"If you’re trying to please all the different voices that have opinions on this conflict, your report struck the perfect tone. If you’re trying to do good journalism, you have fallen far short."
March 18, 2024
To:
Margaret Evans, CBC News
CBC The National
Dear Ms. Evans and CBC Staff,
I’m writing to thank you for your broadcast on CBC’s The National on Sunday evening entitled, “Palestine Red Crescent Society accuses Israel of targeting its workers.” The story highlighted the unconscionable way in which Palestinian medical professionals are being targeted by Israel. It also highlighted the terrible ethical questions facing Palestinian emergency response service teams in the midst of Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza.
However, by failing to express any skepticism about Israeli reports presented in the story, you implicitly give credence to their position. With respect to the death of Hind, your reporting could have:
- Noted how the Israeli account contradicted all available independent evidence concerning the incident.
- Questioned whether the Israeli assertions about a tank in the area were relevant, since the girl, her family and the EMS team were all killed.
- Mentioned how Israeli investigations almost never result in the discipline of Israeli soldiers.
With respect to Israel’s suggestion that civilians and EMS responders are fair game because, “Hamas hides behind medical facilities and infrastructure,” you could have mentioned:
- There is no independent third-party investigation and corroboration of such allegations by human rights groups.
- Under international law, combatants are required to distinguish between civilians and combatants
- Under international law, combatants are required to not target medical response teams
- You could have also compared how the casualty rate of Palestinian emergency responders in Gaza over the past five months compares to the casualty rate for emergency responders in other contemporary conflict zones.
Robert Fisk once said, “I always say that reporters should be neutral and unbiased on the side of those who suffer. If you were covering the 18th-century slave trade, you would not give equal space to the slave-ship captain. At the liberation of an extermination camp, you do not give equal time to the SS. When the Palestinian Islamic Jihad blew up a pizzeria full of Israeli children in Jerusalem in 2001, I did not give equal space to the Islamic Jihad spokesman. At the Sabra and Chatila massacre in Beirut in 1982, I did not give equal time to the Israeli army who watched the killings and whose Lebanese allies committed the atrocity.”
If you’re trying to please all the different voices that have opinions on this conflict, your report struck the perfect tone. If you’re trying to do good journalism, you have fallen far short. Should you wish, feel free to contact me at 438-380-5410.
Sincerely,
Thomas Woodley, MPA
President, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East