out militantly." University Economics Prof. Thomas Weisskopf said different segments of society have recovered at varying paces from the economic crisis of the early 1980s. "Capitalism is in a terrible kind of boom," he said. "The system has an uneven form of recovery whose un- fairness is demonstrated every day." Robert Brenner, a prof. of history at UCLA and editor of Against the Current, said there is now a crisis of overaccumulation, so instead of companies leaving the market, they reduce workers benefits. "If workers are going to be sub- ject to an increasing capitalist offen- sive to cut costs, the idea that they will be willing to cooperate is not only analytically wrong but politi- cally very dangerous," Brenner said. Israel Continued from Page 1 in contemporary Israeli society. "In regard to women's issues, Is- rael is like any other western coun- try," said Benziman. Dotan ex- plained that Israeli women need to gain economic and political power if they were to make any progress. Israeli author Nava Semel deliv- ered an emotional and sobering dis- cussion of the problems that children of Holocaust survivors have in con- fronting their parents about the past. Semel explained that in her childhood, the subject of the Holo- caust was treated as a "forbidden land." "We were told by parents, 'This is not for you,"' said Semel. Rivka Sidon, an Israeli citizen who attended the conference, said, Berman said. Does God Exist? How Do I Know for Sure?. -- Two noted philosophers debated this subject in 1976. Come see the videotape. f The Warren/Flew Debates on the Existence of God Held at e cmpMs of Nomh Texas state UrivermiIn 1976, tie dbts lasted 4{' r-ghts. Each professor presented s* views on p s 20, and 27,7-Spa God does not ea s' Profeslor Few Indye , Mach 6,13, afirmed; Professorwen denied; i nthe Michigan Union know in nGoddoeseisr.: Professor wrn Al itd Professor flew denied. Check the sign in the firstfloor Woby by the CIC Desk for locaton. For more information, call 662-2756. Sponsored by the Students of the Ann Arbor Church of Christ. Minority Continued from Page 1 with." Micco was the only Native American at the conference. Some people were disturbed by the fact that the conference excluded whites, calling it was a case of re- verse discrimination. But the mem- bers of the conference said this was not the case. Certain seminars were closed to whites, and they had other seminars tailored to issues con- fronting them to attend. "People get offended when people of color get together around their persecution," Blackman said. "We are responding to racist actions and have been forced into a room to- gether to fight against these ac- tions." A majority of the participants expressed their desire to have more conferences of this kind. ._.a -,. Meese. Continued from Page .3 Land zoning, and its effects on land use, was also discussed. "Zoning often instead of making land use more efficient in its alloca- tion, it makes it less efficient... , Commonly practiced is large lot zoning," said Yale Law School Prof. Robert Ellickson. "Suburbanites promise they will make metropoli- tan areas go much farther than 'they would, but it raises the price of housing and segregates people by social class." ~ - Meese praised the Federalist Society's values as "the continuing growth upon and the look back at first principles, and then applying those principles of the Constitution to contemporary situations." j =K'V xnnV k(XYX A\ ( A Xxx XX x A AV1VWnM - PLASMA DONORS \/ $ Earn extra cash $ Earn $20 on your first donation. You can earn up to $120 a month. Couples can earn up to $240. Repeat donors who have not donated in the last 30 days receive an additional $5 bonus - for return visit. A Mihigan YPSILANTI PLASMA CENTER' mac 813 W. Michigan Ave., Ypsilanti MILES Monday thru Friday 8:00am-4:00pm f/ I cali Plasma donors are people helping people ' today 6790 //i/HM /fA/NAA A/M/IA lXX/~N /K /A A AA AAM/A MXX A/' £AAA1- Read Jim Poniewozik Every Ve. kend E ,.o P Unlimited train travel in Canada for. the unlimited imagination. 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