Time Magazine's Two Standards on Economic Success

Temima Cohen
CAMERA Media Analysis
25 October '10

Time Magazine's September 13, 2010 cover story by Karl Vick, "Why Israel Doesn't Care About Peace," and its October 18, 2010 story by Stacy Perman, "A National Economy - Without the Nation," reveal Time's continuing bias against Israel, most strikingly in the juxtaposition of the two stories.

As we point out in our analysis concerning the Vick story, both the cover and the story itself play upon old anti-Semitic stereotypes — Jews care more about material objects than about anything else, including (or especially) peace. Time focuses on the "good life," including nice homes and surfing vacations. Photographs showing twenty-somethings relaxing outside on the beach or in a café accompany text focusing on how the few Israelis who were interviewed were more concerned with enjoying life than with worrying about the peace process.

Time received approximately 1000 letters in response to the September 13 issue, most of which objected to the stereotyping of Jews as money-hungry, materialistic and hedonistic, and the false characterization of Israelis as not caring about peace. The edition received nationwide attention. Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal wrote a strong piece, as did Morton Klein of the Zionist Organization of America and many other journalists. So after all those letters and columns, what did Time do?

(Read full analysis)

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