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An interesting correspondence that took place after the most recent edition of the Kol was sent out:
ReplyDelete"Dear Evan,
I do not usually read the Young Judaea news update as I have not been involved since I went on a trip to Israel 4 years ago. But I was prompted to read this past Kol Ha'Tnua in light of the recent war in Gaza. I was interested in what the news update would say about the situation in Gaza.
I was pleasantly surprised to hear little war propoganda or advocacy. The story from miss Lax was touching and I hope her cousin has survived the action unscathed. But after this story, you made a statement that shocked me in its unthoughtfulness. I quote: "At such a crucial time, we must remember to stay updated and seek unbiased information so that we can defend the merits of the truth. Try the IDF Spokesperson's website in English or the IDF Spokeperson's YouTube channel." Unbiased? According to dictionary.com, unbiased means :"Without bias or prejudice; impartial." The IDF Spokesperson's website is far from unbiased. It has a clear objective, to portray Israeli actions in the best way possible. As Americans, we already face enough pro-Israel bias watching the regular news(CBS, ABC, Foxnews). So to suggest that subscribers read the IDF English website to gain an "unbiased" perspective is absurd, ludicrous. A balanced perspective is really what you seem to mean. And to gain a balanced perspective, one should read articles from Al-Jazeera english, Ha'aretz(who has done a very good job at being balanced), the Guardian(British), BBC world. These are sites you should suggest to the readership. I would appreciate it if in your next article you suggest that and that you check out these websites yourself. Al Jazeera English has done the best job out of all news outlets, so start there.
Thank you for your time,
Nicolas K"
The following is my response:
"Nicolas,
I appreciate the feedback, and thank you for reading the Kol Ha'Tnua.
I'd like to start off by saying that I feel "unthoughtfulness" is a bit too brash to describe my statements. A news outlet that uses the words "martyred" instead of killed is not unbiased. In fact, Joseph Pulitzer and W Randolph Hearst would be jealous at the level of yellow journalism contained inside of al-Jazeera. From a journalistic point of view, their reporting is detestably abhorrent. From a truthful point of view, their reporting is discourteous to the human mind. I'm surprised that you haven't noticed the inherent bias in virtually every news organization in existence. In this day and age, it is nearly impossible to get the truth unless you see it with your own eyes and hear it with your own ears.
If you think that the American media is biased toward Israel, then I believe that you are sadly mistaken. The same goes for the British media. Ignorance of history and even of the current conflict makes it easy to view the Palestinians as underdogs and the Israelis as unrelenting aggressors. This is especially true when the images circulated around college campuses and internet forums portray the poor Palestinian mother weeping in the cemetery, but not the armed gunman behind her firing a rocket indiscriminately at Israeli civilian areas. But that is not what I mean to convey in this response.
Please do not misinterpret this email as downplaying the severity of the Arab-Israeli conflict, or more importantly the severity of Operation Cast Lead. What is "absurd," and "ludicrous," however, is not doing research. I would kindly suggest that you read information published by the IDF Dover's website in English and watch a few of the videos on the Dover's YouTube site. The YouTube videos might be difficult to watch if you have a weak stomach, but the point still stands: You will not find unnecessary opinion in the information published by the Dover. In fact, I have yet to find any opinion in reading and watching years of publications.
However much we may seek such a quality of balance in our journalism, it is also our own job to use our intellect in order to make our own decisions. As a journalist, it is not my job to feed my readers mindless information. Quite the contrary, as there is enough of that in the depths of nations led by tyrannical despots. We are lucky enough to live in a society in which we can form our own opinions. Orwellian prophecies have not come true, and I hope for dear life that they never will. We must keep ourselves astute, though.
It brings me, therefore, to inform you that I will not issue a retraction to my readers, nor will I suggest to them to get their news from al-Jazeera English or any such news outlet. If they so choose, they may, however I am not going to go out of my way to ask them. That is the absolute beauty of free-will. The chanichim in Young Judaea are open-minded, and more importantly, free-minded. They can think for themselves. It is, indeed, what makes our movement thrive and it is what promotes thoughtful dialogue inside and outside the movement.
Again, thank you for your feedback on the Kol. We appreciate your readership.
Regards,
Evan Micħael Gildenblatt
National Merekez Pirsumim
Young Judaea
The Zionist Youth Movement of Hadassah
אבן מיכאל גילדנבלט
מרכז פירסומים לאומי
יהודה הצעיר
תנועת נוער ציוני של הדסה
+1 513 254 7800
Evan.Gildenblatt@gmail.com"