A reporter from the Times of London needed to speak with officers in the Israel Defense Forces, but knew that getting access on his own would make him miss his deadline.
So James Hider, the Times reporter, asked for help from Media Central, a nonprofit in Jerusalem that provides support services for foreign journalists based in or visiting Israel and the territories.
Media Central helped Hider and a handful of other journalists get to an army base at the Lebanese border, then to Gaza crossing points. Thanks to the backdoor route, he got his story.
“Their main strength, for me, is that they can get access to military personnel we might, as individual journalists, have problems getting to,” Hider said. “For example, they got us into all five Israeli army-run Gaza crossing points just after the Hamas seizure of power in Gaza — something that the military probably would have been loathe to do, or slow to arrange, had I simply asked myself.”
Media Central is run by San Francisco native Aryeh Green, who made aliyah more than 20 years ago. He became the founding director in December 2006, and recently visited San Francisco to raise awareness for the infant organization.
Novice and veteran journalists alike can go to Media Central’s office near Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem and have immediate access to a slew of resources: computers, Internet and fax machines, drivers, translators and expert or primary sources. Journalists can sign up for field trips to places such as Sderot and the Lebanon border, visits that introduce them to a range of Israelis, including Bedouins, Chassidic Jews and Palestinian activists.
“We want to give journalists a fair and nuanced look at Israel’s society, culture and history,” Green said. “We’ve gained credibility because of the professionalism and balanced nature of our approach.”
Media Central’s $900,000 budget comes from private foundations and donations, including locals such as the Bernard Osher Philanthropy of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation Endowment Fund and the Newton and Rochelle Becker Charitable Trusts. Green does not accept money from any government, including Israel’s.
Even so, not all journalists view the organization as agenda-free.
Steven Erlanger, New York Times Jerusalem Bureau Chief, said that several of his colleagues have attended Media Central events and field trips, but he would prefer not to get involved.
“I see Media Central as a lobbying organization set up by American Jews with a PR agenda for Israel, to try to show Israel in the best light,” he said. “So I try to keep my polite distance.”
Hider, on the other hand, said he doesn’t see any overt efforts to push an Israeli line.
“On the Golan trip in July, we met a Druze village leader who was very direct in his criticism of Israel, and an official from the divided town of Ghajar on the Lebanese border who was also scathing about how the Israeli government appeared to have ignored their plight,” Hider said.
Green said it’s important to him and to Israel that media coverage is comprehensive, varied and accurate.
For instance, when the government released the Winograd report, which analyzed the handling of the 2006 war with Lebanon, Green brought four interpreters into his office to translate the live news conference into English, French, German and Spanish.
People criticized his decision, he recalled. They said the report was damaging to Israel. Green disagreed. He said it was important for people to see that “Israel is a democracy investing in its leaders, and nobody is above the rule of law.”
Green recently visited the Bay Area to explain what Media Central does. He will return to the Bay Area on Nov. 29 as the keynote speaker at the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay’s 60th anniversary of the U.N. Partition Plan at the Contra Costa JCC, 2071 Tice Valley Blvd., Walnut Creek. The event begins at 7:30 p.m. and costs $10.
To learn more about Media Central, visit www.m-central.org. For information on the East Bay federation’s 60th anniversary event, contact Riva Gambert at (510) 839-2900 ext. 253.