Jun 23, 2012 -- 2:57PM, LeahOne wrote:

"Memri is Jewwatch dressed a tuxedo and sipping Cristal. It creates the same kind of negative impression against an even larger group of people.  Insidiously, it does so for the expressed purpose of biased reporting since its primary target audience is journalists, who disseminate the "news", and legislators, who react to it."

The size of the group of people being targeted is completely irrelevant - isn't it?   

In order to be 'the same kind of negative impression', MEMRI's world view would need to include an international cabal 'behind the scenes' for centuries seeking to dominate everything.  AND for the members of that cabal's group to be *biologically* and 'genetically' different from the rest of the human race.  AND for the members of that cabal's group to be of DEMONIC origin.

In the 21st century, we have the ability to receive more information in a day than people in past centuries received in their entire lives.  All that's required to have the same effect as what you describe is a grasp of IT, some PR chops, inside contacts, and an unquestioning audience willing to absorb your bile.

Memri has all of that.

Miraj

Regarding the comparison of Jew Watch and Memri, here are some representative recent posts on the sites:

MEMRI

    Algeria: A Prolonged State Of Agony

By: Anna Mahjar-Barducci*

In an article published on June 8, 2012 in the Israeli daily Haaretz, Moroccan-Italian journalist and author Anna Mahjar-Barducci, MEMRI's research fellow for North African studies, writes that "elections in Algeria should not be hailed as a sign of democracy, as they served only to give a facade of legitimacy to a regime that plays with the lives of its citizens to stay in power."

The following is the article, in the original English:"Algeria is one of the countries of North Africa where popular protests in the major cities last year neither brought down the regime nor led to any serious reform. Thus on May 10, when Algerians voted in legislative elections, it was business as usual, with the ruling National Liberation Front party (FLN), which has been in power since Algeria's independence from France in 1962, winning 208 of 462 seats. The international community hailed the elections as 'fair' and 'transparent,' but can they really be considered legitimate?

full article:

www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/6443...



    Omar Hammami, American Commander Of Al-Qaeda Affiliate In Somalia Al-Shabaab Al-Mujahideen – And A U.S.-Designated Terrorist – Uses YouTube, Twitter, And Facebook Freely

By: Steven Stalinsky*

Introduction

On July 29, 2011, the U.S. Department of Treasury declared U.S.-born Omar Hammami, aka Abu Mansur Al-Amriki, who is a leader of the Al-Qaeda-affiliate in Somalia Al-Shabaab Al-Mujahideen, a Specially Designated National, pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13536, which "targets for sanctions individuals and entities engaging in acts that directly or indirectly threaten the peace, security or stability of Somalia."[1]

By law, "U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in any transactions with... designees and any assets they have under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen."[2]

www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/6417...

In an article posted on the website of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Jordanian cleric Dr. Salah Al-Khalidi called Israel a "boil" on the body of humanity, and said that its days are numbered.

The following are excerpts:[1]

"The Jewish State On The Soil Of Palestine Is [Like A Rash] Of Contaminated, Reeking Boils On The Body Of Humanity"
www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/6466...

and now from Jewatch

JEWS AND "WHITE SLAVERY"

"[Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion] could hardly imagine hat Jewish women would stoop to crime or prostitution. When an associate, Meyer Weisgal, who resembled David Ben-Gurion, once told thim humorously that a girl had walked up to him on a London street and offered her services, overwhelmed by the idea of sleeping with the 'Israeli prime minister.' Ben-Gurion, clearly troubled, was interested in only one thing: 'Was she Jewish?'" -- Dan Kurzman, 1983, p. 39

