Tuesday, January 27, 2009

CBS Misses the Point

CBS' 60 Minutes has a very misleading segment on the "Settlers" in the "West bank"

The clip is available on Emes VEmuna. Honest Reporting also have a review of the clip.
You can view it on CBS' website here.

Anyway, it's a very poorly made clip, should you want to send a (polite) comment to CBS, you can do so through their Feedback Form Select 60 Minutes from the drop down menu and register your complaint)

Here is a copy of the comments that I just sent:
In Bob Simon's item on the West Bank, he does a very poor job of
portraying the complexity of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

He omits to mention key information, such as that Israel is not only
prepared to uproot settlers in exchange for peace, but that Israel
evicted over 5000 settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005. While failing to
mention this, he instead emphasizes a demonstration in 2006 regarding 9
families in Amona, implying that this event was Israel's only attempt to
evacuate settlers.

He also interviews Israelis who represent extremist views outside the
Israeli mainstream. Both Daniella Weiss and Meron Benvenisti have views
that are rejected by both the "Settler" and the "Mainstream" society.
Could he have not found any mainstream spokespeople to interview, such
as the official spokespeople for the Settler movement.

Simon also fails to provide any context. For example when discussing the
separation barrier, he fails to mention that since erecting the fence,
there has been an over 90% drop in terrorism from the West Bank, does he
not feel that this information is important for viewers trying to
understand the complexities of the issues at hand.

I think that it is very unfortunate that a respected program like 60
Minutes would give such a simplistic one-dimensional portrayal of one of
the most complex geo-political problems in the World.

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