RE: Middle East reporter Ethan Bronner in a conflict of interest

A puff piece on the late Canadian media mogul Israel “Izzy” Asper "Lament for Izzy: The fall of an empire" appeared in the October 27 – November 9, 2009 issue of the journal Canadian Business on pp. 82 – 88. Author Peter C. Newman, veteran Canadian journalist and, like the subject of his profile, also a Zionist Jew, raved to his readers about what a savvy entrepreneur the late "Izzy" Asper had been – even as Newman noted that the $4-billion debt that Asper had saddled his company Canwest with turned out to have been one that was completely unsustainable, especially in the currently very dismal economic climate. Indeed, ince Newman’s article has appeared, a consortium of banks has seized control of the now bankrupt Asper media empire. This paragraph appears on p. 84 of the Newman article:

When he [Asper]grabbed control of the Southam newspaper chain in 2000, it included publishers, editors and columnists not willing to toe his party line. That he could not tolerate. He recognized no reason for owning publications unless they reflected his personal points of view. "Every Southam editor, reporter, columnist, etc. is now on notice and will be fired for provable causes if there is a deviation. The Jews of Silence, the Don't-Make-Wavers are howling that I am destroying our 'goodwill' with these hysterical diatribes. While the Jews of Vigour are chanting. 'Go get 'em Rover. Woof! Woof!'" (From a private e-mail sent after Izzy laid down the line his publications had to follow on Israel.)

As you can see, Asper actually insisted that his media group serve as a propaganda tool for Israel. As a result, up here in Canada, Asper's media empire was hardly a by-word for journalistic objectivity; and its reporting of Middle East news was widely regarded as very suspect and devoid of objectity ; in fact, the Reuters news agency was moved to insist that Asper’s media group remove forthwith the Reuters name from its Reuters-sourced stories because of very typically Israel-friendly editing they were subjected to by Asper’s news editors.

I mention this because the New York Times, too, has a growing reputation for lack of objectivity in Middle East reporting. Certainly having reporter like Ethan Bronner, whose son is now serving in Israel’s armed forces, will only reinforce that perception of prejudice and bias, and will give rise to a legitimate view of the NYT being in a conflict of interest dilemma.

Suggestion: Why not reassign Mr Bronner to another beat, where such a dilemma of his being in a very apparent conflict of interest won’t arise?

Sincerely,

RE: Middle East reporter Ethan Bronner in a conflict of interest

A puff piece on the late Canadian media mogul Israel “Izzy” Asper "Lament for Izzy: The fall of an empire" appeared in the October 27 – November 9, 2009 issue of the journal Canadian Business on pp. 82 – 88. Author Peter C. Newman, veteran Canadian journalist and, like the subject of his profile, also a Zionist Jew, raved to his readers about what a savvy entrepreneur the late "Izzy" Asper had been – even as Newman noted that the $4-billion debt that Asper had saddled his company Canwest with turned out to have been one that was completely unsustainable, especially in the currently very dismal economic climate. Indeed, ince Newman’s article has appeared, a consortium of banks has seized control of the now bankrupt Asper media empire. This paragraph appears on p. 84 of the Newman article:

When he [Asper]grabbed control of the Southam newspaper chain in 2000, it included publishers, editors and columnists not willing to toe his party line. That he could not tolerate. He recognized no reason for owning publications unless they reflected his personal points of view. "Every Southam editor, reporter, columnist, etc. is now on notice and will be fired for provable causes if there is a deviation. The Jews of Silence, the Don't-Make-Wavers are howling that I am destroying our 'goodwill' with these hysterical diatribes. While the Jews of Vigour are chanting. 'Go get 'em Rover. Woof! Woof!'" (From a private e-mail sent after Izzy laid down the line his publications had to follow on Israel.)

As you can see, Asper actually insisted that his media group serve as a propaganda tool for Israel. As a result, up here in Canada, Asper's media empire was hardly a by-word for journalistic objectivity; and its reporting of Middle East news was widely regarded as very suspect and devoid of objectity ; in fact, the Reuters news agency was moved to insist that Asper’s media group remove forthwith the Reuters name from its Reuters-sourced stories because of very typically Israel-friendly editing they were subjected to by Asper’s news editors.

I mention this because the New York Times, too, has a growing reputation for lack of objectivity in Middle East reporting. Certainly, having reporter like Ethan Bronner, whose son is now serving in Israel’s armed forces, will only reinforce that perception of prejudice and bias, and will give rise to a legitimate view of the NYT being in a conflict of interest dilemma.

Suggestion: Why not reassign Mr Bronner to another beat, where such a dilemma of his being in a very apparent conflict of interest won’t arise?

Sincerely,