Regarding David Brooks’ son serving in the Israeli military, New York Times ombudsman (known at the Times as the “public editor”) Margaret Sullivan writes: “Mr. Brooks’s son is serving as a member of a foreign military force that has been involved in a serious international conflict – one that the…
Alison Weir Posts
A great many journalists reporting on Israel-Palestine for US media have personal and family ties to the Israeli military. Many have served themselves; others have sons, husbands, etc. who are currently served in the IDF or have in the past. This is a clear conflict of interest, but is virtually…
The website for the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, referred to by TimesWarp analyst Barbara Erickson, seems to have been taken down. However, another site has the text of its code of conduct for columnists: As a newspaper columnist, I will strive to inform, educate and entertain my readers. I will…
Today I sent the following email to the New York Times Public Editor’s office: In September 2014, New York Times Public Editor Margaret Sullivan wrote: “The Times could do a lot more to alert readers about conflicts of interests of sources used by the paper.” Similarly, The Times could and should…
It has now come out that David Brooks’ son is serving in the Israeli military. So while Brooks was providing pro-Israel commentary during Israel’s massacre in Gaza, his son was serving in the IDF. This clear conflict of interest should have required Brooks to recuse himself from commenting on Israel.…
The following explores a variety of cover-ups and sort of cover-ups… David Brooks is a prominent and powerful journalist. He is a columnist for the New York Times and a commentator for PBS New Hour and NPR. Now we learn, through an article in Jewish Journal, that Brooks’ son is…
While Israel partisans in the US and some others (often former Israel partisans) sometimes claim that the US-Israel “special relationship” is driven by the US, Israeli writers are more honest. Most recently, retired Israeli diplomat Alon Pinkas writes on Ynet* (emphasis added): Apart from Israel’s ability to defend itself, there…
Following are a few short questions for the New York Times in regard to a recent news report: 1. When are you going to cover the killing of Palestinians the same way you cover the killing of Israelis? Israel’s killing of at least 8 civilians in one day was relegated to…
There are some videos posted on Youtube with titles such as “CNN’s Jake Tapper Demolishes PLO Spokeswoman.” Tapper’s questioning is extremely aggressive and reflects a pro-Israel approach to the current violence. (Israel is again massacring Gazans like shooting fish in a goldfish bowl. Instead of discussing this, Tapper focuses on…
Since US media are reporting the latest Israeli massacre in Gaza as though it is a defensive action, I thought I would set the record straight. Israeli forces shelled and invaded Gaza BEFORE the rockets began. Rockets were fired only after numerous Palestinians, including many children, had been killed. The first…