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Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America
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The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) is a Boston-based, 501(c)(3) nonprofit, pro-Israel media watchdog group which was founded in 1982 to respond to alleged anti-Israel bias in The Washington Post.
CAMERA has been noted for its pro-Israel media monitoring and advocacy. CAMERA releases reports to counter what it calls "frequently inaccurate and skewed characterizations of Israel and of events in the Middle East" that it believes may fuel anti-Israel and anti-Jewish prejudice.
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Encyclopedia
The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) is a Boston-based, 501(c)(3) nonprofit, pro-Israel media watchdog group which was founded in 1982 to respond to alleged anti-Israel bias in The Washington Post.
CAMERA has been noted for its pro-Israel media monitoring and advocacy. CAMERA releases reports to counter what it calls "frequently inaccurate and skewed characterizations of Israel and of events in the Middle East" that it believes may fuel anti-Israel and anti-Jewish prejudice. The group mobilizes protests against what it describes as unfair media coverage by issuing full-page ads in newspapers, organizing demonstrations, and encouraging sponsors to withhold funds. Critics suggest the group is "Orwellian-named" and that "like others engaged in the narrative wars, it does not understand the difference between advocacy and accuracy".
In May 2008, five Wikipedia editors involved in a secret CAMERA campaign to edit Wikipedia were sanctioned by Wikipedia administrators, who wrote that the project's open nature "is fundamentally incompatible with the creation of a private group to surreptitiously coordinate editing by ideologically like-minded individuals".
History
CAMERA created chapters in major cities, including New York, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and in 1988 a Boston chapter and office, founded and led by Andrea Levin; Charles Jacobs became deputy director of the Boston chapter.
In 1986, Florida International University political science professor Cheryl A. Rubenberg noted CAMERA was “Another pro-Israeli organization that was formed after 1982 to monitor the media...” She further stated that CAMERA was one of several ‘new groups’ which constituted the “Israeli lobby” at the time.
Writing in The Nation in 1987, journalist Robert I. Friedman similarly described CAMERA as having been formed in the wake of Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon "to keep the U.S. press in line," noting that the organization's activities at the time included publishing a newsletter and placing advertisements in The Christian Science Monitor and The New Republic in support of Israel's West Bank settlement policies.
In 1988, Edward Said, a political activist and University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, argued that not even the Israeli Government has ventured the arguments of CAMERA, and that "surely, the Israeli lobby can find better propaganda methods than this!"
In 1991, Levin succeeded Winifred Meiselman as executive director of CAMERA. According to the organization's website, CAMERA’s membership grew from 1,000 in 1991 to 55,000 in 2007, with offices in Washington, DC, New York, Chicago, and Israel in addition to the Boston headquarters" The director of the Washington office of CAMERA is Eric Rozenman.
Structure, staff, and activities
On its official website, CAMERA describes itself as "a media-monitoring, research and membership organization devoted to promoting accurate and balanced coverage of Israel and the Middle East" which "fosters rigorous reporting, while educating news consumers about Middle East issues and the role of the media." CAMERA further describes itself as a "non-partisan organization" which "takes no position with regard to American or Israeli political issues or with regard to ultimate solutions to the Arab-Israeli conflict." CAMERA complained in 2008 that the Conference of Major Jewish Organizations did not consult it before disinviting Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin to an anti-Ahmadinejad rally. CAMERA has also criticized the Israeli non-governmental organization B'Tselem for some of its reporting on Israel.
CAMERA staff members monitor media coverage of the Middle East, and directly contact media organizations and reporters to "refute" information the organization perceives as "distorted or inaccurate." The organization also publishes monographs about topics relating to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
CAMERA is a member of the Israel Campus Roundtable, which includes the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Anti-Defamation League, The David Project Center for Jewish Leadership, and other pro-Israel organizations. As a member of this Campus Roundtable, CAMERA operates on college campuses to combat what it perceives as "propagandistic assaults on Israel . . . creating harmful misperceptions of Israel" and "publishes a student-focused magazine, CAMERA on Campus, containing specialized information useful in countering misinformation." For undergraduates willing to write op-eds and organize pro-Israel events on campus, CAMERA has offered student representative positions which include compensation and training in Israel.
CAMERA is also a member of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which describes itself as at the "forefront of mobilizing support for Israel and educating the public in times of war and conflict, and in the pursuit of peace".
Commentary and critiques by CAMERA
Among the organizations and works that have been criticized by CAMERA are:
ABC News anchor Peter Jennings
"We've long considered him anti-Israel", CAMERA's founder Andrea Levin has commented, pointing to an incident in which CAMERA, and eventually also the Columbia Journalism Review, criticized the anchor and his network for balking at correcting their misquote of an Israeli politician.
