Balance and caution are needed

From The Australian Editorial: August 31, 2006 ...

... Mr Downer is correct to highlight the media's responsibilities and failings in its international coverage, particularly in the Middle East. In a keynote address to the Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers Association (PANPA) conference on Monday, Mr Downer drew together the interlocking themes of Australia's global mission to further the cause of democracy and freedom and the media's responsibility to report the truth. .... Mr Downer said that while Australia was well served in reporting on many of the key topics that shape our international relations, he remained disappointed with some of the recent reporting out of the Middle East. He expressed particular concern at evidence of dishonesty in reporting out of Lebanon. Mr Downer highlighted the sacking of Reuters photographer Adnan Hajj's for embellishing photographs of Israeli damage inflicted on Lebanon. He criticised the media tendency to report every casualty on the Lebanese side of the conflict as a civilian casualty, when it was indisputable that a great many of those injured or killed were armed Hezbollah combatants. He said that in a grown-up society such as ours, the media cannot expect to get away with parading falsehoods as truths, or ignoring salient facts because they happened to be inconvenient to the line of argument – or narrative – that particular journalists, or media organisations, might choose to adopt on any given controversy or issue.
The Australian could not agree more. Selective reporting, is an affliction not confined to the Middle East conflict. It is the issue on which this newspaper has most recently taken the ABC's Media Watch program to task. Together with the Fairfax press, Media Watch is a repeat offender when it comes to presenting only views that suit its cause. Selective reporting, as Mr Downer is correct to highlight, is corrosive for journalism and democracy. Selective reporting of the Middle East does not serve the public interest and hinders proper analysis of the root cause of the continuing violence. Mr Downer said international reporting of the conflict was biased in favour of Lebanon, noting exaggerated claims of casualties, a well-worn propaganda tactic utilised to great public relations effect by Hezbollah. Casualty details released by Israel, which shares Australia's respect for free speech and democracy, have generally been respected as accurate by all sides.

In the media's defence, war reporters often work under time pressure in the most trying of circumstances. And casualty numbers can be imprecise in the immediate aftermath of violence. That the truth is not always easy to discern must be better appreciated by Mr Downer following his embrace of the Lebanese ambulance incident, as presented by internet site In his speech to PANPA, Mr Downer said the incident, in which it was claimed Israel had deliberately bombed a Red Cross ambulance, did not stand up to even the most rudimentary scrutiny. Mr Downer said that after closer study of the images of the damage to the ambulance, it was beyond serious dispute that this episode has all the makings of a hoax. His source? ....[http://www.zombietime.com] .... In a lengthy posting, the website puts forward its own conspiracy theory and claims the incident never took place. .... In his report in the Media section today, [Martin] Chulov stands by the original account and says damage to the ambulance is consistent with the original claims of attack. .... Mr Downer may himself have fallen for the propaganda trick he is keen to warn against....