The not-so objective Mideast reporting by CanWest

Catholic New Times, June 1, 2003 by John Dirlik

It almost seems there were two different pro-Israel rallies in Montreal recently, the one I attended, and the other described by the Montreal Gazette the next day. During the one for which I was present, about 2,000 participants gathered in a downtown park to commemorate the anniversary of the birth of Israel. Across the street, a dozen or so anti-Zionist Jews and their children from the Neturai Karta movement staged a counter demonstration chanting "Judaism Yes, Zionism No." They believe that an authentic Jewish state can only come after the Messiah has established it.

At one point, a burly man from the pro-Israel rally darted across the road, and almost knocked to the ground the frail, ringleted Jew in an attempt to rip away the placard he was carrying. A middle-aged woman also appeared--her face contorted by rage and began shrieking to the counter demonstrators "you should be dead, you should be dead." A large group from the pro-Israel rally then joined her and encircled the anti-Zionists while pushing them and screaming obscenities. Recognizing the potential for violence, the riot police quickly intervened and literally pushed them out of harm's way towards an underground garage by the edge of the park. As they were led downstairs, members of the pro-Israel rally gathered on both sides at the top of the stairs, furiously spitting and shouting insults. When the visibly shaken group made it to the safety of the underground parking lot, where one helmeted policeman expressed disgust at being covered with spit, the leading rabbi of the anti-Zionists thanked the police for their protection, and everyone eventually dispersed.

But this is what readers of the CanWest-owned Montreal Gazette learned the next day: "Pro-Israel rally targeted," screamed the front page headline. According to the report, an "ugly confrontation" took place, not after an aggressive mob crossed the street and assaulted the peaceful protesters, but as "the two groups came face to face." A large photograph showed the anti-Zionists on the stairs leading to the underground garage (where they had been showered with spit by Israel's supporters from above) with the following caption: "Pro-Palestinian supporters gesture yesterday while being escorted away by riot police." Not a word about the barrage of spit and trash hurled by Israel's supporters, not a sentence about the revolting behaviour, neither of which the Montreal Gazette photographer could have missed. Such is what passes for reporting at CanWest newspapers, at least where issues related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are concerned. This glaring example of spinning the news may be shameful, but it is perhaps not surprising considering the ultra-nationalist ideology of the Asper family who tightly control the editorial content of their vast media empire.

The growing list of CanWest journalists silenced for deviating from Izzy Asper's version of Mideast history is well known. Far more revealing, however, is the choice of speakers selected to criss-cross the country as part of the ongoing "Asper Foundation Lecture Series." Recently paraded on the synagogue circuit was Arab-American writer Joseph Farah, who likes to refer to the "so-called" Palestinians in the same way Holocaust-deniers speak of the "so-called" Holocaust. Farah has been described by David Asper as "an inspiration to us all."

CanWest owns Global television, which is Canada's second largest private broadcaster. It also publishes the National Post as well as 160 other dailies and weeklies across the country. It's only prudent to be aware of the ideology that informs their Mideast coverage.

John Dirlik is a freelance writer in Montreal.