National Public Radio
CAMERA's report, "A Record of Bias: National Public Radio's Coverage of the Arab-Israeli Conflict: September 26 – November 26, 2000" (2001) asserts that National Public Radio's "coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict has long been marred by a striking anti-Israel tilt, with severe bias, error and lack of balance commonplace." CAMERA supported a boycott of NPR, and demanded the firing of NPR's foreign editor, Loren Jenkins. CAMERA charged that Jenkins has a long record of partisanship in favor of Palestinian views, and that he has let his personal views tilt NPR's coverage. CAMERA charges that Jenkins has linked Israel to Nazis in his writings, and referred to Israel as a "colonizer."
NPR's then-Ombudsman, Jeffrey A. Dvorkin, said in a 2002 interview that CAMERA used selective citations and subjective definitions of what it considers pro-Palestinian bias in formulating its findings, and that he felt CAMERA's campaign was "a kind of McCarthyism, frankly, that bashes us and causes people to question our commitment to doing this story fairly. And it exacerbates the legitimate anxieties of many in the Jewish community about the survival of Israel."
Encarta
In an article originally published in the Jerusalem Post and posted on the official website of CAMERA, Andrea Levin, the Executive Director of CAMERA, describes Microsoft's digital multimedia encyclopedia Encarta as "a troubling mix of solid information, bias and error." In particular, Levin points to the articles written by Shaul Cohen of the University of Oregon, which Levin claims "blurs Arab aggression against the Jews from the Mandate period to the present, repeatedly equating the violence by the parties."
Steven Spielberg's film Munich
In her film review of Munich (2005), posted on the official website of CAMERA, Andrea Levin claims that the film (a collaboration of director Steven Spielberg and playwright–screenwriter Tony Kushner) promotes "its thesis of Israeli culpability" and that "Israel's action battling its adversaries is cast as aberrant, bloody and counterproductive." Levin continues: "indeed, it is stunning to watch Munich and realize that its director [Spielberg] brought Schindler's List to the world. Where that was artistry drawn from truth, Munich is cinematic manipulation rooted in lies."
Mearsheimer and Walt
CAMERA published a detailed critique by Alex Safian of Harvard University professor Stephen Walt and University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer's The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy paper. Safian argued that it is "riddled with errors of fact, logic and omission, has inaccurate citations, displays extremely poor judgement regarding sources, and, contrary to basic scholarly standards, ignores previous serious work on the subject. The bottom line: virtually every word and argument is, or ought to be, in 'serious dispute.' In other words, a student who submitted such a paper would flunk."
God's Warriors
CAMERA published a critique of Christiane Amanpour's CNN documentary series God's Warriors, calling it "one of the most grossly distorted programs to appear on mainstream American television", "false in its basic premise", and "a perfect illustration of classical propaganda techniques". Christiane Amanpour has responded that the documentary is not meant to compare religions, but rather to show "that each faith has their committed and fervent believers, and we're showing how each of those are active in the political sphere in today's world."
"Israel's Jewish Defamers"
In October 2007, CAMERA organized a conference entitled "Israel's Jewish Defamers," in which a panel of discussants accused selected Jewish critics of Israel, as well as Israel's leading newspaper, Haaretz, of distortions and falsehoods about Israel. CAMERA director Andrea Levin described the Jewish critics — who included Princeton University’s Richard Falk, writer Norman Finkelstein, New York Review of Books contributor Henry Siegman, former New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis, Trent University professor Michael Neumann, and Tikkun magazine publisher Michael Lerner — of being guilty of "demonstrably false and baseless defaming of Israel, wildly distorted out of context accusations against Israel." Among the panelists were writer Cynthia Ozick and Harvard psychiatrist Kenneth Levin, who likened the Jewish critics to chronically abused children.
In response, Anthony Lewis told the New York Sun that the conference was "about a nonexistent phenomenon," noting that Jewish criticism of Israeli policies was not necessarily defamatory. Haaretz's editor-in-chief, David Landau, refused to comment on the conference, citing that "it was "a matter of policy and principle" not to respond to CAMERA, which Landau described as "McCarthyite." Tikkun editor Lerner also rejected the notion that he was anti-Israel.
2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict
In response to coverage of the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict, CAMERA criticized the reporting of the Los Angeles Times, CNN,, Ha'aretz,, NPR, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, and Norwegian doctors being funded by the Norwegian ministry who appeared on media outlets such as the BBC and CBS. CAMERA said that in its view reporting from the Los Angeles Times "consistently omitted key information about Gaza Strip sites targeted by the Israeli army" and gives the false impression that Israel doesn't aim to prevent civilian deaths. CAMERA criticized Ha'aretz for "confusion and misinformation on the medical issue" in its "outlining what medical supplies Gaza is reportedly lacking and ignoring all incoming medical aid".
Wikipedia campaign
In an April 2008 article, the pro-Palestinian advocacy site Electronic Intifada revealed the existence of a Google group set up by CAMERA. The stated purpose of the group was "help[ing] us keep Israel-related entries on Wikipedia from becoming tainted by anti-Israel editors". Electronic Intifada accused CAMERA of "orchestrating a secret, long-term campaign to infiltrate the popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia to rewrite Palestinian history, pass off crude propaganda as fact, and take over Wikipedia administrative structures to ensure these changes go either undetected or unchallenged".
