Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America

Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) [1] is a powerful pro-Israel lobby group that tries to suppress criticism of Israel on US media. It uses its enrmous financial and political clout to force media elements to tow Israel's party line. Founded in 1982, the organization claims to be "a media-monitoring, research and membership organization devoted to promoting accurate and balanced coverage of Israel and the Middle East". According to its website, it "systematically monitors, documents, reviews and archives Middle East coverage" and its staffers "directly contact reporters, editors, producers and publishers concerning distorted or inaccurate coverage, offering factual information to refute errors".[2]

In a May 7, 2002 full-page ad in the New York Times, CAMERA criticized the media for their lack of understanding of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Palestinian violence was attributed not to the occupation or the atrocities of the occupying army, but instead to the "hate education" to which they are subjected. (The New York Observer, May 13, 2002)

Responding to CAMERA's criticisms of the "anti-Israel" bias in its Middle-East coverage, the Executive Editor and Publisher of the the New York Times attended a journalism forum at the University of California in 2002 and the editors of the right-wing New York Post noted with some consternation that the majority of the criticism that came their way was for exactly the opposite. (New York Post, November 22, 2002).

CAMERA demands nothing short of an absolute reflection of the Israeli government position in the media as at times it has even complained about giving too much airtime to critics within Israel's own government. Ted Koppel was taken to task for giving "twice the air time" to a whole group of critics on his Nightline as he did to the single supporter (The Washington Times, Oct 10, 1996).

CAMERA on Campus

CAMERA on Campus is a publication of CAMERA that tries to monitor and silence criticism of Israel on the campuses of various American institutions. In 2005 CAMERA on Campus played a prominent role in the attack on MEALAC department at Columbia University, and even ran interviews with one of the chief crusaders, Prof. Alan Dershowitz of Harvard [3], who himself was busy fending off accusations of plagiarising Joan Peter's 1984 hoax From Time Immemorial [4][5], and trying to suppress Norman Finkelstein's book in which the charge has been thoroughly documented.

Student Fellowship Pilot Program

CAMERA also offers a Student Fellowship Pilot Program in which the fellows are taught to "counter campus media bias". The following account provides a good summation of the kind of education they receive:

We learned how to effectively respond to an inaccurate or unfair article about Israel with a letter-to-the-editor or an Op-Ed piece. Also, if an article contains a factual error, students should gather the information needed to document the error, and then press the editors for a correction. If bias is chronic at a particular paper, encourage university administrators to fund a new newspaper with higher editorial standards.

We also discussed strategies for dealing with anti-Israel professors. If a professor attempts to silence your views in the classroom, seek administrative assistance. If that fails, press for accountability by publicizing the problem.[6]

Staff

Executive Director: Andrea Levin