Monday December 3 10:20 PM ET TV Tries to Balance Mideast Conflict By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer NEW YORK (AP) - When news broke about an attack near Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites)'s headquarters Monday, Fox News Channel had former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (news - web sites) in the studio to talk about what was happening. It took nearly five hours after that for the network to bring a Palestinian expert on the air for comment. By contrast, CNN had three Palestinian officials on the air within two hours, and anchorman Miles O'Brien openly fretted about making sure the coverage was balanced. The Netanyahu booking was a hunch that paid off handsomely for Fox. The former leader was a guest on Fox News Sunday, and producers invited him back to talk about the Israeli conflict on Monday. Part of the reasoning was a guess that Israel might respond Monday to suicide bombing attacks that killed 26 people over the weekend, said Dennis Murray, Fox News Channel's top daytime producer. An expected five-minute interview stretched past 20 minutes, as Netanyahu stayed on the air while pictures showed Israeli helicopter gunships attacking and a fire erupting at Arafat's security compound. Netanyahu likened Arafat to Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and accused him of having ``suicide kindergarten camps for kids to prepare the next generation of suicide bombers.'' Fox had other Israelis on the air - notably Deputy Prime Minister Natan Sharansky at 11:25 a.m. Eastern time in an interview billed as ``exclusive'' - but struggled to get a Palestinian perspective. At 2:32 p.m., Fox conducted a telephone interview with Hasan Abdul Rahman, the chief Palestinian Liberation Organization representative in the United States. Murray said Fox had been trying to reach Palestinians, and did not intend to minimize their point of view. Perhaps because of better overseas contacts, CNN had no trouble. Within two hours of the first reports on the attack, CNN had live interviews with Nabil Sha'ath, a Palestinian cabinet member; Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator; and Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian medical relief employee. Erekat said that violence by Israel ``will only breed violence.'' During that same period, CNN spoke to Ra'anan Gissin, a senior spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites). All three cable news channels, including MSNBC, covered Sharon's early afternoon news conference. And MSNBC in the six-hour period ending 3 p.m. had on four Palestinians and three Israelis. After the Erekat interview on CNN, O'Brien promised viewers that ``we will be checking in with the Israeli side of things in an effort to keep things balanced.'' O'Brien later cut short the interview with Barghouti when the official began condemning Israel. ``We've gone a little bit afield from the area of emergency services,'' O'Brien said. Later, CNN interviewed Netanyahu and Gideon Meyer, a representative of the Israeli foreign ministry. Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres was booked to appear Monday on ``Larry King Live.'' CNN has been criticized by pro-Israeli groups in the past about its coverage. Alex Safian, associate director of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, said CNN correspondents ``do not ask tough or challenging questions of Palestinian representatives.'' He did not have any specific comment on CNN's Monday coverage. Meanwhile, the Palestine Media Watch, a pro-Palestinian watchdog organization, had a ``media watch action alert'' posted on its Web site Monday complaining that CNN attempts to humanize Israeli victims of violence and doesn't do the same for Palestinians. The group said CNN has ``outrageous glaring double standards.'' CNN spokeswoman Christa Robinson said: ``I think that's how you discern the coverage is right down the middle, if both sides are angry that they're not getting enough attention". |
|