"I also take a kind of perverse pleasure in the thought that the most important and influential book ever written is the product of Jewish thought ... I call it 'perverse' becaue it is an instance of national pride which I don't want to feel and which I fight against constantly ..."I remember once a fellow Jew remarking  with satisfaction on the high percentage of Nobel Prize winners who were Jewish.  I said, 'Does that make you feel superior?' 'Of course,' he said. 'What if I told you that sixty percent of the pornographers and eighty percent of the crooked Wall Street manipulators wre Jewish? He was startled. 'Is that true?' 'I don't know. I  made up the figures. But what if it were true? Would it make you feel inferior?'  He had to think about that. It's much easier to find reasons to consider oneself  superior than inferior. But one is just the mirror image of the other.'" -- Isaac Asimov, 1994, p. 322
www.jewwatch.com/jew-slavery-white.html

And of course there is the simple fact that the U.S. Government uses MEMRI as a source for information but somehow does not use Jewatch. Wonder why?

Jun 23, 2012 -- 11:25PM, habesor wrote:

The real question here is does MEMRI translate a representative sample of the Arab media or is the sample biased and therefore a distortion of what appears in the Arab media. The critics of MEMRI on this thread have been upset because MEMRI does not portray the Arab media and Arab commentary as fitting their own stereotypes.

Oh, no, you didn't.  Stereotypes?  You think Char and I are the ones stereotyping?  I'm definitely not stereotyping since I'm probably the only one here who reviews media files in Arabic each week.  And, I've been reading Memri for years.  It's not new to me, and if I wasn't so familiar with their rabid agenda and who runs it, why, and their cozy relationship with so many other blatantly anti-Arab/Muslim sites, I wouldn't be so adament about it.  Memri is among a small group of people with a common agenda to portray Arabs and Muslims in a negative light.

I know for sure that the stereotyping is not coming from us.  It's coming from the notion that there is positive and negative in most cultures and news sources around the world, and that a source that depicts only the negative is biased.  

That is merely common sense.

I wasn't born yesterday.  Not one defender of Memri has ever posted something from it that reflects well on Arabs or Muslims.  Prove to us that Memri doesn't only show Arab media in a negative light.  It's not a matter of whether their translations are accurate, it's about what they choose to translate.  

And, yes, they are a news service.  

Jun 24, 2012 -- 2:57AM, habesor wrote:

Miraj,

We may have a problem in our definition of bias. You seem to think that it means selecting items that make a side look bad. My definition is selecting items that produces a distorted image of one of the sides.;

No real difference. The result is distortions that leave wrong impressions.

You have continued to argue that MEMRI produces work that makes the Arab side look bad. Could it possibly be the case that MEMRI produces work that is an accurate image of the Arab side, which looks bad.

No, but, that's what we're supposed to think.

Here is an article that appears on the MEMRI web site. Please tell me if it makes the Arabs look bad or good or is just an accurate reflection of commentary in Iran.

www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/815/61...;

You don't get it either. It's not a matter of an article here or there that says this or that. It's that the collective is along the same lines, critical, negative and dark.

On that same page, here are headlines for the other linked offerings.

Reports:

Palestinian-Syrian Opposition Activist Salama Kila Recounts His Torture At The Hands Of A Syrian Security Agency

The Global Jihad Movement In Bosnia – A Time Bomb In The Heart of Europe

Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM) Weekend Summary;

Egyptian Cleric Mahmoud Al-Masri: Women Should Stay At Home, Emulating The Virgins of Paradise

Egyptian Cleric Muhammad Hussein Yaaqub: MB Presidential Candidate Muhammad Mursi Told Me That The Shi'ites 'Are More Dangerous To Islam Than The Jews'

Islamists Demonstrate In Tunisia Against Unnamed Tunisian Expat: 'Anybody Who Affronts The Prophet Muhammad Must Be Punished By Death';

HASHTAG #Jihad: Charting Jihadi-Terrorist Organizations' Use Of Twitter

Website Of Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood: The Days Of The Zionist Entity Are Numbered

Egyptian Cleric Muhammad Hassan Lambasts the American, Russian, Greek, and Indian Mentalities, Says 'Allah Disgraced The Jews, Those Repulsive and Despicable Creatures'

