Front Row to Media Bias (A guest post by Golda Leah)

This past Sunday night Jews in Denver gathered at the BMH-BJ synagogue for a rally in support of Israel. The crowd packed into the large sanctuary and the newspaper report estimated 1,200 people in attendance. Denver, people. 1,200 Jews rallying in support of Israel. A friends and I drove an hour to be there, and it was an amazing experience. There's something special about being in a room full of people who agree with you, for once.

We supped at the local kosher restaurant (yes, we have one!) and anxiously awaited the local news at 10:00. My TV is lucky it survived.

Here's a link to the video: http://wm.kusa.gannett.edgestreams.net/ads/sales/pre-stream/elite-may06.wmv

It was surreal to see an event that I actually attended edited and spliced for public consumption.

The big editing sins:

1. Including the comment from the Muslim women who asked "Who are the real terrorists?" Seriously. Someone give me the journalistic reason for inserting this in the middle of a story about the Jews in Denver gather in support of Israel. (In the middle!)

2. They called it a "Rally for Peace." Yes, some of the speakers talked about peace, but it wasn't advertised or designed as a rally for peace. It was a gathering in support of Israel.

3. If you watch the video, notice the Israeli professor who teaches at the University of Denver. They quote him as saying "there is always a way for peace," etc. ec. It's video, it's not a misquote, but he ended his speech by saying that "there is always a way for peace" isn't how he thinks anymore. He came to the rally as an "angry Israeli" to say "enough is enough!" and got a standing ovation for it. Yet he was portrayed as a peacenik.

I didn't think of myself as a naive person, but this still came as a shock. I was so happy to see that the media had shown up at all. To watch that woman show up in the middle of a report about supporting Israel only to call Israel a terrorist state was lick a smack in the face -- shocking and infuriating. Their insult has made me adamant in a way I wasn't before. Gosh, I'm even considering a letter-writing campaign.

GoldaLeah