Tikun Olam-תקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place

Banner ad at the Haaretz website

Reader Cole Krawitz reports that now Haaretz, JTA and The Forward are featuring prominently RJC anti-Obama smear ads of the type I reported on yesterday. I have e-mailed the advertising directors of each publication along with the publisher and/or editor to request that they clarify the status of these ads.

First, these ads calling Obama “anti-Israel” and “pro-Palestinian” are flat out lies without even a scintilla of genuine evidence. I would like to know what the advertising standards are for these three news outlets. In accepting political ads, do they vet them for honesty as most other newspapers would? Do they ever reject ads as most newspapers have done? If so, what are the criteria for accepting or rejecting an ad?

I understand that media outlets need to accept advertising to support what they do. And I accept that a partisan political organization not only can, but should advertise to promote it’s political perspective. Though I think the RJC is a despicable bunch of Jewish bulvanim, I recognize their right to advocate for their point of view. But my point is that their advocacy must remain within the bounds of truth or at least some semblance of it. I can even accept some stretching of the truth as that happens all the time in politics. But usually political advertising has at least a shred of truth. In this case, the RJC has thrown all those traditional notions to the winds.

I call on all Jewish media to reject any RJC ad unless it adheres to a factual critique of Obama’s record. If any of these publications continue to accept these ads I’d like as many Jewish blogs and readers to make widely known who is running them and demand answers from the editors as to why they are doing so.