Just Journalism is a UK-based research organisation and pressure group whose stated goals are to focus "on how Israel and Middle East issues are reported in the UK media." The organisation publishes online analyses in response to news stories, reports on "long-term trends", and opinion pieces for external publications. It was established in the spring of 2008 and its current Executive Director is Michael Weiss.

Advisory Board

The members of the group's advisory board, according to its website, are:

• Rt Hon Dr Denis MacShane
  Denis MacShane
  Denis MacShane is a British politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Rotherham since the 1994 by-election and served as the Minister for Europe from 2002 until 2005, as well as being a current Policy Council member for Labour Friends of Israel.On 14 October 2010, it was announced...
  
  , MP for Rotherham, former Minister and advocate for democratic trade unions.
• Hussein Ibish
  Hussein Ibish
  Hussein Yusuf Kamal Ibish is a Senior Fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine. He was born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1963. He has a Ph.D. in Comparative literature from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and is active in advocacy for Arab causes in the United States...
  
  , Senior Research Fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine
  American Task Force on Palestine
  The American Task Force on Palestine is an organization founded in 2003 to advocate that it is in the American national interest to promote an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through the creation of a Palestinian state that will live alongside Israel in peace and security...
  
   (ATFP) and Executive Director of the Hala Salaam Maksoud Foundation for Arab-American Leadership.
• Robin Shepherd
  Robin Shepherd
  Robin Shepherd is a prominent British-born political commentator and analyst. He is currently Director of International Affairs at the Henry Jackson Society....
  
  , Director of International Affairs at the Henry Jackson Society
  Henry Jackson Society
  The Henry Jackson Society is a non-partisan association. The society's goals include the promotion of "democratic geopolitics". The society is named after after Henry M. Jackson, the late Democratic Senator from Washington State...
  
   and a former Senior Research Fellow at Chatham House
  Chatham House
  Chatham House, formally known as The Royal Institute of International Affairs, is a non-profit, non-governmental organization based in London whose mission is to analyse and promote the understanding of major international issues and current affairs. It is regarded as one of the world's leading...
  
  .
• Michael Ullman, fellow of St Catherine’s College, Oxford, and entrepreneur.
• Alan Johnson, Professor of Democratic Theory and Practice at Edge Hill University
  Edge Hill University
  Edge Hill University is situated in Ormskirk, Lancashire, England. It has three faculties: Education, Health and Social Care, and Arts and Sciences.- History :...
  
  .
• Douglas Murray
  Douglas Murray (author)
  Douglas Murray is a British writer and commentator who was the director of the Centre for Social Cohesion from 2007 until 2011 and is currently an associate director of the Henry Jackson Society. Murray appears regularly in the British broadcast media, commentating on issues from a conservative...
  
  , bestselling author, political commentator and Director of the Centre for Social Cohesion
  Centre for Social Cohesion
  The Centre for Social Cohesion is a British think tank headquartered in London and founded in 2007.-Foundation and constitution:CSC was established with funding of circa £275,000 from Civitas. The organisation is constituted as a company limited by guarantee, and was incorporated and registered...
  
  .
• Dr. Alan Mendoza, Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Henry Jackson Society
  Henry Jackson Society
  The Henry Jackson Society is a non-partisan association. The society's goals include the promotion of "democratic geopolitics". The society is named after after Henry M. Jackson, the late Democratic Senator from Washington State...
  
  .
• Daniel Johnson, journalist and editor of Standpoint
  Standpoint
  Standpoint may refer to:*Standpoint , a monthly British cultural and political magazine*standpoint theory*standpoint feminism*BVI Standpoint, a newspaper published in the British Virgin Islands*Perspective , point of view...
  
  .
• Michael Rainsborough, Professor of Strategic Theory in the Department of War Studies, King’s College London.
• Nina Rosenwald, co-chair of the Board of the American Securities Management Group and editor-in-chief of Hudson New York.
• Ghanem Nuseibeh
  Ghanem Nuseibeh
  Ghanem Nuseibeh is the founder of strategy and management consultancy, Cornerstone Global Associates. He was a member of the Club of Rome's think-tank 30 from 2004 to 2008, and is in charge of the Gulf region's section of the Budapest-based think-tank Political Capital Policy Research and...
  
  , founder of Cornerstone Global Associates and section head at the Political Capital Policy Research and Consulting Institute.

Staff

• Michael Weiss, Executive Director
• Carmel Gould, Content Manager
• Chris Dyszynski, Media Analyst
• Jon Dranko, Events Intern
• Rael Miller, Media Intern

Output

Just Journalism analyses the British media’s coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as related Middle-East topics, such as the Iranian nuclear programme, the status of human rights in Arab states, and the conditions of Palestinian refugees outside of the West Bank and Gaza.

The organisation also engages in "events and activities" about "journalistic accountability", such as the December 2010 conference, titled "Squaring the Circle? Britain and the De-legitimisation of Israel" and organised jointly with the Henry Jackson Society

Henry Jackson Society

The Henry Jackson Society is a non-partisan association. The society's goals include the promotion of "democratic geopolitics". The society is named after after Henry M. Jackson, the late Democratic Senator from Washington State...

