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An Ominous Warning: Campus Journalism Fueling the Next Generation of Anti-Israel Media
People pass a cluster of signs outside a pro-Hamas encampment at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. on April 28, 2024. Photo: Max Herman via Reuters Connect
I can still remember the excitement, nervousness, and curiosity in covering my first story as a Daily (Northwestern University’s longstanding campus newspaper) reporter and Medill School of Journalism student in the early 2000s.
Notebook and pens in hand, I recounted what had been drilled in my head: make sure to talk to all sides, get balanced quotes from both parties, and it was my job to report as an objective observer. I was supposed to report the facts.
This lesson was incredibly important when, later in my college career, I was tasked with covering student reactions to a white supremacist who spoke on public property in front of a Northwestern building.
Despite this highly controversial event, The Daily reported the facts objectively, and ultimately, the speech became a learning moment for the university around race. Fast forward 20 plus years, and I wish I could say the same standards of objectivity and balanced reporting existed within The Daily, as well as in the majority of mainstream media, about the anti-Israel protests riling campuses across the nation.
Media bias is not a new phenomenon, especially on topics such as politics and Israel. Yet the current climate in the aftermath of the October 7 atrocities feels intensified, as Israel and Jews face a massive and unfathomable PR war. It’s hard not to open a newspaper or turn on the TV or pull up the latest social media post without a story that only tells one side.
It seems that journalists have lost their way, allowing their stories and publications to become platforms for hate and fueling terrorists’ agendas. This hate extends beyond Jews — but is also anti-American and anti-democratic with messages of “death to America” and “the West is next” — yet these frightening sentiments are rarely reported.
Especially in a world of increased misinformation and hatred, journalists have an increased obligation to draw on foundational elements of their “craft” — leading with objectivity, investigating, scrutinizing, questioning, sourcing, listening, learning, and ultimately speaking truth to power to separate fact from fiction.
Through the lens of a former Daily editor and Medill alum, I recently wrote a Letter to the Editor (LTE) to The Daily titled “Stop Biased Reporting and Providing a Platform for Terrorism,” calling out bias specific to The Daily’s hourly coverage of the now somewhat disbanded anti-Israel encampments in the center of Northwestern’s campus.
After an immediate response requesting I turn my letter into an op-ed, followed by two days of collaborative editing and meeting deadlines, I received a note in the final hour declining publication because “the assertions in the LTE are factually incorrect and misrepresent the Daily’s work,” and with no response to my offer to discuss — ultimately further demonstrating The Daily’s bias and one-sidedness.
Since October 2023, The Daily has declined several LTEs with a pro-Israel perspective.
When The Daily’s reporting and content reads as if reported from a protester and not a reporter, when in four days of hourly coverage there was only one story representing the perspective of Jewish students, it violates a sense of safety and belonging for Jewish students/faculty on campus, further fueling the pro-Hamas propaganda.
In some ways I don’t fault The Daily — I fault Northwestern for employing professors like Steven Thrasher who has repeatedly reiterated the message to Medill students that “our work is not about objectivity.” Thrasher most recently stated this during the encampment as a faculty organizer. The hypocrisy and irony that this is the message coming from one of the top journalism schools in the world is pretty high. It degrades the integrity of journalism and fuels the pervasive bias we see today, and will unfortunately likely see from the next generation of journalists if this continues.
Parents of current Medill students and Medill alumni have repeatedly expressed concerns to Medill and The Daily, asking what discussions, guidance, and education student journalists are provided with on these complex topics of navigating bias, separating personal beliefs from reporting, and sourcing information with facts, with little more than lip service as a response. And whether The Daily is student-led or not, it’s a direct reflection of the school and its training. Northwestern students and alumni are even potentially exploring alternative campus news publications given the one-sided path The Daily has chosen.
If the media choose not to scrutinize what they are presenting as truth, they too have fallen prey to propaganda and brainwashing, just as much as the Columbia students crying for humanitarian aid because they can’t access their campus meal plan while they protest in an encampment.
Why does this ultimately matter? Because the media have given voice to damaging propaganda, which has a far-reaching impact, as we have seen on college campuses and, in turn, K-12 institutions.
