Former CNN Jerusalem Correspondent
This is a perfect example of the 'International Jew'. This Jewish lady was born in Canada, she left Canada to Israel to be among her people, came back to America and is now engaged in damage control, she is advising members of her tribe how to inform the pubic so that what is true is communicated as false and what is false as true. She seems to be concerned about the news that might be harmful to Jewry. She is well suited to advise others how to engage in news propaganda having been an employee of CNN in Israel. Her main concern is that too much of the truth seems to making its way into the hitherto gullible public, especially the Americans. Her job, according to the article, is to inform the reporters who report on the Palestine tragedy that they do not know the facts, but she does, she is the authority on the matter. After all, those who colonized Palestine are members of her own tribe. The reason why the description of 'the International Jew' perfectly fits her is because (a) In all likelihood, she probably is in possession of at least three passports (b) wherever she is reporting from, her main goal in life is to promote lies on behalf of her own tribe.
Linda Scherzer
Former CNN Jerusalem Correspondent Advises Jewish Groups on Countering Unbalanced Israel Coverage
Norman Eisenberg
For decades, American Jews have had a love-hate relationship with the press, especially over what they perceive as biased coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Linda Scherzer, a former CNN Middle East correspondent-turned consultant, knows all about media-bashing. She says she understands the frustration and anger with how journalists portray Israel in its battles with Palestinians and other Arabs, but Scherzer believes it's a mistake to paint all reporters as anti-Jewish or Palestinian sympathizers.
As a speaker for United Jewish Communities and other groups, Scherzer, 42, she says she tries "to take the mystery out of reporting and put a human face" on the media.
"I try to teach audiences that the media is not a monolithic entity," said Schezer, a native of Montreal. "The media is made up of a lot of people with diverse opinions. It's wrong to point a finger at the media as a whole and say everybody is pro-Palestinian. It does injustice to our cause."
At the same time, Scherzer is critical of journalists whom she describes as "parachuters," those who arrive on the scene with little background and historical perspective. "What infuriates me," she says, "is to watch a lot of reporters, some who have very little understanding of the history of the conflict, report Intifada II as if it were Intifada I. They fail to realize that there is a whole different political context to the current conflict. And they fail to make proper distinctions between violence that is directed against civilians and violence that are legitimate acts of self-defense. These are moral distinctions that reporters don't always make."
Scherzer worked as CNN's Jerusalem correspondent from 1988 though 1993 and covered the first Palestinian uprising, or intfiada, the Gulf War, and the peace process. She left CNN to become an Arab Affairs correspondent for Israel Television, the first North American ever to work as an on-air reporter for the Hebrew News. It was during this time that Scherzer became a citizen of Israel.
When she returned to the U.S. in 1996, she decided to turn her energies toward advocacy, becoming a public relations and media consultant. Her clients include the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, where she advises the Jewish community on how to combat negative media coverage.
"It was a personal decision," she said. "I had become so connected to Israel as a journalist both for CNN and Israel TV that I decided that once I returned to the U.S. I wanted to stay connected to Israel in an important way."
Although she enjoys the opportunity to enlighten audiences on how the press works, she admits the process can become "a little schizophrenic."
"When you take off the cap of a journalist and you get down from the fence, where you're supposed to be when you're covering any story, especially one as charged and complex as the Arab-Israeli conflict, you discover you have opinions as a Jew and as an Israeli. And I'm a very proud and public Jew."
While Scherzer claims there is a liberal bias in news reporting, she believes that most journalists seek objectivity and accuracy and are not pressured by their home offices to tailor their coverage. "In my day, people thought that Ted Turner was an anti-Semite and hated Israelis, and that must guide my reporting," she recalled.
"I say now what I said back then: that was absolutely false. I never felt the hand of Ted Turner."
What does affect news coverage, says Scherzer, are both commercial interests and television's limited ability to deliver depth and perspective on stories beyond its immediate images. "TV," she says, "conveys tremendous passion, the emotion of the moment, and the ability to report in real time."
Thus, she says, there is a need for vehicles, both print and broadcast, that can offer thoughtful analysis and historical background on the Middle East conflict. She expressed displeasure over ABC Television's intent possibly to replace Ted Koppel's "Nightline" with David Letterman, rebuking comments by some industry sources that Koppel's show "was no longer relevant."
As for how Jews in this country can better combat negative Israel coverage, she says "we, as Jews, must understand that we come with a certain bias. We believe in the Israeli narrative of history. We support the values that we as Americans, Westerners, and Jews espouse. Thus, we see news reporting through our own prism."
Even so, she says it's important for the Jewish community to be active in monitoring the press without "smearing the journalist establishment as a whole." She supports the work of media watchdog groups, and says Jews have an obligation, as consumers, to expose shoddy and misleading reporting.
On the killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, Scherzer said his murder "reminds us how dangerous this business can be."
Journalists, she said, tend to operate with naïve sense of invulnerability "that we are not the targets; that we are just there to tell the story."
She does believe Pearl's murder has less to do with his religion than with his nationality.
Scherzer lives in Closter, NJ, with her husband. She did her undergraduate work at Brandies University and received a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University.