Friday, July 5, 2013

123 PRESS APPLYING DOUBLE STANDARDS IN REPORTING

Last Monday 1 July, 2013 a guest speaker form GAZA, by the name of Yusef Aljamal held a talk in the WEA in Christchurch for a packed audience. His talk was mainly about conditions in GAZA and his family's experiences over the years in the Israeli besieged enclave. I did notify The Press (one of the main local news papers in NZ) and asked for a reporter to attend the meeting. The meeting as well as the request (to send a reporter) were completely ignored. A similar thing happened a number of years ago when the Jewish Australian journalist and author of the book 'My Israel Question' delivered a talk on his book. Although the reporter rang me on that occasion and inquired about the venue, he never turned up. It's obvious that his boss had forbidden him to report on it. However, not long ago an Israeli women by the name of Eva Lavi delivered a series of talks on the Holocaust to a number of Christchurch schools. The Press devoted a full article on it. It is not very difficult from all this to guess where the sympathies of the Press lie, but at least The Press owes its readers an explanation. 'Nihil Utile Quod Non Honestum' has become an empty, out of date phrase, no longer relevant in to-day's politically selective reporting. I'll be genuinely surprised if this letter will find its way to the letter pages. I don't think so, but I'll give it a go anyway.
6th July 2013 rejected