Jerusalem resident Brian Blum had an up-close-and-personal experience with media bias this weekend. HonestReporting asked Brian to share his story in this exclusive:
THE 'SETTLER' FROM WESTERN
JERUSALEM I have very deliberately avoided presenting any particular
political or religious point of view, and have turned down a number of offers
for interviews with the international media, always afraid that my neutrality as
an author would be compromised.
So it was with no small amount of trepidation that I agreed to be profiled in
the San Francisco Chronicle. The reporter actually found me through my blog, and
said he was writing a series of articles about the real people behind the
headlines living their normal lives in the Middle East. As a former San
Franciscan, I would be perfect, he assured me.
With a pickup line like that, how could I say no?
Imagine then my shock when I read the headline of the
article about me that appeared in Sunday's SF Chronicle (July 24): 'Settler
Hopes for Peace to Take Root.'
The last time I checked, we residents of western Jerusalem were not
considered 'settlers'. I wondered: Had the western media, which already
dehumanized Israeli residents of the West Bank and Gaza as problematic
'settlers' and interlopers, come to consider all of Israel a
controversial 'settlement'?!
As a writer and a reporter, I know what happens in the editing process, and I
know that the reporter who interviewed me, Matt Stannard, was not responsible
for the headline. Indeed, Stannard sent me an apologetic e-mail shortly after
the article came out, expressing how he feels 'terrible' and 'sabotaged' by
whoever made what he said was a last minute overnight change.
Still, it highlights a general problem with 'balance' when it comes to media
reporting in this part of the world.
TWISTED SENSE OF 'BALANCE' When I first started writing 'This Normal Life', I approached the Chronicle,
my hometown paper, and suggested that they print my blog as a weekly column. The
editor I spoke with said the only way they could do that is if they gave equal
time and space to a contrasting Palestinian viewpoint.
I argued, to no avail, that my writing was not political; it was just
charming little stories about daily life from an expatriate San Franciscan.
So now, when I see a headline describing me as a settler, I have to wonder ―
was that the result of a complete lack of awareness by the headline writer as to
what the term 'settler' connotes? A deliberate attempt to spice up the story ―
to say 'look, here's a real settler who supports peace, isn't that special?'
Or was it something even worse ― a not-so-hidden political agenda to
radicalize a simple Israeli?
Whatever the intention, the words are loaded and the result tarnishes
Stannard's mostly-accurate portrayal of my life. But then, I had no illusions
that the article would avoid a political point of view in the end. Stannard told
me up front that he was planning on 'twinning' me with a similarly 'normal'
Palestinian from Ramallah, and indeed, the cover of the
Sunday Chronicle has both of us in full color.
A BELATED CORRECTION After the article appeared, Stannard intervened and ensured that the headline
of the article was changed ― several times in fact. Within hours of its original
appearance on the web, 'Settler' changed to 'Resident' before settling (no pun
intended) on 'Man from Berkeley hopes for peace'.
But the newspaper that hundreds of thousands of San Francisco Bay Area
readers opened with their morning coffee this Sunday had already gone to print ―
with me cast as 'settler'.
Looks like I'll be avoiding the press for a little while longer. Brian Blum is a journalist and entrepreneur. His latest startup Bloggerce
offers publishing services to budding bloggers. He lives in the Baka
neighborhood of Jerusalem with his wife and three children. Hat tip: Honest Reporting
Brian Blum
For the past three years, I have been writing a decidedly
non-political weblog called 'This Normal Life'. My goal has been
to present slices of what passes for 'normal life' in today's troubled Israel.
