CAMERA Makes a Good Point

NY Times Ignores Huge Pro-Israel, Anti-Extremism Rally in NYC


On Wednesday, September 20, 2006, over 30,000 Israel supporters rallied across from UN headquarters in the heart of New York City to protest Iranian President Ahmadinejad's presence there and to call for the unconditional release of the kidnapped Israeli soldiers. Speakers voiced support for the war against radical Islam and called upon the United Nations to confront Ahmadinejad for trying to incite genocide against the Jews.

But this important protest was largely ignored by the media. The New York Sun covered the rally, as did Agence France Presse and the JTA, but the New York Times carried no mention of it. Its New York desk apparently found other stories more newsworthy; its lead story was about a model subway train company planning to use sounds recorded in the New York City transit system.

It is interesting that American anti-Israel protests - even outside NYC, and drawing only "thousands of protesters" - have warranted more coverage in the Times recently. [For example, "Rally Near White House Protests Violence in Mideast" Aug. 13, "Marchers Oppose Israeli Bombing" (in Dearborn, MI) July 19].

Why does the Times see news of this large pro-Israel, anti-extremism rally as unfit to print?