Egyptian Salafi Sheikh Osama El Qusy: Nudity Is Acceptable In Movies

Video Clips (meaning that on top of cherry picking thru various videos, they also filtered thru the cherry picked videos for provocative quotes to highlight, in context?):

#3471 - Lebanese New Age Guru Maryam Nour: Jews Rule the World because of Arab Ignoramuses;

#3470 - Jordanian MP Sheik Abd Al-Mun’im Abu Zant: STD Have Made the Christians Forget Their Duty to Liberate Bethlehem;

#3469 - Al-Fareen TV Owner Tawfiq Okasha: Egypt Can "Pulverize Hizbullah" and "Completely Obliterate Hamas"

Continuing on through the website, more of the sos:

Kuwaiti Muslim Brotherhood Leader And Director Of Saudi Al-Risala TV Tareq Al-Suwaidan Tours West, Promoting Restoration Of Caliphate And New Era Of Cyber Jihad;

Algeria: A Prolonged State Of Agony;

Al-Qaeda Front Group Ansar Al-Shari'a In Bid For Popular Support In Yemen;

Syria's Role In Lebanon's Conflagration;

Omar Hammami, American Commander Of Al-Qaeda Affiliate In Somalia Al-Shabaab Al-Mujahideen; And A U.S.-Designated Terrorist Uses YouTube, Twitter, And Facebook Freely

The Failings Of India's Counter-Terrorism Intelligence Agencies;

#3459 - Bosnian Salafist Preacher Bilal Bosnić Sings Songs of Jihad: With Explosives on Our Chests We Pave the Way to Paradise;

#3458 - Iranian Basij Commander General Mohammad Reza Naqdi: If Israel Attacks Iran, It Will Be the "Last Stupid Act in Its History"

And, what would any self-respecting anti-Muslim website worth our tax dollars be without loads of evidence that Muslims hate Jews?

A European Plot on the Arab Stage: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion in the Arab Media;

U.S.-Based Political Scientist Muhammad Waqi'ullah: The Neocon Movement, Established By Jews, Plans To Destroy The Islamic World By Brute Force And Through 'Harmless' Films Like Superman, Tom And Jerry;

Jordanian Academic: The Present Reality In The Arab World Is The Result Of A Jewish Conspiracy;

Tawfiq Okasha, Owner Of Faraeen TV: The Jews Are Using The Same Policy Used By Hitler, But In A Way That Does Not Involve Bloodshed;

Former PA Mufti Sheikh Ikrima Sabri: Jerusalem Is Not Holy To The Jews; 'For Many Years, They Have Been Digging For Archaeological Remains, But They Haven't Found Anything';

Leading Indian Clerics: U.S. Plans To Blow Up Mosques In Mecca, Medina With Atomic Bombs; U.S., Israeli Agents Are Sowing Seeds Of Hatred In India; Arab Kings Are Operating Under Tutelage Of Jews And Christians;

That's pretty much the entire website.  Let me know when Memri's balance, lack of bias and racism become obvious.  This is not about merely translating media from Muslim countries (all but one country they focus on has a predominantly Muslim population); it's about promoting negativity toward Arabs, Persians, Asians and, collectively, Muslims.  There is no way to credibly claim that this is representative of Muslim media across the globe, or that Memri isn't selling a hateful agenda to western media.

Not if you're sane, that is.

Memri translates the news.  It translates what people what to hear.  It performs a duty of letting people know, exactly, what is believed and being said by the Arab side.  The problem has always been that the Arab side has said one thing in English and something totally different in Arabic, as not to offend their own.  This is why MEMRI became necessary.  It is unfortunate that there is SO MUCH negative talk coming from the Arab side.  When dealing with the Arab/Palestinian propaganda machine, it became necessary to counter such propaganda with the truth, by way of accurate translation of what is REALLY being said. To understand which side is TRULY interested in peace, we need to know what the Arabs are being told and what they understand the issue to be.  Nobody wants to hear niceties out of the Arab countries, it is less interesting than those in our own country.