HonestReporting: In-Depth Study of Time Magazine Reveals Anti-Israel Bias

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Dec. 29, 2010
Contact: Yarden Frankl +972 2 993 4135
Yarden@Honestreporting.com

In-Depth Study of Time Magazine Reveals Anti-Israel Bias

When Time magazine published its September cover story, "Why Israel Doesn't Care About Peace," HonestReporting was stunned by the article's fundamental misrepresentation of Israeli attitudes. The unbalanced reporting and the flagrant cover earned Time the Dishonest Reporter Award for 2010.

We wondered whether that article was a one-time failure of objectivity or if it represented a prevalent bias in Time’s reporting on Israel. So HonestReporting reviewed Time’s reporting on Israel over an entire year, November 2009 – November 2010. Click here to read the in-depth study.

The study revealed that Time was biased against Israel in four ways:

• It repeatedly claimed Israel was unwilling to make reasonable compromises for peace, implying that Israel was responsible for the failure of peace talks. The claim that Israel will never agree to the most basic demands of Palestinian moderates appeared 18 times in the course of one year.
• It suggested that Israel does not care about peace with the Palestinians on several occasions. That theme appeared directly six times and indirectly eight more times.
• It regularly left out important context necessary to understand Israel’s perspective.
• It demonstrated a lack of balance, especially in the Quotes of the Day feature. During period of study, Time selected 22 quotations about Israel or the Palestinians to feature. Of these, 19 reflected negatively on Israel or portrayed Palestinians as the victimized voice of reason. Only 3 quotes gave readers any sense of Israel's perspective.

“Readers who are looking for factual, accurate coverage of the Middle East would be best served by going elsewhere than Time,” said HonestReporting senior editor Yarden Frankl. “As you can see by reading through this report, almost every article that Time published about Israel or the Palestinians would fail the grade for objective reporting.”

To read the full study, click here.

HonestReporting is the world’s largest media watchdog organization dedicated to ensuring that Israel is represented fairly and accurately in the media. HR monitors the media, exposes cases of bias, promotes balance, and effects change through education and action. Visit our website at www.honestreporting.com.

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