A veteran Wikipedia editor, who according to the emails was colluding with CAMERA, also provided advice to CAMERA volunteers on how they could disguise their agenda. An e-mail by one member of the Google group advised that "One or more of you who want to take this route should stay away from any Israel realted articles for one month until they interact in a positive way with 100 wikipedia editors who would be used later to vote you as an administrator." "There is no need to advertise the fact that we have these group discussions," another e-mail recommended. The veteran Wikipedia editor identified, in a 25 March email, another Wikipedia editor, whom he viewed as an effective and independent pro-Israel advocate. The veteran editor instructed CAMERA operatives to work with and learn from the editor perceived to be an effective and independent pro-Israel advocate. Excerpts of some of the e-mails were published in the July 2008 issue of Harper's Magazine under the title of ?Candid camera?. In April 2008, CAMERA's "Senior Research Analyst" Gilead Ini would not confirm that the messages were genuine but maintained that there was a CAMERA email campaign which adhered to Wikipedia's rules. In August 2008, Ini argued the excerpts published in Harper's Magazine were unrepresenative and that CAMERA had campaigned "toward encouraging people to learn about and edit the online encyclopedia for accuracy".
A group of Wikipedia administrators strongly believed an editor on Wikipedia to be Gilead Ini and blocked that user account indefinitely. In April 2008 Gilead refused to say whether he was behind the Gni account, and in May 2008 he denied that the account belonged to him. Andre Oboler, a Legacy Heritage Fellow at the Israeli non-governmental organization NGO Monitor, alleged that groups such as "Wikipedians for Palestine" have engaged in similar practices. Electronic Intifada co-founder Ali Abunimah insisted that his group would never encourage a similar e-mail campaign.
Gershom Gorenberg, of the liberal magazine The American Prospect, stated "CAMERA is ready to exempt itself from the demands for accuracy that it aims at the media. And like others engaged in the narrative wars, it does not understand the difference between advocacy and accuracy." Gorenberg criticized CAMERA for telling members not to share information about the campaign with media, and he also argued Ini's definition of accuracy "only means not printing anything embarrassing to his own side". David Shamah, of the Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post, stated "the vast anti-Israel lobby that haters of our country have managed to pull together" hate it when groups like CAMERA mess up "their anti-Israel propaganda with (gasp!) facts".
Five editors involved in the campaign were sanctioned by Wikipedia administrators, who wrote that the project's open nature "is fundamentally incompatible with the creation of a private group to surreptitiously coordinate editing".
Criticisms
In a 2003 profile of the organization in the Boston Globe, Mark Jurkowitz observed: "To its supporters, CAMERA is figuratively - and perhaps literally - doing God's work, battling insidious anti-Israeli bias in the media. But its detractors see CAMERA as a myopic and vindictive special interest group trying to muscle its views into media coverage."
The group has been criticized as not seeking accuracy in reporting but rather engaging in censorship and fighting for a pro-Israeli bias:
- Journalist and author Robert I. Friedman wrote in 1987 that "CAMERA, the A.D.L., AIPAC and the rest of the lobby don't want fairness, but bias in their favor. And they are prepared to use McCarthyite tactics, as well as the power and money of pro-Israel PACs, to get whatever Israel wants."
- Writing about criticisms from CAMERA he and his colleagues have received, Jerusalem-based journalist Gershom Gorenberg wrote " It is not the press's job to provide PR for any government. Until CAMERA gets this straight, self-respecting journalists will regard an occasional snarl from the watchdog as proof that they're doing their job."
- Writing about attempts by CAMERA to get a local Pasadena, California church to cancel an appearance by Palestinian activist Reverend Naim Ateek, Rob Eshman, Editor-in-Chief of The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, wrote "I'm always leery when Jewish groups ride in from out of town to try to save us from the bad guys. We have plenty of sharp-eyed Jewish defense groups locally who can tussle on our behalf. It's just a bit condescending to think we rubes, out in America's second-largest Jewish city, don't know how and when to fight. Or whom." Eshman later clarified that his criticism was directed specifically at CAMERA's handling of the Ateek visit, and not toward the organization in general. "I think CAMERA, which in so many cases I find useful and correct, is in this case making things worse," he wrote.
- In 2005, Donald Wagner, Executive Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and Associate Professor of Religion and Middle Eastern Studies at Northpark University, argued that "for propaganda purposes Israel and its friends at CAMERA claimed "there were no new settlements" while "not only did the settler population double, so too did new settlement construction in the 108 new 'settlement outposts' established between the end of 1992 and 2000".
See also
External links
- Official website.
- (Exec. Dir. of CAMERA) at Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
- at Nuclear Spin (part of , another media watchdog group which identifies itself as "monitoring PR and Spin").
- Official website.
- Hyperlinked list of items headed CounterSpin, Media Advisory, Activism Update, Extra!
- .
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