Posted on 02/24/2005 8:08:20 AM PST by Zivasmate
COMMUNIQUE: 24 February 2005
Beyond the Margins Toronto Sun columnist Eric Margolis crosses the bounds of ethical journalism.
Opinion columnists perform an important public service when providing cogent arguments supported by factual information. This is true regardless of where the columnist falls out on the spectrum of opinion.
But when a columnist regularly demonizes one side of the Arab-Israeli conflict ¯ while resorting to outlandish conspiracy theories and unsubstantiated allegations ¯ the columnist has crossed the bounds of ethical journalism.
Case in point: HonestReporting Canada reports that the Toronto Sun's Eric Margolis, who has a long record of Israel-bashing, recently accused Israel of poisoning Yassir Arafat:
Arafat's convenient death removed a major obstacle to U.S.-Israeli plans. This writer continues to suspect Arafat was murdered by an untraceable nerve or blood toxin. He was being held prisoner by Israel in his Ramallah compound. (Feb. 13)
And this week (Feb. 20), Margolis likewise implied with no substantiation whatsoever that Israel may have murdered former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Observing that 'the professional expertise of the bombing strongly suggests a state intelligence agency,' Margolis names only one such likely agency in his column: 'Israel's Mossad.'
In a 1998 column, Margolis even propagated allegations (originally published in the Times of London) that Israeli scientists were working on an 'ethnic bomb' that would kill Arabs ¯ while sparing Jews. Western scientists dismissed this claim ¯ embraced by the Arab media and lunatic-fringe ideologues ¯ as utter nonsense. Yet Margolis's column, which appeared in the Edmonton Sun and Ottawa Sun, quoted 'numerous reliable sources' who claimed, 'Israeli scientists are attempting to engineer deadly micro-organisms that only attack DNA within the cells of victims with distinctive Arab genes.'
Margolis, who appears often on Canadian TV, has also claimed 'a group of Likudniks' brought the US to war in Iraq, and that 'bloodthirsty neo-conservatives' with Israeli allegiance drive Washington policy.
ETHICS OF THE OPINION COLUMN
Columnists such as Margolis whose material is clearly labeled as opinion do enjoy greater journalistic license than news reporters, but to responsible columnists and papers this license has real limits. The Gannett Corporation, which operates the largest newspaper group in North America, states in its Code of Ethics that
We will hold factual information in opinion columns and editorials to the same standards of accuracy as news stories.
And as James Hill, managing editor of the Washington Post Writers Group, has stated:
You have to hold columnists to the same standard as anyone at the newspaper. If a column writer is making egregious errors in the process of stating his or her opinion, eventually it's not the columnist who's doing that, it's the paper that's doing that.
Eric Margolis has established a pattern of violating this standard, promoting wholly unsubstantiated accusations against the State of Israel for allegedly perpetrating illegal, unethical and diabolical acts. Margolis has crossed the line of journalistic standards, and calls into question the credibility of his primary platform, the Toronto Sun.
Comments to the Toronto Sun: editor@tor.sunpub.com
Thank you for your ongoing involvement in the battle against media bias.
HonestReporting
Jews being attacked by Canadian anti-semetic media? I'm shocked and surprised. NOT.
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He's insane.
Eric Margolis is a leftwing moonbat..He hates America,too...I find him laughable.
I'm guessing its worse than that - maybe he's taking money from someone to write this stuff?
this guy is an idiot,
he used to be a panelist on my favourite Foreign Affairs show, Diplomatic Immunity, come to think of it, he hasn't been on that show for a while, hmmmmmm
well they were talking about the war in Afghanistan and Margolis says he is good friends with this warlord Hetmakyar and that he is not an Islamist terrorist, he is an Afghan nationalist.......
I was stunned and actually wrote the idiot an email, he sent me something obtuse, not really answering my email
I said you got to be kidding me, Hetmakyar had publicly declared his allegiance to the Taliban and al Queda, by that time, ironic given the Taliban were the guys who chased him out of Afghanistan in the first place
Hetmakyar is the guy, during the Afghan Soviet war, is reputed to have been taking the most money from the US-Saudi-ISI alliance but pocketed most of it, saving money and weapons to prepare for the coming civil war and was openly a supporter of Osama Bin Laden, but also it is alleged that he was playing both sides, and giving information to the Soviets during the war itself!
After the Soviets were pushed out, he and the NA alliance commander Shah put together a tenous alliance to grab power of Afghanistna but then they were defeated and Hetmakyar was run out of Afghanistan
so it is clear to me Hetmakyar is not an nationalist but a terrorist supporting warlord opportuntist.....
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This is the first I've heard of him, so I can't speak to that.
He's definitely a barking moonbat, though.
I watched the things that he said recently and am not surprised. He is half Egyptian.
Does any body notice about him that he pronounces the Bush Administration as the "Bish Admin."?
We both agree on that. The question is what kind of pressure can we put on the Toronto Sun to get rid of this pig?
You said it! Margolis is notorious.
Does he also pronounce Operation Push "Operation Pish?"
Jesse Jackson may not like that too much.Although he has "urinated" all over white people for most of his life.
Eric can be reached by e-mail at:
margolis@foreigncorrespondent.com
Letters to the editor should be sent to:
editor@tor.sunpub.com
I found the article that seems to be the basis for this controversy, and this seems at odds with this one-here's a quote from Eric Margolis: "It's very hard for me to believe little Dr Mengele's at Nes Ziona are developing fiendish weapon to `cleanse' the region of Arabs."
http://www.twf.org/News/Y1998/19981126-ArabGerm.html
Then I found this one, in which he refers to Dick Cheney as the "real" President:
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Toronto/Eric_Margolis/2005/02/06/922316.html
Typical liberal rant regarding President Bush and his staff.
Margolis is the reason that I stopped reading The Sun years ago.
They should send him and “his likes” to clean up the mass graves left in Iraq.
Then again, it would not be worth wasting the air fare! They can never overcome their prejudices.
To help stop his espousing the “verbal vomit” we should all contact The Sun and let them know that as long as he writes for them, we stop buying their rag. We’ll talk to 10 friends and convince them to do the same and to pass on the word to 10 more friends. Within a month, The Sun would lose most of its readership!
It's not too late to start. I just wrote a letter to the editor. What about threatening to boycott the advertisers and letting them know why.
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I've never subscribed to the Sun, but I do watch Fox News.
According to his bio, he has appeared on Fox.
He is listed as a terrorism analyst: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,133341,00.html
Actually, Margolis is a paleoconservative moonbat.
Barking moonbat
noun. Someone on the extreme edge of whatever their -ism happens to be.
(coined by Perry de Havilland)
Usage:"Definition of a 'barking moonbat': someone who sacrifices sanity for the sake of consistency"
-Adriana Cronin
Whatever..he is a barking moonbat.
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