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Camera teaches C.N.N. a lesson in media accuracy

"Why would CNN newscasts and websites hesitate to cover Arafat or Assad accurately? The answer is most likely that CNN wants access to the Palestinian Authority and Syria and would like to establish the first foreign news bureau in Damascus, but telling the truth about these regimes would make this next to impossible," remarked Alex Safien, CAMERA's activist in his article, 'CAMERA ON CAMPUS.' CAMERA has been launching a special campaign in order to influence CNN to change its unfair Israel coverage.

Recently, CNN made a correction as a result of CAMERA's campaign in this field. The following tells the story:

1. On June 5, 1997, CNN's Walter Rodgers erroneously reported that as a result of harsh Israeli policies, Jerusalem's Arab population was "dwindling."

2. On September 19, 1998, after intensive CAMERA efforts, including an ad on the Op-Ed page of the New York Times, CNN finally interviewed Israel Kimhi, author of CAMERA's monograph, Arab Building in Jerusalem, 1967-1997. Kimhi, a former Jerusalem city planner, described the rapid growth of the city's Arab population.

3. CNN interviewed Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert, who responded to a Palestinian claim that Jerusalem had been an Arab capital. He correctly stated: "It never was a capital for any Arab or Muslim nation throughout history."

4. Then CNN interviewed a Palestinian official who was compelled to admit, "We can build inside Jerusalem, legal, illegal, rebuild a house. Whatever. We can do. Maybe we lose ten houses, but in the end we build 40 more houses in East Jerusalem."

5. A chart presented accurate statistics on Jerusalem's population trends, showing the Arab community makes up 30 percent of the city.

6. Finally, CNN's Martin Savidge corrected the year-old broadcast directly, stating: "According to the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, the Arab population has been growing steadily for every year in the 1990s. A year ago, CNN incorrectly reported the Arab population was swindling. The Arab population in Jerusalem was actually increasing at that time, not dwindling.