Jacki Karsh: training young journalists to be explicitly pro-Israel

Last week, Drop Site News reported on a new fellowship set up by prominent US journalist Jacki Karsh, along with her husband Jeff. The fellowship’s website states that:

The Jacki and Jeff Karsh Journalism Fellowship equips journalists to report with depth, rigor, and clarity on Jewish issues in the United States and around the world. Fellows participate in three intensive retreats — in Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, D.C. — engaging with leading journalists, scholars, policymakers, and innovators across the arts, media, and business.

As the world’s only journalism fellowship solely dedicated to Jewish topics, the program is resolutely nonpartisan and grounded in the principles of accuracy, independence, transparency, and accountability. Up to ten fellows are selected annually to advance public understanding through uncompromising, high-impact reporting.

During the year-long course, up to ten fellows will participate in three 3-day retreats. All travel and accommodation expenses are covered by the fellowship. The expert-led sessions will cover topics like ‘How to cover antisemitism’, ‘Jews in the American mosaic’ and ‘Middle-East misinformation’.

Jacki Karsh and her fellowship: ‘countering media bias’, apparently

However, Drop Site highlighted the contrast between the fellowship’s professed neutrality and Karsh’s distinct pro-Israel stance.

Jacki Karsh’s webpage describes her as a “six time Emmy-nominated multimedia journalist”. She’s reported for LA36’s LA County Channel, CityTV Santa Monica, Young Hollywood, Business Rockstars and Westside TV. She wrote about her reasons for starting the fellowship in an article for the Jerusalem Post, published under the headline “Countering media bias against Jews” on 20 August.
Part of the introduction reads:

The casual slanders, the subtle omissions, the reflexive framing of Israel as aggressor and Jews as suspect – these are not rare mistakes. They are patterns. And patterns, left unchallenged, become the record of history.

On the contrary, mainstream US media has shown a historic bias towards Israel, both before and after 7 October. Analysis of the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times’ coverage of the war showed a distinct bias against Palestine. Articles focused disproportionately on Israeli deaths, showed biased use of language, and focused on antisemitism in the US over and above Islamophobia.

Likewise, “casual slanders” links out to another Jerusalem Post article, titled “Gaza starvation claims: Blood libel revisited”. It frames the claim that Israel is starving the people of people of Gaza as reheated medieval blood libel. The UN has confirmed the famine in Gaza. Over 100 humanitarian organisations signed an open letter criticising Israel for blocking supplies into Gaza.

‘Resolutely nonpartisan’

Given that Jacki Karsh stated that she created the fellowship to help Israel win an “information war”, the description of the program as “resolutely nonpartisan” seems deeply questionable. Drop Site News submitted an inquiry on the matter, and fellowship director Rob Eshmen responded:

The Karsh Journalism Fellowship trains and supports journalists committed to fairness and accuracy on Israel and Jewish issues. Jacki Karsh’s guiding principle is simple: the best response to misinformation and disinformation on these issues is excellent journalism grounded in evidence, integrity, and independence… Our mentors and fellows will represent a wide range of political and cultural perspectives, and we encourage open, nuanced dialogue on complex issues.

Unfortunately, Jacki Karsh’s bias also seems to have been mirrored in the choice of expert journalists to lead the sessions. Drop Site reported that:

Other fellowship mentors include CNN’s Van Jones, who recently issued an apology after drawing intense criticism for comments he made on HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher on Friday making light of images of dead Palestinian children and saying they were part of an Iran and Qatar disinformation campaign; and Michael Powell, a staff writer at the Atlantic and a former national reporter at The New York Times, whose recent articles include “The Double Standard in the Human-Rights World,” that criticizes groups like Amnesty International and Doctors Without Borders for becoming “stridently critical of Israel.”

At best, the thinking behind the Jacki and Jeff Karsh Journalism Fellowship illustrates a stark problem with legacy media. If journalists view only one side of the Israel-Palestine war as being capable of accessing truth, then they will inevitably interpret even a neutral report of Israel’s actions as bias against it.

The UN has officially recognised that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. It joins a long line of other humanitarian agencies in doing so. At this point, if legacy media even begins to appear critical of Israel, well – it’s about damned time.

Featured image via the Canary