The '''Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA)''' is a powerful Boston-based lobby group that tries to curb criticism of Israel in US media.
==The Organization==
'''Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA)''' [http://www.camera.org/] is a Boston based powerful ultra-right pro-Israel lobby group that tries to suppress criticism of Israel on US media. It uses its financial and political clout to force media elements to tow Israel's party line. Founded by [[Charles Jacobs]] in the wake of Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon it claims to be "a media-monitoring, research and membership organization devoted to promoting accurate and balanced coverage of Israel and the Middle East". According to its website, it "systematically monitors, documents, reviews and archives Middle East coverage" and its staffers "directly contact reporters, editors, producers and publishers concerning distorted or inaccurate coverage, offering factual information to refute errors".[http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=24]
According to its Executive Director, what sets it apart from other media watch-dog groups is its " sizable paying, activist membership". [http://www.jcpa.org/phas/phas-33.htm]
===Membership===
==Modus Operandi==
CAMERA's website has an extensive database of journalists that it has targetted over the years[http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=6] (including many prominent Israelis) with most of the criticism bordering on the ridiculous. Ironically, the list also includes [[Thomas Friedman]] of the ''New York Times'', one of the most pro-Israel journalists in the United States. In another one of its media alerts, it describes Israel's acclaimed historian [[Benny Morris]] as a "fabricator".[http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=8&x_nameinnews=169&x_article=280]. It's other targets include the usual suspects [[Robert Fisk]], [[Israel Shahak]], [[Edward Said]], [[Norman Finkelstein]], [[John Pilger]], [[Ilan Pappe]], [[Amira Hass]] and [[Gideon Levy]]. It has even gone as far to accuse Israel's prominent daily [[Ha'aretz]] of fueling "anti-Israel bias".[http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=6&x_article=171#hass]
Ironically, the list also includes [[Thomas Friedman]] of the ''New York Times'', one of the most pro-Israel journalists in the United States. In another one of its media alerts, it describes Israel's acclaimed historian [[Benny Morris]] as a "fabricator". [http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=8&x_nameinnews=169&x_article=280]. It's other targets include [[Robert Fisk]], [[Israel Shahak]], [[Edward Said]], [[Norman Finkelstein]], [[John Pilger]], [[Ilan Pappe]], [[Amira Hass]] and [[Gideon Levy]]. It has even gone as far to accuse Israel's prominent daily [[Ha'aretz]] of fueling "anti-Israel bias". [http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=6&x_article=171#hass] The kind of inaccuracies that CAMERA claims to redress include substituting purported myths for real ones. The following quote from a CAMERA Student Fellow is instructive: "Is it true that Israel is not complying with [[U.N. resolution 242]], requiring withdrawal from the territories occupied in 1967? Not at all. ''The resolution does not actually specify particular territories or the extent of the withdrawal''". [http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=22&x_article=926] (emphasis added)
In a May 7, 2002 full-page ad in the ''New York Times'', CAMERA criticized the media for their lack of understanding of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Palestinian violence was attributed not to the occupation or the atrocities of the occupying army, but instead to the "hate education" to which they are subjected. (''The New York Observer'', May 13, 2002)
Responding to CAMERA's criticisms of the "anti-Israel" bias in its Middle-East coverage, the Executive Editor and Publisher of the the ''New York Times'' attended a journalism forum at the University of California in 2002 and the . The editors of the right-wing ''New York Post'' noted with some consternation that the majority of the criticism that came their way was for exactly the opposite. (''New York Post'', November 22, 2002).
CAMERA demands nothing short of an absolute reflection of the Israeli government position in the media as at times it has even complained about giving too much airtime to critics within Israel's own government. Ted Koppel was taken to task for giving "twice the air time" to a whole group of critics on his ''Nightline'' as he did to the single supporter (''The Washington Times'', Oct 10, 1996).
[http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=22 ''CAMERA on Campus''] is a publication of CAMERA that tries to monitor and silence criticism of Israel on the campuses of various American institutions. The organization also distributes "tens of thousands of copies" of the publication "three times per year to more than 400 campuses in North America". [http://www.jcpa.org/phas/phas-33.htm]
In 2005 ''CAMERA on Campus'' played a prominent role in the attack on campaign against the Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures (MEALAC ) department at Columbia University, and even ran interviews with one of the chief crusaders, Prof. [[Alan Dershowitz]] of Harvard [http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/1848], who himself was busy fending off accusations of plagiarising Joan Peter's 1984 hoax [[From Time Immemorial]] [http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/24/1730205][http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn09262003.html], and trying to suppress [[Norman Finkelstein]]'s book in which the charge has been thoroughly documented.
Monographs published by CAMERA are distributed to "thousands of people among the public and elected officials".
==Staff==
*[[Andrea Levin]], Executive Director
'''Executive Director''': [[Andrea Levin]] ==Contact details==--[[UserWeb:Idrees|Idrees]] 12http:24, 17 Nov 2005 (EST)//www.camera.org/