- Honest Reporting Canada
HonestReporting Canada (HRC) is a Canadian media watchdog that monitors Canadian media coverage of Israel and the Middle East to promote what it calls balanced, accurate, and unbiased reporting. [ [http://www.cjnews.com/TOPScnCJN/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13275&Itemid=101 The Canadian Jewish News - Films at Concordia cause controversy ] ]
History
HonestReporting Canada (HRC) was established in 2003 as an independent, non-profit group headquartered in
Toronto ,Canada . Since then, HRC has opened an office inMontreal in April 2008, [http://blog.honestreporting.ca/my_weblog/2008/04/hrc-launches-mo.html#more Headlines & Deadlines ] ] giving them official national and bilingual status. HRC plans to further expand across the country to other large Canadian cities and extend their operations to include regular monitoring of college and university campus papers. [Mike Fegelman, HRC Executive Director, June 18, 2008, Toronto]HRC is affiliated with other
HonestReporting initiatives around the world. The first such initiative, HonestReporting.com, was formed in response to the "media war" paralleling the conflict betweenIsrael and thePalestinians since October 2000. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honest_Reporting]Background and Mission Statement
HonestReporting Canada is a grass-roots organization promoting fair and accurate Canadian media coverage of Israel and the
Middle East . HRC monitors the media, recognizes excellence and exposes imprecision and bias in Canadian reporting on the region [ [http://www.cjnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14032&Itemid=86 The Canadian Jewish News - Biased Israel coverage can be countered: watchdog ] ] . HRC subjects news agencies to thorough and meticulous investigation while working in partnership with its 20,000 members across Canada to correct and prevent distorted news coverage. HRC is committed to ensuring that news coverage provided by Canada’s media – whether electronic or print, and whether local, academic, national, or alternative – reflects standards of excellence in news, information and investigative journalism, and is informed by Canadian ideals including human rights, democracy, freedom, and the rule of law.HonestReporting Canada has expanded to monitor French-Canadian media as well to ensure accurate reporting in the French-language press. [ [http://thesuburban.com/content.jsp?sid=42910158811824738998250418171&ctid=1000000&cnid=1015177 The Suburban - Quebec's largest English newspaper ] ] .
This monitoring includes "Radio Canada", "La Presse", "Le Devoir", "TVQ", "le Journal de Montreal", "Le Soleil", "The National Post", "The Toronto Star", "The Globe and Mail", "AFP", "The Montreal Gazette" [ [http://thesuburban.com/content.jsp?sid=63640572075778401513381389678&ctid=1000002&cnid=1014056 The Suburban - Quebec's largest English newspaper ] ] , "The Calgary Herald", "The Toronto Sun", "The Vancouver Sun", "Times Colonist", "Journal de Montreal" [ [http://blog.honestreporting.ca/my_weblog/2008/04/success-journal.html#more Headlines & Deadlines ] ] , "The Record", "GuelphMercury", "The Daily Gleaner", "Reuters Canada", and "Canada.com". They also monitor periodicals like Macleans, radio and television news agencies like "CBC", "CTV", "Global", and university and college-campus papers across the country.
Why They Were Formed
In 2003, two years after the second intifada began, HonestReporting Canada was launched.HRC contends that Canadian news coverage on the Middle East tends to be biased- misinforming Canadians about a complex and important region. The consequence is that the Canadian people and government have a skewed perspective of the Middle East that hampers the promotion of Canadian values and interests abroad.
In order to make appropriate decisions and conclusions regarding a vital region, Canada requires correct information from the community of journalists. Consequently, news media must report honestly, accurately and within context while avoiding all inaccuracy, bias, or ambiguity in reporting on sensitive issues such as human rights, tyranny and
terrorism .Leadership
HonestReporting Canada and its officers operate under the guidance of its board of directors.
The executive director of HonestReporting Canada is Mike Fegelman. Mike graduated from
Carleton University 's renowned journalism program in 2004 and specialized in broadcasting and international reporting. He was also a former editor-in-chief, reporter, and anchor of various news programs and publications inOttawa ,Ontario .Mike has been with HRC for the past five years and has helped build HonestReporting Canada into the effective organization it is today.The Assistant Director of HonestReporting Canada is Paul Agoston. Paul manages HRC’s newly-launched Montreal office and French-media monitoring unit. A bilingual native Montrealer and graduate of
McGill University ’s business school, Paul is a communications and marketing professional with over 10 years of experience. Paul’s career spans the public and private sectors and the non-profit field, working for organizations such as the Montreal Jewish Experience, Economic Development Canada, Federated Press, CIBC, Citigroup, Bank of Montreal, Bell Canada, Seagram and the Canadian Armed Forces.See also
*
Honest Reporting
*Arab Media Watch
*Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America
*Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
*MediaLens
*Media Matters for America
*Media Watch International
*Media Bias References
External links
* [http://www.honestreporting.ca HonestReporting] Canada Official Site
* [http://www.honestreporting.com Honest Reporting]
* [http://dishonestreporting.blogspot.com/ Dishonest Reporting]
* [http://www.mediabackspin.com/ Media Backspin] Honest Reporting's Weblog
* [http://www.honestreporting.co.uk/ Honest Reporting-UK] The UK Affiliate
* [http://www.honestreporting.org/Honest Reporting.org] Reports Critically on HonestReporting
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