PMWATCH was established in October of 2000 to promote fair and accurate coverage of the Israeli occupation of Palestine in the US mainstream media. In broad terms, our mission is two-fold: (1) identify, report on, and protest clear journalistic failures by the US media in covering the conflict, and (2) help media outlets with access to pro-Palestinian points of view and voices for interviews, op-eds, or background discussions, whether here in the United States, in Israel, or in the Occupied Territories (OT).
PMWATCH is an-all volunteer organization with 42 local chapters across the United States.
Our work has been mentioned by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, CNN, NPR, Voice of America, Pacifica Radio, The Nation Magazine, The Associated Press, The American Journalism Review, Foreign Policy, to name just the most prominent media outlets. (See http://www.pmwatch.org/pmw/chronicle/mediamentions.html for more details.)
Our group leaders and members have conducted dozens of meetings with editorial boards and foreign desk editors, have published scores of op-eds and hundreds of letters in all the major newspapers and magazines, and have been interviewed in various radio and television shows.
PMWATCH has also published many reports on media failures and has co-sponsored various workshops and conferences. See: http://www.pmwatch.org/pmw/reports/
More specifically, PMWATCH engages in two types of actions:
1. Empowering members to react effectively to media failings
We are well aware that merely exhorting people to act - to write letters and make phone calls -- is not enough. People are often willing to get involved, but either they do not know how to get involved or find the task of media watching daunting and difficult to fulfill on a consistent basis. Our challenge has been to make it as easy for people to become good media critics and to be able to do so easily and routinely.
2. Constructive pressure
We are also fully aware that mere criticism of the media will not bring about the change we feel is necessary for a healthy coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict by the US media. Parallel constructive efforts are essential to our mission. To that end we engage in regular pro-active actions that encourage various segments of the media - those who write the news and those who comment on it - to be more familiar with the Palestinian perspective.
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