I offer a few simple requests to all journalists to recalibrate balance in reporting the news, objectively:
Do your research/ homework about what you are reporting and ensure you fully understand the context
Learn all the facts about the Middle East and Israel, past and present; leverage the plethora of information from reputable sources
Be mindful of the subtleties of choosing images and quotes that can have huge ramifications
Re-read and edit content that is subject to misinterpretation or pushes an agenda
Furthermore, to amplify our message so that the media are left with no questions as we fight a “war on words,” we must speak up with one, cohesive voice — about our story of who we are, what we stand for, and what the factual story of Israel is, past and present.
It was my dream to go to Medill to study journalism; it was known to be the best and I had a wonderful experience. I took incredible pride in my Medill experience and writing at The Daily. Recently, when I worked with an artist to create a custom piece of art that represented mine and my husband’s interests, while he chose old maps he had drawn as a child, I chose an extra copy of The Daily I had from my stockpile of clips — which is now hanging in my living room. It’s unfortunate that what I once considered the best has become unrecognizable.
Please, for the sake of Israel, the United States, and by extension, the Western world, and Jews everywhere, I ask journalists to tell the full story and remind your fellow colleagues of their journalistic duty and ethical obligation that they signed up for — to be objective — before it’s too late.
Rebecca Orbach Glick is a former editor of The Daily Northwestern and Medill alum. She holds a BS in Journalism and Political Science from Northwestern University and MA in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from New York University. Currently, she lives in the Chicago area and has worked in public relations, management consulting and leadership coaching for the last 20+ years. She most recently founded NefeshLiving, a health coaching business. The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post An Ominous Warning: Campus Journalism Fueling the Next Generation of Anti-Israel Media first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US Senators Urge Secretary of Homeland Security to Secure Northern Border From Gaza Refugees
US Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaking at a press conference about the United States restricting weapons for Israel, at the US Capitol, Washington, DC. Photo: Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Six US senators sent a letter to US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas this week requesting that he increase security measures along the northern border in response to Canada accepting an influx of refugees from Gaza, the Palestinian enclave ruled by the terrorist group Hamas.
The six Republican lawmakers — Sens. Marco Rubio (FL), Ted Cruz (TX), Joni Ernst (IA), Tom Cotton (AK), Mike Braun (IN), and Josh Hawley (MO) — said they were “deeply concerned” that refugees from Gaza could sneak into the United States. The senators warned that allowing unvetted Palestinian refugees to cross the border poses a serious national security threat.
“On May 27, 2024, the Government of Canada announced its intent to increase the number of Gazans who will be allowed into their country under temporary special measures,” the senators wrote. “We are deeply concerned and request heightened scrutiny by the US Department of Homeland Security should any of them attempt to enter the United States at ports of entry as well as between ports of entry.”
After arriving in Canada, the Palestinian refugees will be given a “Refugee Travel Document,” which serves as a valid form of identification, the letter claimed, adding that US Citizenship and Immigration Services recognizes these documents as a valid substitute for a passport. The senators warned that “individuals with ties to terrorist groups” could potentially enter into the United States.
The letter argued that the US should maintain “common-sense terrorist screening and vetting” for any individual attempting to enter its borders from a foreign country. The lawmakers lamented that the Biden administration’s “”ax border enforcement” has rendered the country vulnerable to potential terrorist attacks. From April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024, the US Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Field Operations intercepted over 233 suspected terrorists at the northern border, according to the letter.
“[T]he possibility of terrorists crossing the US-Canada border is deeply concerning given the deep penetration of Gazan society by Hamas,” the senators wrote. “It would be irresponsible for the US to not take necessary heightened precautions when foreigners attempt to enter the United States.”
On Oct. 7, Hamas launched the ongoing war in Gaza with its Oct. 7 invasion of and massacre of 1,200 people across southern Israel. The Palestinian terrorist group also kidnapped over 250 hostages.
In response, Israel launched defensive military operations in Gaza with the aim of freeing the hostages and permanently dislodging Hamas from the neighboring enclave.
The vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza, as well as the West Bank, still support Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel that started the ongoing war, and they would prefer a “day after” scenario in which Hamas remains in control of Gaza rather than the Palestinian Authority, which governs in the West Bank, or other Arab countries, according to recent Palestinian polling. The same polling found that, when asked about support for Palestinian political parties and movements, a plurality chose Hamas.
