Just Journalism
Just Journalism is a UK-based research organisation and pressure group[1] whose stated goals are to focus "on how Israel and Middle East issues are reported in the UK media."[2] The organisation publishes online analyses in response to news stories, reports on "long-term trends", and opinion pieces for external publications. It was established in the spring of 2008[1] and its current Executive Director is Michael Weiss.
Principals
Advisory Board
The members of the group's advisory board, according to its website, are:[3]
- Rt Hon Dr Denis MacShane, MP for Rotherham, former Minister and advocate for democratic trade unions.
- Hussein Ibish, Senior Research Fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) and Executive Director of the Hala Salaam Maksoud Foundation for Arab-American Leadership.
- Robin Shepherd, Director of International Affairs at the Henry Jackson Society and a former Senior Research Fellow at Chatham House.
- Michael Ullman, fellow of St Catherine’s College, Oxford, and entrepreneur.
- Alan Johnson, Professor of Democratic Theory and Practice at Edge Hill University.
- Douglas Murray, bestselling author, political commentator and Director of the Centre for Social Cohesion.
- Dr. Alan Mendoza, Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Henry Jackson Society.
- Daniel Johnson, journalist and editor of Standpoint.
- Michael Rainsborough, Professor of Strategic Theory in the Department of War Studies, King’s College London.
- Nina Rosenwald, co-chair of the Board of the American Securities Management Group and editor-in-chief of Hudson New York.
- Ghanem Nuseibeh, founder of Cornerstone Global Associates and section head at the Political Capital Policy Research and Consulting Institute.
Staff
- Michael Weiss, Executive Director
- Carmel Gould, Content Manager
- Chris Dyszynski, Media Analyst
- Jon Dranko, Events Intern
- Rael Miller, Media Intern
Output
Just Journalism analyses the British media’s coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as related Middle-East topics, such as the Iranian nuclear programme[4], the status of human rights in Arab states[5], and the conditions of Palestinian refugees outside of the West Bank and Gaza[6].
The organisation also engages in "events and activities" about "journalistic accountability"[2], such as the December 2010 conference, titled "Squaring the Circle? Britain and the De-legitimisation of Israel" and organised jointly with the Henry Jackson Society, which took place in London[7]. The event, co-sponsored by Bank Hapoalim and The Jewish Chronicle, featured as panelists academic, lawyer and bioethicist Ruth Deech; Observer columnist Nick Cohen; Israeli Ambassador to the United Kingdom Ron Prosor; Times editor Daniel Finkelstein; and Friends of Israel Initiative Executive Director Rafael Bardají.[8] It was chaired by Jewish Chronicle editor Stephen Pollard.[7]
Media Coverage
Just Journalism’s work has been mentioned in British, American and Israeli publications such as The Jewish Chronicle[9], The New Republic[10] and The Jerusalem Post[11]. It has also had opinion pieces published in Ha’aretz[12], the Weekly Standard[13], Standpoint[14], and The Guardian ’s Comment is free website[15].
Reception
Prize-winning British journalist Melanie Philips called Just Journalism "a very welcome and desperately-needed initiative", and stated: "This is the first organisation in Britain set up to monitor and analyse media coverage of the Middle East on a systematic, forensic and objective basis. Its notable characteristic is the transparency of its methodology, so that everyone can judge both the material under scrutiny and the way JJ is conducting that scrutiny."[16]
Sharif Nashashibi, founder of Arab Media Watch, has criticized the organisation in The Guardian, following an analysis[17] of British media coverage of the 2009 Israeli election by Just Journalism's chief executive Elizabeth Jay. Nashashibi said that Jay had failed to meet the organisation's declared aims of promoting accurate reporting by "cherry picking quotes" and highlighting "only those alleged omissions and misrepresentations that negatively impact on Israel".[18]
In 2008, Just Journalism's Director Adel Darwish and board member Nick Cohen resigned from their positions, citing disagreements with the organisation's chairwoman and founder, on the issue of neutrality.[19]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Pressure group must keep up pressure" Jewish Chronicle, 9 July 2009
- ^ a b Mission Statement Just Journalism website
- ^ Advisory Board, Just Journalism 2010
- ^ "BBC News Online continues to downplay Iranian threats" Just Journalism, 3 December 2009
- ^ "The Guardian marks ten years of Bashar al-Assad’s regime" Just Journalism, 16 July, 2009
- ^ "New bill highlights plight of Palestinians in Lebanon" Just Journalism, 18 August 2010
- ^ a b Event announcement Just Journalism website
- ^ "Herzliya Conference" Event announcement, Friends of Israel Initiative
- ^ "Media Monitor says FT blames Israel" The Jewish Chronicle, 4 February, 2010
- ^ "Obama's Turkish Ally: Denying The Armenian Massacre, Now Threatening an Armenian Deportation" The New Republic, 22 March, 2010
- ^ "FT sees Israel as main cause of ME problems" The Jerusalem Post, 2 March 2010
- ^ "Afghan war logs, ‘war crimes’ and media hypocrisy", Haaretz, 30 July, 2010
- ^ "What David Cameron Doesn't Know About Turkey", Weekly Standard, 29 July, 2010
- ^ "Refugees ad infinitum" Standpoint, July-August 2010
- ^ Broch, Rafael (2009-08-06). "Erasing facts from Israel eviction story". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/06/israel-eviction-palestinian-east-jerusalem.
- ^ Just Journalism, Spectator 31-03-2008
- ^ "Taking exception to making exceptions" Elizabeth Jay, The Guardian, 1 March 2009
- ^ Nashashibi, Sharif (2009-03-06). "Just Journalism? It's anything but". London: guardian.co.uk. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/05/israel-palestinian-territories-media. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
- ^ "Neutrality was very much at the heart of the dispute between myself and the chairwoman of the board (the lady who founded the organisation) as I insisted on neutrality from the start. I wanted the organisation to develop [and] deal with news coverage of the Middle East in general, and become a source of information and a think tank for the media dealing with the Middle East. Therefore when the lady holding the purse of the organisation and I had different agenda and different aims, I resigned as from 31 December 2008. Also, for the same reason, respected columnist Nick Cohen, whom I [had] persuaded to join the Advisory Board, has also resigned, along with Dr Tarek Heggy, a very prominent Egyptian born international thinker." AdelDarwish.com, 10 March 2009
External links