A veteran journalist who covered the Middle East for the Associated Press for years now claims AP and other news outlets engage in ongoing media bias against Israel. Mark Lavie, who also worked for NPR, NBC and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, will visit St. Louis for a May 13 presentation at the Jewish Federation. Lavie recently told the Jewish Light he grades media coverage of Israel a solid F+.
“I started seeing this as early as 1988, that journalists think they’re supposed to be helping the Palestinians,” Lavie said. “And in fact, we’re not. We’re supposed to be reporting the news and explaining it. That’s our job. Israel is complicated. The conflict is complicated, but a good journalist can get his head around that and put it in context. I did it for decades.”
Lavie places some of the blame for poor journalistic practices on the untenable pace of the news cycle.
“As a radio report in the ‘90s for CBS and NBC, my slogan was ‘I may not be first, but I’ll be right,’” he said. “These days, you can’t do that. That’s gone. Now you have to tweet out the story as soon as you get wind of something. And even if you get it wrong, it doesn’t matter as long as you’re first. Because then you, ‘Own the story.’”
Since retiring from the newsroom, Lavie has written two books. He also writes analysis for The Media Line – Trusted Mideast News, a nonprofit independent organization unaffiliated with any government or political position.
“I’m lucky to have found The Media Line,” he said. “Their news reporting is solid and right down the middle. They report what they find. They send reporters all over the region, all the way to Pakistan and come back with stories that are believable and balanced and full of context.”
As a resident of Israel, Lavie said it is important for Israelis to know that American Jews are on their side.
“Israelis are quite gratified to know that there are people out there who are supporting them,” he said. “That said, Israelis believe that it’s really up to them to deal with whatever issues they have with their own government, or their own representatives and they are not too thrilled about American Jews trying to tell them what to do.”
Regarding criticizing Israel’s policies and decisions, Lavie said it is perfectly legitimate, but there are limits.
“It’s okay to be critical of Israel,” he said “Heaven knows I am. It’s not a blanket statement. There’s a difference between saying, ‘I believe that Israel has gone too far in retaliating against Hamas,’ and then I can answer that, or someone saying, ‘River to the sea, Israel should disappear.’ And that’s a whole other ballgame.”
During his St. Louis presentation, Mark Lavie will speak on the topic of “After The War: Where Do Israel And The Middle East Go From Here” at 7 p.m. on Tues., May 13. Registration information is available here.
| MORE NEWS: Kanye West drops music video titled ‘Heil Hitler’
