Hooray For Pallywood!

Cross posted by Findalis of Monkey in the Middle Pallywood you ask? What the heck is Pallywood? Where the heck is Pallywood? Pallywood, a portmanteau (word formed by joining two others and combining their meanings) of "Palestinian" and "Hollywood", is a buzz word that is used by pro-Israel media-watchdog advocates to describe "media manipulation, distortion and outright fraud by the Palestinians and other Arabs. The term has been publicized in part by Boston University professor Richard Landes, as a result of an online documentary video he produced called Pallywood: According to Palestinian Sources, highlighting specific instances of alleged media manipulation. In other words, it means a propaganda lie done by the Palestinians, eaten up by the Main Stream Media as truth and disseminated as the truth by the Main Stream Media. In Pallywood Landes shows Arab-Israeli conflict-related footage that was taken mostly by freelance Palestinian video journalists. He argues that systematic media manipulation (which he dubs "Pallywood") dates back to at least the 1982 Lebanon War, and argues that broadcasters are too uncritical of the veracity of Palestinian freelance footage. He focuses in particular on the case of Muhammad al-Durrah, a 12-year-old Palestinian who was widely reported to have been killed by Israeli gunfire in the Gaza Strip on September 30, 2000 at the beginning of the Second Intifada. The shooting was filmed by a Palestinian freelance cameraman and aired on the France 2 television channel with narration by the veteran French-Israeli journalist Charles Enderlin, who was not present at the incident. It made worldwide headlines and the conduct of the Israel Defense Forces was heavily criticized internationally, severely damaging Israel's public standing on the world stage. Landes questions the authenticity of the footage and disputes whether al-Durrah was killed at all, arguing that the entire incident was staged by the Palestinians. He asserts that the incident shows that "Palestinian cameramen, especially when there are no Westerners around, engage in the systematic staging of action scenes."

Pallywood View at YouTube

If this was the only source of truth on the internet, then we would have a lot of work to do alone. But we have a couple marvelous resources at our disposal. One of them is Honest Reporting. Honest Reporting is a non-profit organization dedicated to bring out the truth in what is actually and truthfully happening in the Middle East, specifically Israel.

Honest Reporting View at YouTube

Another resource is Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA). From their website:

Founded in 1982, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America is a media-monitoring, research and membership organization devoted to promoting accurate and balanced coverage of Israel and the Middle East. CAMERA fosters rigorous reporting, while educating news consumers about Middle East issues and the role of the media. Because public opinion ultimately shapes public policy, distorted news coverage that misleads the public can be detrimental to sound policymaking. A non-partisan organization, CAMERA takes no position with regard to American or Israeli political issues or with regard to ultimate solutions to the Arab-Israeli conflict. The scope of the problem Inaccurate and distorted accounts of events in Israel and the Middle East are to be found everywhere from college radio stations to network television, from community newspapers to national magazines, and, of course, on the Internet. In recent years misinformation about the Middle East has also surfaced in fashion magazines, architectural publications, encyclopedias, professional reference works, geography textbooks, travel guides, and even dictionaries. Frequently inaccurate and skewed characterizations of Israel and of events in the Middle East may fuel anti-Israel and anti-Jewish prejudice. How CAMERA works CAMERA systematically monitors, documents, reviews and archives Middle East coverage. Staffers directly contact reporters, editors, producers and publishers concerning distorted or inaccurate coverage, offering factual information to refute errors. CAMERA members are encouraged to write letters for publication in the print media and to communicate with correspondents, anchors and network officials in the electronic media. CAMERA's combination of rigorous monitoring, research, fact-checking, careful analysis, and grassroots efforts have had a documented impact.

CAMERA has been trying to keep the media outlits honest and truthful in their coverage of events in the Middle East. So far they have had limited success. The last resource that I will mention is the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). Many reports here on Monkey in the Middle come directly from them. You know its from them when you see this banner: If you click on the banner you will get a link back to the report from them. From their Website:

About Us The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) explores the Middle East through the region's media. MEMRI bridges the language gap which exists between the West and the Middle East, providing timely translations of Arabic, Persian,Turkish, Urdu-Pashtu media, as well as original analysis of political, ideological, intellectual, social, cultural, and religious trends in the Middle East. Founded in February 1998 to inform the debate over U.S. policy in the Middle East, MEMRI is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit, 501 (c)3 organization. MEMRI's headquarters is located in Washington, DC with branch offices in London, Tokyo, Rome, Baghdad, Shanghai, and Jerusalem. MEMRI research is translated to English, German, Hebrew, Italian, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and Japanese.

Three great resources for the truth against the lies of Pallywood and Arab media. With the help of Honest Reporting, CAMERA, and MEMRI, we all should be able to counter the lies that are being disseminated by Pallywood. Now here is where you come in. Get informed about the truth. Tell others about the truth. When you see false information on the news, contact them with an e-mail with the truth. If enough of us do that, the lies of Pallywood will be seen as what they are lies and lying propaganda. To contact the Media here are some useful links: Television CNN on their website Fox News can be contacted by email: yourcomments@foxnews.com, CBS News has a form at the bottom of their website that you can use. NBC News has a comment page for NBC and MSNBC news. ABC News has a comment page for its news service. Print The New York Times has a comment page. The Washington Post has a comment page for both its on-line paper and regular paper with phone numbers for both. The LA Times can be contacted by email: readers.rep@latimes.com Chicago Sun Times has a contact page with its address and phone number. You are now armed with the facts, lets all get out there to make the media tell the truth and not push the lies.