, which took place in London. The event, co-sponsored by Bank Hapoalim

Bank Hapoalim

Bank Hapoalim is Israel’s largest bank. As of 31 December 2008 it had total consolidated assets of NIS 306.85 billion. The Bank has a significant presence in global financial markets. In Israel, the Group has over 260 full-service branches, eight regional business centers, and industry desks...

 and The Jewish Chronicle

The Jewish Chronicle

The Jewish Chronicle is a London-based Jewish newspaper. Founded in 1841, it is the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world.-Publication data and readership figures:...

, featured as panelists academic, lawyer and bioethicist

Bioethics

Bioethics is the study of controversial ethics brought about by advances in biology and medicine. Bioethicists are concerned with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, law, and philosophy....

 Ruth Deech

Ruth Deech, Baroness Deech

Ruth Lynn Deech, Baroness Deech, DBE is a British academic, lawyer and bioethicist, most noted for chairing the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority , from 1994 to 2002...

; Observer

The Observer

The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...

columnist Nick Cohen; Israeli Ambassador to the United Kingdom Ron Prosor

Ron Prosor

Ron Prosor is an Israeli diplomat and commentator on the Middle East. He served as Israeli Ambassador to the United Kingdom in 2007-2011. In February 2011, Prosor was appointed Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations.-Biography:...

; Times

Times

The Times is a UK daily newspaper, the original English language newspaper titled "Times". Times may also refer to:In newspapers:*The Times , went defunct in 2005*The Times *The Times of Northwest Indiana...

editor Daniel Finkelstein

Daniel Finkelstein

Daniel Finkelstein OBE is a British journalist and former politician. He is the Executive Editor of The Times, where he's also Chief Leader Writer and a weekly political columnist.-Background:...

; and Friends of Israel Initiative

Friends of Israel Initiative

The Friends of Israel Initiative is an international effort, to "seek to counter the attempts to delegitimize the State of Israel and its right to live in peace within safe and defensible borders", initiated and led by former Prime Minister of Spain and People's Party leader José María Aznar in...

 Executive Director Rafael Bardají. It was chaired by Jewish Chronicle editor Stephen Pollard

Stephen Pollard

Stephen Pollard is a British author and journalist, currently editor of The Jewish Chronicle. He is a former Chairman of the European Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and a former president of the Centre for the New Europe, a free-market think tank based in Brussels...

.

Media Coverage

Just Journalism’s work has been mentioned in British, American and Israeli publications such as The Jewish Chronicle, The New Republic and The Jerusalem Post. It has also had opinion pieces published in Ha’aretz, the Weekly Standard

The Weekly Standard

The Weekly Standard is an American neoconservative opinion magazine published 48 times per year. Its founding publisher, News Corporation, debuted the title September 18, 1995. Currently edited by founder William Kristol and Fred Barnes, the Standard has been described as a "redoubt of...

, Standpoint

Standpoint

Standpoint may refer to:*Standpoint , a monthly British cultural and political magazine*standpoint theory*standpoint feminism*BVI Standpoint, a newspaper published in the British Virgin Islands*Perspective , point of view...

, and The Guardian ’s Comment is free website.

Reception

Prize-winning British journalist Melanie Philips called Just Journalism "a very welcome and desperately-needed initiative", and stated: "This is the first organisation in Britain set up to monitor and analyse media coverage of the Middle East on a systematic, forensic and objective basis. Its notable characteristic is the transparency of its methodology, so that everyone can judge both the material under scrutiny and the way JJ is conducting that scrutiny."

Sharif Nashashibi, founder of Arab Media Watch

Arab Media Watch

Arab Media Watch is a London-based media watchdog organization with the stated aim of working toward objective British media coverage of the Arab world. Founded in 2000, by Sharif Hikmat Nashashibi, Arab Media Watch is the "only organization of its kind in the UK". The organization monitors...

, has criticized the organisation in The Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

, following an analysis of British media coverage of the 2009 Israeli election by Just Journalism's chief executive Elizabeth Jay. Nashashibi said that Jay had failed to meet the organisation's declared aims of promoting accurate reporting by "cherry picking quotes" and highlighting "only those alleged omissions and misrepresentations that negatively impact on Israel".

In 2008, Just Journalism's Director Adel Darwish

Adel Darwish

Adel Darwish is a British journalist, author, historian, broadcaster and political commentator, specialising on Middle Eastern politics.Darwish is a veteran Fleet Street foreign correspondent and has written for The Daily Telegraph and The Independent, as well as maintaining his online blog and...

 and board member Nick Cohen resigned from their positions, citing disagreements with the organisation's chairwoman and founder, on the issue of neutrality

Objectivity (journalism)

Parent article: Journalism ethics and standardsObjectivity is a significant principle of journalistic professionalism. Journalistic objectivity can refer to fairness, disinterestedness, factuality, and nonpartisanship, but most often encompasses all of these qualities.- Definitions :In the context...

.

See also

• Media bias
  Media bias
  Media bias refers to the bias of journalists and news producers within the mass media in the selection of events and stories that are reported and how they are covered. The term "media bias" implies a pervasive or widespread bias contravening the standards of journalism, rather than the...
  
  
• Media coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict
• HonestReporting
  HonestReporting
  HonestReporting is a non-governmental organization that monitors the media for what it perceives as bias against Israel. The organization has affiliates in the United States, UK, Canada, Italy, and Brazil...
  
  
• CAMERA
  Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America
  The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America is an American non-profit pro-Israel media watchdog group. The group says it was founded in 1982 "to respond to the Washington Post's coverage of Israel's Lebanon incursion", and to respond to what it considers the media's "general...
  
  
• MEMRI