OCTOBER 21, 2001

It has now been one year! Yes, indeed, it was one year ago today that the PMWatch Web site was officially launched (the group formed on October 5, 2000), and as they say, the rest is history.

Since that day, we've together learned a lot about the US media. Our lingering suspicions that the media was heavily biased against the Palestinian cause was confirmed week after week as we read op-eds and news stories about the conflict. We saw how op-ed pages of papers such as the NYTimes and the Washington Post devoted more than 80% of their column space to pro-Israeli voices, and how otherwise competent journalists routinely violated the most basic journalistic principles of fairness were when covering the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

However, together we have made a difference -- and more importantly, we have PROVEN that people CAN make a difference. We've written thousands of letters to the media (some of them we have archives at: http://64.226.129.19/pmw/db/gadflies/display_gadflies.asp -- we've met with all the big papers (The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Philadelphia Inquier) and have left our impression on them -- some more than others. We've pressured smaller papers to watch what they say and write, we've helped people place pieces, and have provided resources to an untold number of others seeking information they were hard put finding easily anywhere else. But most importantly, we've stood witness -- and that is our only moral obligation -- to the US media's moral failure to its readership and audience. Anywone who wishes to have examples, can come to the PMWatch site and read the sorry record we have accumulated.

Today, we find ourselves in a difficult period. The last few weeks after Sept. 11 have been the most challenging, to say the least, for our cause and our mission since the inception of PMWatch back in October, 2000. First, the so-called war against terrorism has eclipsed the struggle against the occupation, making complaints against media bias -- especially in an atmosphere where censorship is becoming the order of the day (and the media is meekly submitting) -- harder than ever to find a sympathetic echo. And second, of course, because the Israelis on the other side are doing their darnest to lump the Palestinian resistance with Bin Laden and his network, and to draw a parallel between Israel's situation and the situation of the US.

Now, as things stand today, it is clear that public opinion here in the US is by and large not in a sympathetic mood for the Palestinians. Those who were for the cause have generally stayed the course, those who were against it have hardened, but the most important segment -- the uninvolved and uninterested middle -- is following the tide and echoing the mainstream message: that is, the notion that Israel and the US are suffering in the same way, from this affliction called terrorism -- a notion that is being peddled hard on the PR market, and sadly, more often than not, being accepted unchallenged without a second thought. The media -- and by this I mean the journalists who file their daily stories, the op-ed commentators, the talking heads -- are, as usual, not doing their job of looking at things critically and asking the tough questions. As bad as things were before the 11th in terms of herd mentality, it's 10 times worse now.

The irony, however, is that the very herd mentality that afflicts the media may very well play to our advantage. By this I mean simply that the US, unless it wants chaos and decades of war ahead -- civil and conventional -- in the Middle East and beyond, just has to find a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and it has to do it soon. And so, as the State Dept issues harsh words against Sharon, the complying media follow suit and criticise Sharon. The important thing for us at this point is to make the most out of this, to take advantage of the space for debate that is opening up, and to inject in it a bit of rationality.

But there are two silver lining in all of this is. First is the reality that Sharon's tenure is not going to last, and at the first real opportunity for an opening towards a solution with the Palestinians -- and this is what he dreads the most -- his coalition will quickly collapse. His hard line supporters will bolt, and the left will bolt. And with Sharon's fall, the project of a greater Israel will come to an end, period, and the idea of a truly sovereign Palestinian state -- which is at the heart of this struggle -- will be the starting point for the beginning of the next phase.

But the second silver lining is the other reality that as soon as things quiet down, as soon as no suicide bombings are taking place, and the noise level is reduced, the Palestinian argument and narrative find a sympathetic voice. This is one of the few heartening lessons I've learned during my daily interaction with the media since one year ago, and I am sure that as soon as Sharon and his criminal entourage are confined to the fringe, and especially with the directive from the State Department coming down that it's time for a sovereign Palestinian state to see the light of day, the Palestinian cause will find the strongest echo yet.

Meantime, what is our task? Remember, we are not here to solve the Middle East conflict. Our mission is narrow and well-defined, although its importance has never been small, nor has it diminished, but increased: (1) we must insist that the media cover the conflict fairly, professionally, in compliance with the highest journalistic standards, rather than act as a mouth piece for the Prime Minister's office or the State Department, and (2) we must insist that the media give Palestinian voices equal access to opinion forums.

More explicitly, and to that end, PMWatch, with the help of Al-Awda (by far and away the best grass-root organization out there tackling all aspects of the struggle) has drawn up a primer to guide you in your mission of pushing the media to do its job right:

(1) A primer for monitoring news coverage:

http://64.226.129.19/pmw/pmwgroups/watchgroupnewsprimer.html

(2) A primer for monitoring op-ed pages:

http://64.226.129.19/pmw/pmwgroups/watchgroupprimer.html

Remember, one person, a group of two or three, can turn a paper or a network around, or at least exert enough pressure to keep them on their toes. We've done it, time and again, since we started our struggle together a year ago. We've seen how we were able, with our letters, our reports, our phone calls, our op-eds, our nagging, to push the Palestinian agenda forward. Make no mistake about it: we have made a difference and we continue to make a difference to the extent we make noise. It's only a matter of whether or not we want to keep at it.

As always, I remain optimistic. And I remain optimistic simply because our Palestinian brothers and sisters -- whose suffering we must always keep in mind, because this is not about land but about the inhumanity they have been subjected to -- are there to stay and the cause is as alive today as it has always been, and is as just today as it was twenty, thirty, fifty years ago. So, let's never lose hope. The monsters out there, from Sharon to Netanyahu, for whom Palestinian and Arab blood is cheap, desperately want us to lose hope and surrender. Let us spite them with our relentless optimism, and let us keep pushing on, complaining and criticizing, and never giving it a rest!

As always, keep writing your letters, and remember to forward them to: pmw-letters@yahoogroups.com

Happy one-year anniversary all!

Yours,
Ahmed Bouzid
President
Palestine Media Watch
http://www.pmwatch.org