NPR's “Pro-Con” Con: Curating Criticism of Israel - by Gilead Ini

...NPR's listeners might be able to conscientiously evaluate what they hear on the air. But it's much more difficult for them to take into account what isn't being heard. In this case, despite the announcement that they would hear from both "an Israeli and a Palestinian," Israeli (and Palestinian) views exploring Palestinian responsibility for the continued conflict weren't represented in All Things Considered's coverage of the Six-Day War anniversary.

Gilead Ini..
CAMERA Media Analyses..
12 June '17..

For the 50th anniversary of the Six-Day War, NPR's All Things Considered broadcast four interviews over four days that, on their face, appeared to ensure a sort of "ethnic balance" among those interviewed. Listeners heard from two Jews, and two Palestinians.

NPR's Robert Siegel made a point of highlighting the equilibrium. In his June 6 segment, he opened by saying that, "This week, we're asking a couple of writers — an Israeli and a Palestinian — what the Six-Day War and its consequences have meant for them." And his June 7 broadcast: "Yesterday we heard from Israeli writer A.B. Yehoshua about what it was like for an Israeli for him during the war," he said. "Well, today, the Palestinian writer and activist Raja Shehadeh is going to share his memories of the Six-Day War and his sense of its legacy and consequences."

The broadcasts featuring Yehoshua and Shehadeh followed another set of interviews with Jewish editor Jane Eisner on June 4 and a Palestinian named Omar Omar on June 5. Listeners might have been tempted to feel satisfied that all things were indeed considered, having ostensibly been exposed to a balanced and broad range of views on the Arab-Israeli conflict. But in actuality, of course, "balanced" doesn't necessarily mean "broad." Particular ethnicities aren't bound to particular opinions.

Particular guests, on the other hand, do often have known opinions. And in this case, NPR surely would have known what they, and their listeners, were getting: Two generally self-critical Jewish voices. And two Palestinian voices that view Israel through a harsh lens.

You can call it the "'pro-con' con": A range of presentations that are meant to give the impression of balance, but that are in fact curated to reinforce a narrow message.

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