60 Minutes and Liam Bartlett

[Rubens]

I wonder if anyone was unfortunate enough to have seen Liam Bartlett's "Hate Thy Neighbour" on the West Bank settlements, on 60 Minutes Sunday 20th Sept.

I thought I was pretty hardy when it came to the anti-Israel bias in the mainstream media. However, Bartlett's report was the most hideous piece of Jew-smearing I have ever seen.

The cliched, heart-wrenching and hand wringing rhetoric was in full swing whilst he uncritically accepted every claim made by Palestinians. He then only showed the most hard-nosed Israeli settlers, or pro-Palestinian Israeli. Did anyone notice that his favourite intellectual, Palestinian Doctor Mustafa Barghouthi, openly referred to Israeli settlers as "cancer"?

Liam Bartlett has clearly caught onto how career-boosting it is to vilify Israel.

[erratus]

Hi Rubens,

Balshan posted something similar in another section. I agree that the 60 Minutes story was disgraceful, but I also believe that something can be done about it. This is what I wrote in reply to Balshan:

Hi Balshan,

It was a disgraceful story, and something CAN be done about that. The bias can't really be tackled, as 60 Minutes would reply, 'on balance (that is, over a long period of time), 60 Minutes shows both narratives.' It's wrong, but it's hard to prove, and you won't win a complaint based on bias.

But! You CAN win a complaint based on facts. The 60 Minutes story was replete with inaccuracies. It's worth having a look at the Free TV Australia document on free-to-air television requirements, particularly the section on news and current affairs programmes.

Then look through the 60 Minutes story again, and note all the factual inaccuracies. You'll have to list then, and then provide references to show how and why they're wrong (you can't just write 'they're wrong').

It takes some time, but I believe it's a case that pro-Israel people can definitely win.

Good luck!