US lawmakers are split along party lines as to whether the United States should accept refugees from Gaza. Republicans are largely opposed to importing refugees from Gaza, arguing that individuals from the war-torn enclave present “a national security risk” to the United States.” In May, Ernst and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) sent US President Joe Biden a letter, urging him not to accept any refugees from Gaza.
In June, however, a group of 70 Democratic lawmakers sent Mayorkas a letter, requesting he create “pathways” for more refugees of the Israel-Hamas war to resettle in America.
The post US Senators Urge Secretary of Homeland Security to Secure Northern Border From Gaza Refugees first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Video of Masked Man Vowing ‘Rivers of Blood’ at Paris Olympics Over Israel Support Appears to Be Fake, of Russia Origin
Screenshot of a widely circulated video published on social media showing a masked man vowing that “rivers of blood will flow” at the 2024 Paris Olympics due to France’s support for Israel. According to reports, the video appears to be fake and of Russian origin.
A widely circulated video published on social media this week showing a masked man vowing that “rivers of blood will flow” at the 2024 Paris Olympics due to France’s support for Israel appears to be fake and of Russian origin, according to reports.
The video — published on Tuesday on social media networks including X/Twitter and Telegram — featured a keffiyeh-clad man with his face covered, delivering an Arabic-language address threatening France with violence due to the country’s alleged support for Israel amid its ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza.
Addressing “the people of France” and “French President [Emmanuel] Macron,” the masked individual said, “You supported the Zionist regime in its criminal war against the people of Palestine. You provided Zionists with weapons; you helped murder our brothers and sisters, our children.”
“You invited the Zionists to the Olympic games. You will pay for what you have done!” continued the man, who wore a shirt adorned with a Palestinian flag. “Rivers of blood will flow through the streets of Paris. This day is approaching, God willing. Allah is the greatest.”
The video, published on X/Twitter by the account @endzionism24 and retweeted by Palestinian activist Ihab Hassan, ended with the speaker holding a prop severed head complete with fake blood up for the camera.
He is not a Palestinian:
A video clip has surfaced showing an individual wearing a keffiyeh and a Palestinian flag badge, threatening France with a “river of blood” at the Olympic Games.
It is glaringly obvious to any Arabic speaker that this person is not Arab; his dialect… pic.twitter.com/rwWGkkbiAi
— Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) July 23, 2024
Hassan and other social media users immediately noted that the man speaking was clearly not a native Arabic speaker, citing his reasonably fluent but awkward and occasionally incorrect pronunciation.
Many social media users aware of the mispronunciations seemed to blame Israel for the video, implying the clip was a false flag meant to fearmonger and demonize Palestinians and Muslims. They did not address the fact that Israel has access to hundreds of thousands of native Palestinian Arabic speakers who would sound far more convincing than the man in the video.
On Wednesday, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that “French secret services and their partners have not been able to authenticate the veracity of this video.”
According to researchers at Microsoft, however, the video appears to be part of a Russian-linked disinformation campaign meant to disrupt the Olympics, which began with the opening ceremony on Friday.
The researchers from Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center told NBC News that the clip appears to have come from a Russian disinformation group known as Storm-1516, an outgrowth of Russia’s Internet Research Agency.
The latest clip was linked to a similar disinformation video falsely alleging that Ukraine had sent arms to Hamas — a claim for which there is no evidence. According to the researchers, the more recent video appears to be part of a Russian scare campaign meant to disrupt the Olympics.
The video came just days before France’s rail infrastructure was hit on Friday, ahead of the start of the Olympics, with widespread acts of vandalism including arson attacks, paralyzing travel to Paris from the rest of France and Europe just hours before the opening ceremony of the Olympics. French authorities described the acts as “criminal” and “malicious.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that the sabotage of France’s high-speed rail network was directed by Iran, which Western intelligence agencies have for years labeled as the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism.
“The sabotage of railway infrastructure across France ahead of the Olympics was planned and executed under the influence of Iran’s axis of evil and radical Islam,” Katz wrote on X/Twitter. “As I warned my French counterpart [Stéphane Séjourné] this week, based on information held by Israel, Iranians are planning terrorist attacks against the Israeli delegation and all Olympic participants. Increased preventive measures must be taken to thwart their plot. The free world must stop Iran now — before it’s too late.”
Katz was referring to a letter he sent on Thursday to Séjourné raising alarm bells about what he described as a plan by Iran to attack Israel’s Olympic delegation.
