Another Arrow for the Pro-Israel Messaging Machine Quiver

How does one fight the systemic mainstream media bias against Israel? This bias is evident when the well-respected worldwide media repeats, pushes, and never questions the lies, slander, and libelous statements put forth by obviously antisemitic and anti-Israel organizations, individuals (including uninformed celebrities) without verifying it against the truth.

“In an age of information where the primary language of mutual communication between various cultures is English, TRT World will provide new perspectives on world events to a global audience.” [my italicization for emphasis] says TRTworld.com, a Turkish based news website, on its About Us page. Their May 27, 2021 article “How anti-Palestinian bias is framed in US media” is about an MIT study that concludes “There is evidence to suggest that news headlines have a measurable impact when it comes to influencing the general public, and in the case of Israel-Palestine, misleading headlines [notably] during the 2014 war in Gaza were rampant across the US media landscape.”

Israel is sorely lacking a professional English news channel. Think of it as a pro-Israel broadcast news network and programming.

According to columnist Melanie Phillips “Israel needs to develop a strategy that shapes the narrative rather than—as at present—trying to defend itself on ground chosen by its enemies. Rather than merely responding to the onslaught, it should be constantly placing essential but rarely stated truths into the public domain.” (“Why Israel needs a strategy to shape the narrative” jns.org Nov 26, 2021) Her examples of presenting true pro-Israel news stories would be the foundational mission of an English language pro-Israel news service.

Let’s put this in the media terms of “reach and frequency.” The term “reach” is the number of people who receive or who potentially can see your message. “Frequency” is the number of times “reach” occurs over a specified period of time, like a month. Focus on just the concept of getting your message out to as many people (target audience) as possible, as many times as possible (repetition drives the message home).

To apply the media “reach and frequency” concept to this topic, (1) consider the audience size the anti-Israel, mainstream broadcast news media reaches on a daily basis, and (2) combine that with the frequency of negative press based on the disproportionate media attention. The facts are:

 

·         Although the top news channel with the largest audience in the world (as per a simple web search) can be considered mostly pro-Israel, (1) Fox News (English), the cumulative total of the next seven top news channels are not: (2) MSNBC (English); (3) BBC (English); (4) Sky News (English); (5) CNN (English); (6) Al Arabiya; (7) (Arabic); (8) Al Jazeera (Arabic, English). [Note that the international language is overwhelmingly English followed by Arabic.]

·         The Foreign Press Association in Israel represents nearly 500 journalists who are employed by international news organizations and report from Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Many of them do not usually present a fully fact-based point of view in their slanted stories and can do so because Israel maintains a free press.

·         According to Matti Friedman (author, writer, and former Associated Press reporter): In 2014 AP had more than 40 full-time staffers cover Israel and the Palestinian territories, which is greater than the number of AP staffers covering China, India, or Russia, and more reporters than those covering the entirety of sub-Saharan Africa. And that is just one media reporting agency!

To counteract the ongoing biased mainstream media phenomenon, many pro Jewish organizations and Israel government agencies are trying to do the right thing (Israel21c, TRU Story, Israel Foreign Ministry, CAMERA, etc.). And there have been many opinion pieces on this over the recent years, including “Here's how Israel can have better hasbara,” by the author, the Jerusalem Post, Sept 29, 2021).

Israel, and its supporters, are not only doing a poor job of shaping and telling the truthful pro-Israel narrative but are sadly just being reactive and defensive. Having a 24-hour Israeli news service in English would be a game changer. There are two target audiences for this English language pro-Israel news service.

One target audience are those who are living, working, or touring in Israel and whose primary or secondary language is English. There are over 275,000 foreign residents; there are 90 foreign embassies and their staff (and families) in Israel; 300,000 foreign workers in Israel; annual tourists to Israel are normally over 4 million (due to the Corona situation there were under 850,000 for 2020), and, importantly, there are currently hundreds of thousands of olim (immigrants) from English speaking countries or where English is a second or third language learned and/or spoken. So, obviously there are quite a number of people in Israel for whom Hebrew is not their second, or even any, language. Therefore, knowledge gleaned from sources they can understand are of paramount importance in enabling them to be informed pro-Israel evangelists when they leave Israel or communicate with family, friends, or colleagues in their home counties.

The second target audience, perhaps more importantly, is the larger global audience where English is the first or second language. Israel needs to be proactive in presenting counterpoints to the unsubstantiated, anti-Israel leftist mainstream media propaganda.

 

While a full-blown professional media company is envisioned, a quick start up could be Israeli news reporters who would do a version of their reporting in Hebrew and then another in English. Voice over dubbing or subtitles for any non-English interviewees can be added. Editorial slant needs to be honest, balanced, and pro-Israel.

 

Distribution of this content would be similar to other self-serving broadcasters, such as Qatar’s Al Jazeera, France’s i24, and Britain’s Sky News – which present news with an ethnocentric point of view from their country of origin. In addition, the ready-made English news content would provide ready-to-use on-site reporting to foreign news media, which would also save them operational time and money.

 

Furthermore, this dedicated television channel could be set up in Israel for home, office, and hotel viewers, as well as for lobby monitors in airports and other travel/tourist locations. Talk shows, panel discussions, and in-depth news analysis can be added over time.

 

An independent English language pro-Israel global news service is absolutely a necessity. The ongoing war against Israel and Jews worldwide is now also being fought in the media. Providing important pro-Israel news in English would create an effective video database for combating the systemic mainstream media bias against Israel.

 

Load up that quiver and get out the bows and arrows. The time is now for Israel to take control of the narrative!

 

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