Alan Weinkrantz PR Web Log

Media Central Helps Ensure CNN's Fair and Balanced Reporting on Israel / Hamas

MediaCentral continues to do a great job by being a media resource to organizations like CNN in order to do a fair and balanced story about the situation between Israel and Hamas.  Here's a story filed by CNN Senior Anchor, Anderson Cooper, who was accompanied to the Ashkelon police station by Media Central Director, Aryeh Green.

Media Central Provides Journalists With Insights on History, Chronology of Hamas Rocket Fire, Israel's Defense Operations And More...

Over the past week since the onset of operation “Cast Lead” in Gaza, my friend, Aryeh Green, Executive Director of MediaCentral has carried out a number of special activities to help ensure journalists are able to cover the story accurately – which in this case means including the context history, and correct chronology of the Hamas rocket fire and Israel’s defensive operation(s) as well as using unbiased terminology when relating to the ‘proportionality’ and ‘legality’ of Israel’s military actions (and to the actual war crimes of Hamas’ placing military equipment among and firing rockets from civilian areas). 

 

These activities have included sending staff down to Sderot, Ofakim, Netivot and the Gaza border areas, a presence at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs press center in Sderot, augmented staff hours both at MediaCentral and at the American Colony hotel in eastern Jerusalem as well as at the Government Press Office and Jerusalem Capital Studios – in addition to a more-than-usual number of requests for assistance, from connecting journalists with families whose houses were hit by Kassams and Grad Katyushas through arranging drivers and translators for visiting correspondents to setting up interviews for an Israeli doctor in Ashkelon treating Palestinian wounded.

Last week MediaCentral held 3 special briefings for the foreign press, the first (in Jerusalem) with former Israeli Air Force commander Avihu Bin Nun on military issues, and the other two (in Sderot) with Professor Avi Bell on legal issues and with Dr. Michael Oren on strategic issues.  MediaCentral also facilitated a press conference for foreign media by Minister Isaac Herzog with the MFA in Sderot during his visit to the city.

A video (amateur) with excerpts of some of these events and scenes when Aryeh Green was in a Sderot shelter during a missile attack and with an ABC News crew reporting live from Sderot can be seen a http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9123846971370092701.

Media Central plans to hold a number of additional briefings this week and next, depending on developments, including with Doron Almog, former commander of the Southern Command, another with a former resident of Gaza paired with a resident of Sderot, and others on the topics of the Hamas-Iran connection, analysis of Palestinian society and Hamas’ ‘culture of hatred’, Arab-Israeli support for the operation, and missile defense.  In addition, we are highlighting a number of related stories, including the plight of Gush Katif ‘expellees’, humanitarian aid shipments for Gaza facilitated by Israel, and the current status of victims of rocket attacks from previous years.

Kudos to you, Aryeh and the great work you are doing in order to help tell an accurate and fair story on the current situation in the Middle East.

 

 

 

Media Central Continues to Play a Vital Role in Supporting Journalists Covering Israel and The Middle East

My friend, Aryeh Green is doing some amazing things in his role as Director of Media Central, Jerusalem-based center providing support services for journalists based in or visiting Israel, the Palestinian territories and the region.

According to Aryeh, May and June were eventful months for MediaCentral. In addition to the organization's regular press briefings and TGIT events ("Thank Goodness Its Thursday"), they organized two special field tours for foreign journalists -- a two-day tour to the Arava & Eilat and an exclusive all-day tour to the Golan Heights -- as well as a series of briefings on Israeli society leading up to Independence Day, and introduced their services to hundreds of new and visiting correspondents during the visits to Israel by President Bush and by German Chancellor Merkel.

113 attendees participated in MediaCentral's activities, 17 of them new to the organization.  Under Aryeh's leadership, they continue to develop relationships with the foreign journalists located in Israel, focusing on developing new relationships while maintaining and strengthening our existing ones.

Aryeh  will be in NY, NJ, DC, Toronto and SF in September – contact Aryeh: aryeh@m-central dot org if you'd like to meet or for him to speak at an event.