Darmanin and French National Police both announced previously that they are taking increased security measures to ensure the safety of Israel’s Olympic delegation while they are in Paris amid mounting threats. These measures include providing them with round the clock security from French police. The Israeli delegation will also receive additional security details from Israel’s Shin Bet security agency during the Olympics.
The post Video of Masked Man Vowing ‘Rivers of Blood’ at Paris Olympics Over Israel Support Appears to Be Fake, of Russia Origin first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Top St. Louis Newspaper Endorses US Rep. Cori Bush’s Opponent, Argues Incumbent’s Israel Stance Is ‘Disqualifying’
US Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) raises her fist as US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) addresses a pro-Hamas demonstration in Washington, DC. Photo: Reuters/Allison Bailey
The editorial board of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the largest daily newspaper in Missouri, has endorsed the opponent of US Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), pointing to the incumbent congresswoman’s lack of legislative accomplishments and stance on the Israel-Hamas war.
The Post-Dispatch argued that Bush’s position on Israel and the Gaza war should be “disqualifying” for any elected representative. The outlet took umbrage with Bush for equating a close democratic ally of the US with a genocidal terrorist organization.
“Israel’s conduct of the war has been far from perfect, but it remains a democracy fighting for survival against an evil terrorist organization. Bush’s tendency to equate both sides — and even to side with the terrorists, as when she cast one of just two House votes against a resolution to bar Hamas members from the US — should in itself be disqualifying for re-election,” the editorial board wrote.
Bush has established herself as one of the most vocal critics of Israel in the US Congress. Only nine days after Hamas’ Oct. 7 slaughter of roughly 1,200 people in southern Israel, Bush called for an “immediate ceasefire” between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group. As the war dragged on, Bush’s rhetoric toward Israel sharpened, with the congresswoman accusing the Jewish state of committing “genocide” in Gaza and “apartheid” in the West Bank. Bush has also accused Israel of inflicting a “famine” in Gaza without providing evidence.
Bush seems more interested in pandering to the far-left fringes of the progressive movement than serving her constituents, the Post-Dispatch argued. Bush’s membership in “The Squad” — a clique of far-left progressive, anti-establishment lawmakers in the House of Representatives — has rendered her completely incapable of “accomplishing anything” in the halls of Congress, according to the newspaper.
The editorial board urged its readers to vote for Wesley Bell, pointing to his moderated approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as an example of his pragmatism and moral clarity.
“On Israel, Bell offers an appropriately measured stance, acknowledging the need to protect Gazan civilians and work toward a two-state solution, while supporting America’s closest ally in the Middle East,” the outlet wrote.
In contrast to Bush, Bell has expressed more sympathy to Israel’s military operations in Gaza, emphatically rejecting the notion that Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute “genocide” or “ethnic cleansing.”
Moreover, Bell has strengthened his ties with the Jewish community over the course of his campaign. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the foremost pro-Israel lobbying group in the US, donated a reported $5 million to Bell’s campaign through its United Democracy Project super PAC. A group of 30 St. Louis-area rabbis penned a letter endorsing Bell, accusing Bush of a “lack of decency, disregard for history, and for intentionally fueling antisemitism and hatred.” Bell also brought about an official “director of Jewish outreach” to increase turnout among the Jewish community.
A poll commissioned by McLaughlin & Associates and sponsored by the CCA Action Fund, a pro-Bell super PAC, showed Bell with a commanding 56 percent to 33 percent lead over Bush.
Supporters of Israel see the primary race as a prime opportunity to oust another opponent of the Jewish state from the halls of Congress. Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), a progressive lawmaker, lost his primary race to a pro-Israel challenger on June 25. Over the course of his reelection campaign, Bowman accused Israel of committing “genocide” and enacting “apartheid” against Palestinians. Bowman’s comments incensed Jewish constituents in the leafy suburbs of Westchester County, New York.
Furthermore, observers are looking to the race as a potential indicator of the Democratic electorate’s position on Israel. Opinions of the Jewish state among Democrats have soured in the months following Oct. 7, calling into question whether anti-Israel views are still a liability with American liberals.
The post Top St. Louis Newspaper Endorses US Rep. Cori Bush’s Opponent, Argues Incumbent’s Israel Stance Is ‘Disqualifying’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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